Directed by: James Bobin
Starring: Jason
Segal, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper
Review: I don’t know
how much time I feel like spending on reviewing this film. Theirs is nothing really ‘wrong’ with ‘The
Muppets’ as a movie. It does exactly
what it purports to do, which is give us more of the Muppets, who have been largely
out of the limelight for some time.
Looking at Rotten Tomatoes you see this movie has a 96% rating (!). It appears that all the big bad critics who
can rip a movie to shred’s actually do have s oft spot when it comes to
child-like sensibility.
I’m not trying to be a poor sport here and say that ‘The
Muppets’ is a bad movie. It was
enjoyable in its own right. Mind you, I’m
not a huge Muppets fan, so seeing them back on screen didn’t fill me with a
large amount of nostalgia as I’m sure it did for some. Seeing Kermit, Miss Piggy, Animal, and the
like all back center stage was seemingly great for some, writer/star Jason
Segal included.
The film plays out like a labor of love from Segal. It seems that the character he played in ‘Forgetting
Sarah Marshall’ was a pretty accurate portrayal of him. Not the mopey
just-broke-up-with-his-girlfriend part, but rather the part about him loving
puppets and wanting to bring a puppet show to life.
When Segal’s character’s little brother, who is inexplicably
a muppet, wants to see the Muppet studios, Segal goes with him and brings his
girlfriend (Adams) as well. On their
trip to the Muppet Studios, which are completely deserted at this point, they
find out some disparaging news. An oil
baron is trying to buy the lot so he can demolish it and get the oil that is
underneath it. Oh no!
The Muppets have to come up with $10M in order to save the
studios and the Muppets careers. In
order to do this they “get the band back together” and put on a show to raise
the money. Along the way they will get
the whole crew together, settle old scores, mend old friendships, and
ultimately learn a lot about themselves along the way.
While there is nothing ostensibly wrong about this movie, it
just doesn’t bring much to the table more than a slightly enjoyable
distraction. The human characters are
purposely caricatures and more like puppets than, well, the actual
puppets. The heart of this movie lies
when it’s just the Muppets on the screen, who legitimately have more depth than
any of the human characters.
This movie is not worth your time until it hits cable.
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