Another childhood movie of mine that I enjoyed. It's more or less aged well. I like the movie because it's almost coming of age and shows Kermit before the Muppet's. The reason I say it's a coming of age movie is because the film chronicles Kermit exploring the outside world for the first time while growing up and finding a place for himself.

With a friend being a fan of Family movies,I decided to search around for a title which she could watch during the Christmas period.Talking to a family friend,I was pleased to learn that he had picked up a Muppet film which I had some fond memories of,which led to me getting ready to pay a visit to the swamp.The plot:Heading back to the swamp where he grew up with his family,Kermit begins to think back to his childhood…Years earlier:Spending their entire lives in the swamp,Kermit and his 2 friends Goggles & Croaker find themselves wondering about what lays beyond the swamp.Ignoring their parents advice,the gang sneak out of the swamp and enter an unknown world.As they head to the exit of the swamp,Googles accidentally starts a fight with a tough frog called Blotch.Driving past in his truck,a pet store owner notices Goggles and Blotch having a fight,which leads to the pet store owner kidnapping Goggles & Blotch,and taking them as new pets for his store.Originally planning for this to be an adventurous day soon,Kermit and Croaker realise that they must leave their comfort zone,in order to save their Goggles.View on the film:Whilst the screenplay by Jim Lewis and Joey Mazzarino shares more than a few similarities with the first Toy Story movie,the writers give the movie a nice fluffy atmosphere,thanks to the writers giving Kermit a real sincerity over his fears of entering the outside world.Contrasting the easy-going coming of age tale,the writers give the title a juvenile sense of humour,which despite offering 1 or 2 good punch lines,also suffers from one poo (h) joke too many,which never fully settle into Kermit's swamp life.

Kermit's Swamp Years (2002, Dir. David Gumpel) Kermit the Frog whilst on his travels back to the swamp he grew up on, remembers one of his earlier adventures. Kermit, Croaker, Goggles and Blotch are sent on a wild adventure into the outside world, when Croaker and bully Blotch and kidnapped and placed in a pet store. It's now up to Kermit and Goggle, with help from a friendly dog called Pilgrim to save them. But someone else has his eye on them. Dr Krassman wants to buy all the frogs and use them in biology lessons.When you first look at 'Kermit's Swamp Year's', it should be obvious at first, that it is not going to live up to the fun you get when watching a 'Muppets' title, but after watching Kermits life, it's obvious what is missing; The Muppets. Most things are here. The suitable story, the quality of the puppets and even Waldolf and Statler. The songs are slightly disappointing, with the longest song being quite bad. It can sometime feel very drawn out, and makes you really miss the likes of Miss Piggy and Gonzo. But still if you are a Muppet fan, then you should at least catch up on this story, but youngest are gonna like it more."I'm not a froggy pants." - Young Hugo Krassman (Hampton Dixon)

It has been many years since Kermit has been home so he gets on his scooter and heads back to the swamp. Driving down the road to the swamp Kermit reminisces about the first time he saw that road. He was only a small frog when he and his friends ventured out onto it for the first time – only for two of them to get picked up by a driver in a red truck. Kermit and his other friend were forced to set out after the truck to try and rescue their friends from the terrors of the outside world.Using the hook of the famous Muppet character in his early years, this film delivers a version of Toy Story where Kermit is forced out into the unfamiliar world to rescue his friends (although where this leaves Muppet Babies in the Muppet universe is beyond me). The plot is basic though and lacks any real emotion or intelligence in the way that Toy Story was and the total film is pretty basic. It has a few laughs along the way for adults but mainly this will appeal to younger children who will be amused by the puppets and engaged by the bad guy of Dr Krassman. I doubt very much though that such basic antics will appeal to older viewers – certainly not to adult viewers who have fond memories of the wit and energy of the Muppet Show.The voice work is all fine, with Whitmire doing a good job as Kermit, while Barretta, Goelz, Mazzarino and others all fill in well enough. The human cast are so-so; Haggard's not great and try as he might, Hostetter isn't that great a bad guy and can't pull of genuine menace and comedy – so he ends up doing neither particularly well. The tone of the film is overly comic and it does prevent it do anything of significance. Overall a so-so film that will please young children but doesn't do anything else well enough to be of greater value.