All Things Frog

Intended as a component of a marathon "History of the Muppets" cable-TV special, this feature-length slice of whimsy chronicles the early life of Mr. "Not Easy Being Green" himself, Kermit the Frog. At age 12, Kermit and his two best buddies, a wise-guy frog named Croaker and a Woody Allen-esque amphibian named Goggles, decide to venture out of their pond and into the "real world." Along the way, Kermit makes the acquaintance of a highly imaginative preteener named Jim Henson (Christian Kebbel). By the time Kermit's Swamp Years premiered over the Starz! Family channel on August 18, 2002, its running time had been pared down from 82 to 48 minutes; however, a full-length version was released on DVD some three weeks later.