There is a good reason why Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella “A Christmas Carol” has been a classic work to be remembered and cherished by many of us. Above all, this is a striking ghost story with chilly and spooky qualities to haunt your mind for the rest of your life, but it also touchingly reminds us that it is never too late for any of us to try to be a better person as long as you are not dead yet.

In case of Brian Henson’s 1992 film “The Muppet Christmas Carol”, it leans more toward the latter aspect of Dickens’ novella instead of being truly spooky and chilly like Robert Zemeckis’ 2009 animation film, but that is not much of a problem at all. After all, we usually cannot help but feel warm and delighted whenever those lovable Muppets appear on the screen, and they even do some musical numbers for some extra jolliness.

Of course, you cannot possibly have any of these likable Muppets play Ebenezer Scrooge, the old, mean, and grouchy hero of Dickens’ novella. He is instead played by Michael Caine, and Caine, who has always been one of the most engaging actors of our time, effortlessly embodies the harsh and unpleasant sides of his famous character right from the beginning. Yes, he can be quite funny and likable as shown from many of his notable films such as Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), but he also can be very nasty as shown from Neil Jordan’s “Mona Lisa” (1986), and he subtly conveys to us his character’s deplorable personality while generously allowing those Muppets to steal the show from him from time to time.

And the Muppets in the film are certainly fun and interesting to watch thanks to their colorful appearances and personalities. For example, the Great Gonzo, performed by Dave Goelz, appears as Charles Dickens and also serves as the narrator of the story along with Rizzo the Rat, who is performed by Steve Whitmire. In case of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s seriously underpaid clerk, he is played by Kermit the Frog (He is also performed by Whitmore, by the way), and Miss Piggy, performed by Franz Oz, plays Mrs. Cratchit (Please don’t ask me how the hell they can have several children between them).

The main plot of the film is not so far from Dickens’ novella on the whole. As Christmas Eve is being over, almost everyone in London is eager to embrace the ongoing holiday cheer more, but Scrooge is definitely not one of such people. As a matter of fact, he could have Cratchit and all of his other employees work on Christmas if Cratchit did not manage to persuade him to change his initial decision.

During the night of Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of his two recently deceased business partners Jacob and Robert Marley, who are respectively played by Startler (performed by Jerry Nelson), and Waldorf (performed by Goelz). Looking quite miserable to say the least, these two ghosts come to give an important news for Scrooge. Three different ghosts of Christmas will soon come to him one by one, and Scrooge must learn from each of these three supernatural figures before it becomes too late for him.

And, of course, Scrooge does learn something from each of these three different Christmas ghosts. From the first one, who represents Christmas Past, he is reminded of how lonely he was during his innocent childhood period – and when he unwisely missed a precious chance for love when he grew up a bit older later. From the second one, who represents Christmas Present, he comes to see more of how he has been quite unlikable to many of others around him – and a little fact that he is still capable of affection and compassion despite that. From the third one, who represents Christmas Future, he beholds what may soon happen if he does not change himself – and how his life will eventually arrive at its final destination.

Many of the expected key moments in the film are not very spooky or chilly, but the movie keeps holding our attention with a considerable amount of charm and spirit. Those endearing Muppets in the film always bring us smiles and chuckles, and I particularly enjoyed the comic interactions between the Great Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat, who occasionally provide an amusing comment as following the story together. Furthermore, some of them also feel sincere and touching in the story, and Kermit the Frog is particularly poignant when he shows a bit of genuine gratitude to his employee in front of his wife and children.

And there are several good musical numbers to cheer you up more. The songs by Paul Williams are not really catchy in my humble opinion, but they work mostly well in the context of the story, and it is certainly fun to see Caine trying a bit of singing around the end of the story. He may not be a good singer, but he does not sound strained at all, and that is more than enough for us in my inconsequential opinion.

On the whole, “The Muppet Christmas Carol” still works as a solid Christmas season movie for everyone even though it has been more than 30 years since it came out. Although I learned about its existence in the early 1990s, the movie has somehow eluded me for many years, and now I am glad to report to you that it is one of more entertaining Christmas films during last several decades.