The Muppets have always been more than your average children’s entertainment featuring puppets. Take the original television series. What they were presenting to the TV viewing public was essentially a fake documentary series investigating working life behind the scenes at a live variety program. Which would be an interesting enough show in itself, except here our central characters are a frog, a bear, a pig and all other form of strange talking creatures.

The original ‘Muppet Movie’ plays along those same lines. The Muppets are watching a movie that they have filmed in which they’re playing themselves on a quest to find fame and fortune in Hollywood. Sounds a bit confusing…but it works.

The sequel, ‘The Great Muppet Caper’, marked the first time that the Muppets played characters in a film (which they would go on to do again for ‘Christmas Carol’ and ‘Treasure Island’ films), asking us to suspend our disbelief and watch Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo (in the same way that we would watch human actors cast in a regular movie) play investigative reporters, hot on the trail of a jewel thief .

A double dose of afternoon Mayfair Muppets, happening February 22nd & 23rd. Featuring human being appearances by the likes of Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Charles Grodin, Peter Falk, John Cleese and Orson Welles.

PS – If Kermit singing ‘Rainbow Connection’ doesn’t pull at your heart-strings, there’s something wrong with you. You should look into it and speak to a professional…you might be dead inside.

‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ looks, well…fantastic. Hate to sound like a bad film critic looking to get his quote tagged onto the add campaign…but it does. A stop motion animation movie directed by cult indie visionary Wes Anderson (’Rushmore’, ‘Royal Tenenbaums’), based on a book by Roald Dahl, starring George Clooney and Meryl Streep, along with returning Anderson alum Bill Murray, Own Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Willem Dafoe. Such great combination’s of talent have gone wrong before of course, but this one seems right on the mark.

The most amazing thing is how much it still looks like a Wes Anderson film. Admittedly I’m judging from the trailer alone, but he still managed to transfer his very quirky style over from the live action film-making world (the music, the title-cards, distinctive colour schemes, foreground placed characters standing looking into camera, etc…).

Originally intended as a collaboration between Anderson and Henry Selick (director of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’). Selick ended up leaving the project to focus on ‘Coraline’, and now both films are up for Academy Awards in the Best Animated Film category.

Catch ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ from February 20 – 23, only at the Mayfair.