Ladies and Gentlemen... It's The Muppet Alphabet

Just as a lark, I started to play around with designing the letters of the alphabet as Muppet characters. Turns out that a few of them translated quite well, so I thought I would put it all together as The Muppet Alphabet. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed putting it together. It has also inspired few other Muppetational ideas that I may post in the future.

By the way, I know I cheated a little with Sam the Eagle as "E." The only other idea I could come up with was the Elvises, but I thought Sam deserved the spotlight. Plus, I couldn't come up with any ideas for X, not even after considering Fraggles and Sesame Street Muppets.

UPDATE: I've posted a NEW and IMPROVED Muppet Alphabet at http://muppet-mania.blogspot.com/2011/06/ladies-and-gentlemen-its-muppet.html. I think this may have solved the issue with the missing "X"

UPDATE: Along with the NEW Muppet Alphabet, I've also started taking on a whole bunch of new projects. Designs based on The Simpsons, Sesame Street, Pixar, the Muppets and more can be found at http://baboondesign.blogspot.com/.

LOVE RANCH - D+

Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Sergio Peris-Mencheta
Love Ranch is set in a legal Nevada brothel in 1976, but this aimless drama from director Taylor Hackford sidesteps its interesting backdrop for a woefully bland plot about a boxer (Peris-Mecheta) looking for redemption. It’s at turns deadly dull and unintentionally ridiculous.

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS - B

Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann
Glenn Ficara and John Requa direct this so-crazy-it-must-be-true tale of a conman (Carrey) who found love in the slammer and went to great lengths to protect it. It’s a tricky balance of humour and heart, but the compassion of the actors and directors help pull it all together.

WILD TARGET - C

Emily Blunt, Bill Nighy, Rupert Grint
The Brits take on a 1993 French farce with Wild Target, a frustratingly uneven comedy about a bachelor hitman (Bill Nighy). Despite an appealing cast, the screenplay is desperately low on real laughs and Grint’s character in particular comes across as interesting as a blank wall.

JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK - B+

Documentary
Even if you aren’t a fan of Rivers’ often crass and mean-spirited comedy, this look at the woman beneath the plastic surgery is enlightening and often very funny. The Rivers on screen here is at turns prickly, protective, insecure, needy, clever, desperate and almost always fascinating.

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER - C

Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley
Everyone just seems to be going through the motions in this third entry in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Sure, there’s lots of action and positive messages flying around, but as directed by Michael Apted, it feels hollow and shopworn, driven less by a sense of magic than by tired duty.

SWITCH, THE - B-

Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldblum
Yes, one can spend most of this passable comedy focusing on the fact that Aniston’s character has nothing in common with her supposed best friend (Bateman). But instead, why not enjoy the spot-on casting of Thomas Robinson as Bateman’s son and the droll supporting work by Goldblum?

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: THE OWLS OF GA'HOOLE - B

Jim Sturgess, Sam Neill, Helen Mirren
It may be from the animators of Happy Feet, but this is a decidedly darker and more involving film, with an epic story of good versus evil that feels like Star Wars with owls. The more kid-friendly elements are occasionally jarring, but this remains a gorgeous and inventive picture.

HEREAFTER - B-

Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Jay Mohr
Three people are haunted by death in their own different ways in this thoughtful but overly long and occasionally cheesy drama. Director Clint Eastwood opens with such a breathtaking depiction of the 2004 Thailand tsunami that it is difficult for the rest of the film to live up to it.

DUE DATE - B

Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Jamie Foxx
Director Todd Phillips reunites with his Hangover star Galifianakis for this Planes, Trains & Automobiles-style comedy. What makes Due Date such a hoot – despite a few lapses in character consistency – is that both Downey and Galifianakis are allowed to be foolish on their own terms.

TANGLED - B+

Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy
It may be rendered in CG, but Tangled shares more than just the Disney logo with studio classics like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. This is a lively and adventurous take on the Rapunzel story, heavy on humor and heart. The visuals, music and characters sparkle.

NEXT THREE DAYS, THE - B-

Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde
Credit Paul Haggis for the way he tries to root the prison-break thriller The Next Three Days in reality – the shift as Crowe moves from community college prof to criminal is relatively convincing. Less believable are any scenes of copwork and the generally sluggish first half.

MORNING GLORY - C

Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton
Rachel McAdams is exhaustingly cheerful, Harrison Ford is dismayingly one-note and Diane Keaton is too often pushed to the sidelines in this flimsy workplace comedy about the backstage shenanigans at a national TV morning show. It all plays like Broadcast News without the flavour.

BLACK SWAN - B+

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Black Swan is a whole lot nuttier than Darren Aronofsky’s last film, 2008’s The Wrestler, but it is just as transfixing as it traces the emotional destruction of a ballerina on the cusp of her biggest role yet. It’s like an art-house horror film with an amazingly delicate Portman at the core.

HOW DO YOU KNOW - C+

Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd
This romantic comedy features Wilson at his scruffy best and some moments of great physical comedy from Rudd, but writer-director James L. Brooks and a too deliberate Witherspoon oftentimes just seem to be trying too hard. Far too many of the scenes feel false and fabricated.