Keep believing, keep pretending.

Opening the film in a private studio screening of the film itself, Muppets of all sorts, big and small, chickens, boomerang fish, classic Muppet hubbub. This is fun. We are having fun here. Disney+ has arrived, and after spending an hour trying to decide what to watch first, I finally clicked play.

The moment the banjo started, I teared up. I’m not too proud to admit it. The song has become an iconic anthem of progress and social justice. It’s bigger than the Muppets now.

But here in the opening credits, it’s simply a frog singing in a swamp.

Who said that every wish would be heard and answered.

The fundamental risk of the dreamer is that dreams don’t always come true. Maybe in the wonderful world of Disney they do, but not on planet Earth. I’ve met a lot of dreamers in Los Angeles. I don’t believe dreamers are exclusive to LA, but we do harbor a great deal of them, countless people waiting for their own standard rich & famous contract. It was the rainbow’s spell that brought us all here, that someday we’ll find it.

But the truth is many of us get lost along the way.

(Maybe we should try Hare Krishna?)

Those of us that remain continue the search. We keep moving right along.

The buddy duet in the Studebaker, a bear’s natural habitat, footloose and fancy-free, musical delusions of grandeur. No matter if the sun comes up in the west, or if we find ourselves stranded in Saskatoon, we don’t need a map to get this show on the road.

Until the fork takes you nowhere.

It’s those inevitable moments when dreams must be propped up by faith. It’s apropos that Kermit and Fozzie should stumble upon Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem at that Presbyterian Church, though, if I’m being very honest, they don’t look like Presbyterians to me.

Beat down the walls, begin, believe, behold, begat. There’s nothing out there you can’t do.

The Muppet Movie is not just a road movie, it’s a map for all dreamers to follow. It’s a gift from a brilliant puppeteer and storyteller, one who wanted to make a difference in the world.

Through Gonzo, Kermit learns to be fearless. Through Miss Piggy, Kermit learns to love. In a bluesy bar room number with Rowlf the Dog, he learns to cope with disappointment, and laugh at the absurdity of life and human nature. And for those moments where dreams seem out of reach, when you long to find your place in the sky, the area that’s part heaven and part space, completely at home in mid-air, flying on featherless wings. You must believe that you’re going to go back there someday, no matter how uncertain things seem. These are tools for the dreamer to survive.

Even after Kermit and company get the green light, and their Hollywood dreams seem all but certain to come true, disaster strikes on set. The entire shoot falls apart, a prop rainbow literally crashes down, and a hole is blown open in the roof.

This is the life of your average dreamer. Traveling a great distance to get nowhere, yet unable to ignore the sweet sound that calls the young sailors. It’s what keeps us star-gazing.

Keep believing, keep pretending.

Beat down the walls. The rainbow will shine on you someday. You may not be rich & famous, or making millions of people happy. You might look around at the disaster that is your life, the giant hole in your roof, and realize that the dream and the rainbow are not one and the same. You’ll consider the adventure that got you to this point, all the friends you’ve made along the way. Perhaps, even realizing that something better did come along. You just didn’t know it.

It’s not the worst ending in the world.