Just to be clear, this is a review of the 2011 The Muppets, not the 1979 The Muppet Movie.
Its time to play the music
Its time to light the lights
Its time to meet the muppets on the Muppet Show tonight.
There was a lot of worry about the Jason Segal revamp of The Muppets, especially after it was slammed by Frank Oz. When the last of the major Muppet creators slams the project, it’s never a good sign. But I was pleasantly surprised. Rather than go back and show an origin (which would have basically been a retelling of The Muppet Movie), Segal (co-writer Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin) decided to go forward and tell a current age story, one where the Muppets heyday is over and they aren’t popular any more. So, now:
Its time to get things started
On the most sensantional
Inspirational
Celebrational
Muppet-ational
This is what we call The Muppet Show!
Gary (Jason Segal) and Walter are brothers and best friends growing up in Smalltown USA (the town is literally named Smalltown) and they work around the minor problems they have (mainly Walter being small and not being taken seriously because he’s a muppet). Until one day they find the greatest thing in the world, The Muppet Show. Walter becomes their biggest fan with Gary right behind.
Fast forward to present day, Gary is taking his girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams), to Los Angeles to celebrate their 10th anniversary of dating. As a surprise, Walter’s invited along and they’re going to go on the tour of a lifetime, The Muppet Theater. Not surprisingly (to everyone but our intrepid heroes),Tthe Muppet Theater is a rundown dust ridden mess where the only people taking the tour are our heroes and an Asian couple that thinks there are at Universal Studio. When Walter realizes that the big bad oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper who is unfortunately asked to rap) is buying the theater to tear it down, he freaks out. Gary, Mary and Walter set out to find Kermit and convince him to raise the $10 million needed to keep it in Muppet hands.
This leads to a search for all the old gang (with a walk down memory lane), a meeting to get the show on the air as a telethon and the putting the actual show on the air. Along the way, Walter is asked to join the show and do an act, but he doesn’t think he’s talented enough to be with The Muppets. Also Mary has been waiting for Gary to propose for 10 years and he became so invested in the Muppet show, that he forgets their special anniversary dinner. Can Gary win Mary back? Can The Muppets find a guest host to get their telethon on the air? Can Walter find a talent to do an act on the show? Can Fozzie Bear stop walking with his fart shoes?
The whole movie is a lot of fun. It has some great music that was overseen by Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords) who wrote the two big new numbers. Amy Adams and Jason Segal are perfect as the main characters with Peter Linz doing a great job as Walter. The original Muppets are mostly well done (with some Fozzie Bear voice issues) and their is enough of a plot to get us through the 90+ minutes needed for the movie. This isn’t a movie that’s going to win Oscars for its movie telling, but it entertained both old and new fans as well as making the Muppets relevant again. Huge win for Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller for presenting us with the Muppets and making us realize why we watched the show in the first place. My only complaints were not enough Statler and Waldorf and the Chris Cooper bad guy rapped (yes I mentioned it twice, it was that bad). Highly recommended for Muppets and Muppet fans young and old.