“Maniacal laugh… maniacal laugh…”

The Scoop: 2011 PG, directed by James Bobin and starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Chris Cooper

Tagline: They’re closer than you think.

Summary Capsule: The Muppets reunite to save the classic Muppet Theater from demolition

Justin’s rating: Wocka wocka!

Justin’s review: Time is a steel-hearted monster of childhood memories.  The Muppets, which used to be a massive phenomenon, have increasingly become targets for nostalgia and not much else.  It’s been over 12 years since the last Muppet motion picture, longer than that since the last Muppet TV series (Muppets Tonight), and 30 whopping years since The Muppet Show went off the air.  As The Muppets notes, they’re no longer famous — except for those born and bred on these felt wonders, and only then in an echo.

For me, screenwriter/director Jason Segel, and probably many of you, The Muppets were a mainstay of our lives as kids.  From Kermit’s weather reports on Sesame Street to the opening strains of The Muppet Show (it’s time to make the music/it’s time to light the lights), the ensemble creation of Jim Henson provided us with goofy humor, fun songs, favorite characters (Benson fan here), and a gentle edge in a sharp world.  The original trilogy of films (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, Muppets Take Manhattan) rank right up there as some of the best kid and family films of all time, and the subsequent movies, while flawed, were continuously entertaining.  You can take your precious CGI — I’ll put aside skepticism to accept puppets as living, breathing people all the same.

The Muppets is a clever comeback for both the franchise and the characters themselves.  Segel, who campaigned hard to make this film after noting that Disney had been sitting on the Muppets rights for years now with little to show for it, pulls a card out of the sequel plot playbook by starting the film at a low point after the previous high of the franchise, and urges the characters to regain their former glory.

The old gang has been disbanded for some time now, and it seems like only Gary (Segel) and his Muppet brother Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) remember the old Muppet Show with fondness.  Walter’s such a big fan that he joins Gary and Gary’s girlfriend (Amy Adams) on a trip to Hollywood just to check out the Muppet Studios.  There he’s in for disappointment: The place is falling down and on the verge of being bought out by oil tycoon Chris Cooper.  Nothing takes us back to the 80s like having the bad guys being rich oil tycoons, is there?  The only way for Walter to stop this is to reunite the Muppets and put on one last great show.

It’s not going to be easy.  It’ll probably mean a montage or two.

It’s not a terribly complex plot nor is it huge on originality — but it really isn’t meant to.  If anything, The Muppets is a parallel to The Muppet Movie in reverse: Instead of forming the Muppet posse, it’s reuniting them; instead of becoming rich and famous, it’s about saving what was once accomplished; instead of starting with The Rainbow Connection it ends with it.  It’s the nicest, most hilarious battle ever against the ravages of time and irrelevance, and you’re cheering them every step of the way.

The Muppets is a milestone for our family in two ways.  One, it’s the first Muppet movie my wife’s ever seen (shocker, I know!).  Two, it’s the first movie theater experience our kids ever had.  They soaked it in as the Muppets sang, danced, made silly puns, and goofed around for two hours, and I reveled in the knowledge that our childhoods were now intertwined through this movie.  The Muppets as a franchise has always had that wonderful cross-generational appeal, and I could easily see it in the film — there’s cutesy stuff for the kids, witty jokes for the adults, showtunes for everyone, and even fourth wall-breaking references for film buffs.

It’s a good movie.  A solid movie.  Best movie ever?  I’m not going to go so far.  It’s entertaining, for sure, but at times I felt like some scenes were coasting on the fact that there were Muppets there instead of having said Muppets do anything significant.  Plus, the humans kind of pulled things down — it made me think of how Steve Martin in The Muppet Movie was a huge riot whereas here?  I guess Chris Cooper’s funny, but he’s no Steve Martin.

But I can’t find it in me to nitpick much, because Hollywood needs to be generating more of this smart, wholesome family fare instead of the cheap or tawdry dreck that it typically peddles.  Plus, the Muppets simply rock.  Always have, always will.

Intermission!

• I loved 80s Robot’s expressions!  And the modem noise!
• The Muppets had a ton of trailer parodies that are very much worth checking out.
• Of all the actors and actresses making cameos in this film, Alan Arkin is the only one to ever appear on The Muppet Show, back in 1979.
• A picture of Jim Henson appears on a poster outside of the Muppet Theater and a picture of him with Kermit appears on the wall in Kermit’s old office.
• The “standard Fame and Fortune contract” referenced several times in the movie (that would cede control of Muppet Studios and the Muppet name after 30 years), would seem to be a reference to the contract first given to the Muppets by Lew Lord (Orson Welles) in the very first Muppet Movie in 1979.
• First theatrical Muppet film in 12 years.

Groovy Quotes

Fozzie Bear: Wow, that was such an expensive looking explosion! I can’t believe we had that in the budget.

Veronica: I’m gonna shoot straight: you guys aren’t famous anymore.
Fozzie Bear: Yeesh. I wish she’d shot a little more curvy.

Tex Richman: Maniacal laugh… maniacal laugh…

Animal: No drums! No drums! Jack Black said no drums!

Kermit the Frog: Guys, we can’t kidnap Jack Black. That’s illegal!
Fozzie Bear: What’s more illegal, Kermit: Kidnapping Jack Black, or destroying the Muppet name for good?
Kermit the Frog: Kidnapping Jack Black!

Jack Black: Animal, what are you doing here?
Animal: …Acting… Naturaaaal.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• The Muppet Movie
• The Great Muppet Caper
• The Muppets Take Manhatten