New Movie Reviewers

Here's a funny item I caught at the CBC website:


Crusty Muppets become movie reviewers
Last Updated Fri, 24 Jun 2005 14:39:14 EDT CBC Arts

Statler and Waldorf – the crusty Muppets who lobbed insults from their balcony seats on The Muppet Show – have been recruited by the website Movies.com to act as film reviewers.

The two, remembered for their acerbic comments on television in the 1970s, will appear in short biweekly episodes on the site to discuss the latest movie releases.

In the debut webisode, which appeared Thursday, the old men critique Bewitched and War of the Worlds.

Statler notes that the latter movie, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the H.G. Wells novel, is this year's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – except that instead of enjoying Reese's Pieces, the aliens in War of the Worlds enjoy incinerating all of humanity.

Statler also singles out child actor Dakota Fanning for praise. "And for a completely digital character, that little girl is remarkably lifelike," he quips.

Dan Sherlock, a Movies.com executive, told the Hollywood Reporter newspaper that the reviews are an attempt to connect with users.

"It strikes a chord of nostalgia with our target audience, 18-34, who remember the Muppets very well," Sherlock said. "After all, who could forget Statler and Waldorf?"

Movies.com is a site that allows moviegoers to purchase film tickets online. It is owned by the Walt Disney Co., which in turn owns the Muppets.

"We have access to a variety of the Muppet characters, but obviously certain Muppets lend themselves better to this forum, so we'll be gearing it toward those," Sherlock added.

Statler and Waldorf "auditioned" for the spots by doing commentary on this year's Academy Awards webcast. The site's users responded with positive feedback, so the regular feature was created. A new batch of reviews will appear on the site every two weeks.

Sherlock said the reviews are "very much a partnership" between Movies.com and the Disney subsidiary that controls the Muppets. Both sides work in tandem on the scripts for the reviews.
Other Muppets are also scheduled to do spots as guest reviewers. In the first episode, Pepe the King Prawn serves as the DVD specialist.

Known for his thick Spanish accent, Pepe provides commentary on the Bruce Willis movie Hostage, Samuel L. Jackson's Coach Carter and Sandra Bullock's Miss Congeniality 2, which he pronounces as "Miss Congenetalia."