If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Admirable film.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Charming Christmas special from Jim Henson, based on the book by Russell and Lillian Hoban. This sweet story is about dirt poor Emmet Otter and his mother. Unbeknownst to each other, they both get the idea to join a talent show in hopes of winning the prize money to buy a gift for the other. It's a sentimental tale with a great moral lesson and some nice songs. Wait until you get a load of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band! Try to find the uncut version if you can. Unfortunately, after Disney acquired the rights to the Muppets, some scenes were removed from the DVD releases. Still, whatever version you watch I'm sure you will enjoy this delightful Christmas special.

Alright.You like Muppet's?Well then you'll like these guys.The movie is an original classic,and you just have to love the otters.They're so darn cute.So what if you see the strings?They're freaking puppets!Most people making a low-budget film didn't have the funds to edit those out in 1977.But the movie is one to love.It shows us what people will do anything for a good Christmas,and then how crushed they are when it is ruined.But Emit & Ma Otter seem to forget how they lost,and then Ma is given the job of a lifetime...even though they've been dirt poor without Pa.It seems that the characters are thinking the same things as the movie goes on.If you haven't seen this movie,i highly suggest you watch it because of it's originality.

It's hard for me to imagine that I was four years old when Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas debuted. I can vividly remember watching it for the first time, as I was hooked from the moment Emmet and Ma sing "Aint' no hole in the washtub". So, to my pleasant surprise, I was at Target the other day, and saw that Emmet Otter was on DVD. For $12.99, it was well worth the price. So, I popped into my DVD player, and my wife and I sat back and enjoyed it. Heck, I felt like that little boy who watched it for the first time so many years ago.To be honest here, I think Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas doesn't get the respect and appreciation it deserves. It should be one of those shows that is played during the Christmas holidays (Like A Charlie Brown Christmas, or How the Grinch stole Christmas, etc.). EOJBC is in every way a classic like those shows. Sad reality is that most folks I know have never heard of Emmet Otter. HBO used to play this at every Christmas, but they stopped doing it year's ago. Why they did, I have no clue, but I know that it was played on other TV channels for a few years, and then it was gone. Thank goodness it found life on DVD.I think what impresses me the most about this show is that, for its' time (1977), EOJBC was a stroke of creative genius. Yeah, sometimes you see the strings that are controlling the movements of the muppets, but for the most part, you marvel at the vision Jim Henson had in creating the towns of Watervlle and Frog Hollow. And the songs are a real treat. You'll find yourself humming "Bar-B-Q". It is a catchy song.

There's a new, October 2005 release of Emmett's Jugband Christmas. This one contains an excellent 'making-of' video, made sometime in 2005. It contains a 'blooper' segment, also. It also contains clips of the pieces edited out of the original over the years.Kermit has been removed from this version, released by HIT Entertainment (Kermit is now owned by Disney). Highly recommended, though.Also included in the 'making-of' are the intricacies of having two 'Mom' performers. The singer first recorded the songs, then Frank Oz had to lip-sync 'Mom' to the songs, then Frank did 'Mom' with his own voice, then the singer had to re-do all of 'Mom's lines in sync with the video. Intricate, but it worked really well.