The Muppets (2011)

By D. Caraccioli |

Sunday, December 4, 2011

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Director: James Bobin

Runtime: 98 minutes

Writers: Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller

Cast: The Muppets, Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Rashida Jones.

Plot: When 3 muppet fans learn that Tex Richman wants to drill under the muppet theater for oil Gary, Mary and Walter set out to find the muppets who have been split up for years Kermit lives in his own mansion depressed in Hollywood, Gonzo is a high class plumber at Gonzo's Royal Flush, Fozzie performs with a tribute band called The Moopets , Miss Piggy is the plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, and Animal is at a celebrity anger management rehab center in Santa Barbara.

The scepticism that many Muppets fans had about this movie are now mostly vanished. As a Muppet fan I was excited to get to watch the muppets do their 3rd best gift to us: Laughter,  and of course I was excited about this movie. I'll try to do this review as spoiler free as possible but I will be quoting some of the lines on the movie. 

It's the same plot of all the Muppet movies, except this time it's something else too.

If you've seen several movies of the Muppets you know what I'm talking about. Some rich bad man or woman wants to take over the Muppet Theather and destroy the Muppets and then they are obligated to put on a show to save their home. This movie even references this in the unique magic of the Muppets. Segel changed things a bit to make it a movie that can bring spirit even on the most darkest days. 

The movie starts with Walter and his "brother" Gary from when they were kids until they grew up, passing through the very important moment when they first watched The Muppet Show on TV. The place where they live is a normal Utopian little city called Smalltown and everything is bright and everything is good. The change of place makes the movie ground us to Earth again when they have a walk by Los Angeles, certainly the part where they see the old Muppet Theather didn't helped at all. And seeing a heart-broken Kermit with no hopes of getting their theather back isn't helpful either. But little Walter believes in them and is what we can say really the #1 fan of The Muppets. But the movie is not sad at all, all the opposite it is even more funnier, when they bring back the gang in a montage and finding a celebrity host in Jack Black that will help them do their show. 
All the Muppet Theleton show is what I can say the funniest part since it remembers us to those great days of The Muppet Show, just like nothing really changed. Seems like the original name for this movie, The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time!!!, could really go well with this movie. 

Wait, wait. Stop. Are there humans in this movie?

Again another quote, this time said only in the trailer. If you are planning to see this movie only for the human actors then you got the wrong movie. Everyone knows a Muppets movie is about the Muppets, and this one surely is. If you thought Amy Adams and Jason Segel had a lot of airtime think again. Yes they did, but not overshadowing anyone. This movie is about the Muppets. It's about Kermit and Gonzo and Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy and all the gang. But even so the human part of this movie could be said that is also great. With a ton of cameos of celebrities and some singing parts from Adams, Segel and Cooper they still can't overshadow the Muppets but bring us a good movie overall. That said Cooper was really a good villain, seems like he was born to do these roles. Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh. And the chemistry between Adams and Segel is great and they seem like one of those happy naive couples that we don't get to see often on cinema. And let's not forget Rashida Jones as the only TV executive that gives the muppets a chance to do the telethon.

The Sensational, Muppetational Songs

Bret McKenzie wrote the very silly but lovable songs on this movie and I loved all of them. Yes, we have some of the original ones and also some of them taken from other singers and sang by the muppets (because honestly when would you see chickens singing "Forget You" or a Muppet Quartet singing "Smells like teen spirit") and that's where Christophe Beck comes into. The Soundtrack of this movie is spirited and ridiculously great and I expect at least an Oscar nomination for McKenzie for best song, if not everyone is crazy. 

Don't judge a movie by its trailer
Even with all the trailers that we had for this movie, even the parody ones, much of what is shown on the trailers (even some other celebrity cameos) were cut from the movie at the end, but nevertheless the movie is still fantastical. I believe that this movie is what we need in this times. Inspiring movies like this, which strongly pushes us to believe in ourselves, is what we need. Somewhere somehow I know Jim Henson is smiling and being proud of what Segel and company did. I wish I could write more about this film but I really don't want to ruin it for everybody else.

So go watch The Muppets! You will honestly have a good time and if you're a fan you will love it!