Muppet Show, The

image for Muppet Show, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 8; parental guidance to 11 (slapstick violence, sexual references)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Muppet Show, The
  • a review of Muppet Show, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 31 March 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 8 Not suitable due to slapstick violence and sexual references.
Children aged 8–11 Parental guidance recommended due to slapstick violence and sexual references.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Muppet Show, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Not available (OC)
Length: 33 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

The Muppet Show (2026) is a revival of the classic Muppet Show series, where the Muppets are coming together to produce their first show in a very long time. Kermit the frog (voiced by Matt Vogel) is a frazzled director who is desperately trying to make sure things run smoothly. This variety show features celebrity guest appearances by Sabrina Carpenter, Seth Rogen and Maya Rudolph; fun musical numbers including Miss Piggy (voiced by Eric Jacobson) and Sabrina Carpenter; a silly daredevil showcase; and two comedic sketches. As things go awry, Kermit has to make some hard decisions as a director about which acts to cut, causing conflict between him, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppets.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Teamwork; Variety Shows; Comedy; Theatre.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • There is slapstick violence throughout the film, where the Muppets are tossed around, hit each other and crash into objects. There is no injury depicted, and this is played off as comedic.
  • A Muppet puts their head in a trumpet and confetti blows, knocking them off screen.
  • A character smashes a bottle over another’s head on two separate occasions.
  • Sabrina Carpenter chokes a Muppet, then flings his body around in a circle by his neck before tossing him off screen.
  • Miss Piggy is generally snarky and verbally berates other characters throughout the course of the show. This is followed by a laugh track.
  • Miss Piggy knocks down a door.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Some of the Muppets are monsters and may be scary in appearance.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • A character puts a serum in another character’s eyes as they scream and struggle, before his eyeballs fall out and fly around the theatre.
  • A character chokes on an eyeball, holding their throat and looking distressed, before appearing dead. This is portrayed in a comedic skit.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Sabrina Carpenter is a special guest on the show, singing her song Manchild, and a cover of the song Islands in the Stream by the Bee Gees.
  • There are several other celebrity guest appearances, including Seth Rogen and Maya Rudolph.
  • The Muppets is a notable franchise.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • The song Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter has some sexual innuendos.
  • There are several sexual innuendoes throughout the movie; these are often subtle enough for only an adult audience to pick up on.
  • Sabrina Carpenter says to Kermit “oh that’s all right, I love kinks!” in response to him telling her that the show has had some kinks in running smoothly.
  • A Muppet character kisses a female character on the hand, then raises his eyebrows suggestively.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Muppets are seen with alcohol bottles and cans in a bar sequence. They are seen taking swigs from these bottles.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Jerk
  • Freaking
  • Stupid
  • Oh my God.

In a nutshell

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, The Muppet Show is a fun family show that gives a fresh spin on the original, classic Muppets series which aired from 1975 to 1981. The funny characters, musical numbers and slapstick humour makes it well suited for families looking for something short, sweet and entertaining. Due to the slapstick violence and sexual references, this show is best suited for families with children over 8, with parental guidance to 11.

While this show is mainly focused on entertainment, the main messages are about how even when things go wrong, trust and teamwork can go a long way.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Working together
  • Compromise.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Parents should note that in the song Manchild, Sabrina Carpenter refers to an individual as “slow”. They may want to discuss with their children any ableist connotations this language and word choice has. Furthermore, the original lyrics for Manchild contain some coarse language.
  • Miss Piggy is very rude, and does not want to share the spotlight with anyone. What do you think of this behaviour? What do you think she could have done differently?
  • Many of the characters in the show are mean or rude to one another without apologising or taking any accountability for their actions. Parents may wish to discuss with their children the real life consequences of this sort of behaviour.