Runtime: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Rating: PG
Director: James Bobin
Quick Impressions:
Chances are, if your kids watch the Disney Channel, they’re dying to see Muppets Most Wanted, and if they’ve watched Good Luck Charlie or Dog with a Blog in the past month, I can personally guarantee that they’ve already seen the opening number and about twenty-five percent of the rest of the film.
These new Muppet movies aren’t perfect, but nobody can say that Disney hasn’t done a great job marketing them. When my husband got home from India on Saturday, I asked, “Should we take the kids to see Muppets Most Wanted tomorrow?”
My five-year-old immediately exclaimed, “Oh the new one with Constantine? I have been dying to see that. It’s not easy being mean.”
My husband decided that we’d leave the decision to her eleven-year-old brother, and guess what? He watches the Disney Channel, too.
And to be honest, I watch with them, and even my husband checks in from time to time, so the four of us headed to the theater this afternoon knowing that Muppets Most Wanted was going to change our lives for the better. I mean look what it did for Ross Lynch, star of the hit show Austin & Ally. He got to visit the set and wear a tie of authority. (We’re also looking forward to our next trip to Disneyland. I hear the really brave kids ride California Screamin’ with their dads, and if you haven’t heard that, too, then I know for sure that you don’t watch the Disney Channel. And I feel sorry for you. How will you ever learn which products you need to purchase in order to be happy?)
Anyway, Muppets Most Wanted is a pretty worthy sequel to the 2011 reboot. It’s not perfect by any means, but it builds energy as it goes and eventually ends up in a more delightful place than the previous Muppet outing. (And I don’t just say that because I spent my honeymoon at the Tower of London.) Although the final act is decidedly stronger than the beginning, and it’s a real shame that Christoph Waltz had to bow out of a leading role now played by Ty Burrell, Muppets Most Wanted features a number of very strong scenes, some sweet comedy, and once again a thoroughly catchy, offbeat soundtrack by Bret McKenzie. All four of us enjoyed the experience, and I’d gladly buy a ticket to another Muppet movie from the same creative team. It’s always a pleasure to see the old gang together again. (In fact, they should bring back Tina Fey next time, too. And Ricky Gervais can come back, too, if he promises to wear that costume from the helicopter.)
The Good:
This is honestly the kind of movie that will fare better on the small screen. The beginning is a little weak, but when you’re watching at home, you can zone out and do something else while you sing along to the catchy songs, and then sit down and focus on the movie once it picks up a bit about a third of the way in.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t go see it in the theater while it’s out. The four of us had a fabulous time this afternoon. I’m just saying that Muppets Most Wanted is going to enjoy a long life on television. And you’re probably going to want to buy the soundtrack. (I know I do.)
I’ll also mention that 2011’s The Muppets improved dramatically for me once I knew all of the songs by heart. I’ve found it far more re-watchable than I would have guessed on the first viewing. It grows on you, and I think this one will, too.
Honestly, once the film finds its footing, I think Muppets Most Wanted is an improvement over 2011’s The Muppets. For one thing, this time around the Muppets are actually the film’s undisputed protagonists. The humor feels more authentically Muppety, too. It’s pretty tricky to find the right blend of wide-eyed innocence, off-the-wall absurdity, just-north-of-cynical satire, old vaudeville routines, and classic Hollywood production numbers. If anything, 2011’s Gary, Mary, and Walter (who’s back in this film) erred on the side of being too innocent, too straight-laced, and too earnest.
The Muppets are innocent, but the world around them is not, and there’s also a kind of twisted quality to Muppet humor that was largely missing from the 2011 film. I don’t mean that the Muppets are perverted or dirty or dark, just that Jim Henson’s Kermit brought a kind of quietly exasperated, slightly desperate sarcasm to the table that is for the most part missing from 2011’s The Muppets. That sense of perspective is back here, though. Kermit is really the only one who ever reigns in the chaos of the other sweet but unwittingly bizarre Muppets. This movie makes a point of taking Kermit away and replacing him with a disinterested enabler. When that happens, the others spiral off into endless strangeness and don’t even have the self-awareness to realize it’s happening. So there’s an element of sophistication to the storyline that I appreciated.
Now that said, the whole plot is (of course) incredibly silly and ridiculous. I’ve heard people calling it a rip-off of The Great Muppet Caper. I didn’t feel that way. The Great Muppet Caper is actually my favorite Muppet movie (by a long shot, although I’m also fond of The Muppets Take Manhattan). When I was four, I loved puns and could laugh for hours about “the fabulous baseball diamond.” To me, that was the height of wit. And don’t even get me started on John Cleese’s bit about the pig climbing up the side of the house. That still makes me laugh out loud. Diana Rigg and Charles Grodin are also fabulous, and Peter Falk has a wonderful cameo. That’s just a great movie. I could watch it right now.
But this movie isn’t ripping it off. The plot is completely different, and so are all the supporting characters. I mean, Constantine and Kermit being easily distinguishable because of the mole is very similar to Kermit and Fozzie being identical twins indistinguishable except that one wears a hat. But I would call that an homage. And I don’t think it’s inappropriate or particularly lazy under the circumstances.
The premise of the movie doesn’t really matter much, anyway. Muppet movies have always had rather thin, contrived premises. (I did hear that the original title of this installment was The Muppets Again. They should have let that title stand because it’s punched over and over throughout the movie, and I think it works better.)
Clearly this movie was made by fans of the original Muppet movies. Watching it, you almost get the idea that there’s some creative team sitting in the dark watching reels of old film and taking notes, like, “There’s usually a big, kind of meta production number all about how the whole thing is actually a performance,” or “There has to be a scene when Kermit and Piggy fight about their relationship,” or “The others really need Kermit, but they don’t appreciate him enough.” At moments, it feels a little bit Muppets-by-Numbers.
But let’s face it, that’s probably the best we’re going to get. Jim Henson is gone. I remember the day he died vividly. He was a creative genius, and his death was a staggering loss. Nobody can bring the Muppets to life the way he did. Nobody has come remotely close to replicating the winning chemistry he had with Frank Oz on screen, let alone even echoing his creative contributions behind the scenes.
But the people who are trying their hand at bringing the Muppets back now are doing their best to replicate the overall feeling of his work. And the formula pretty much works, most of the time. Bret McKenzie’s songs really help. They’re a creative entity in their own right being blended with the Muppets now to help the franchise along. Even when the story or pacing falters, the songs keep your toes tapping. They’re whimsical and off-kilter and charming and odd. And any Muppet vehicle needs that kind of energy to succeed. Plus there is enough genuine wacky humor and clear respect and fondness for the characters that, overall, the movie wins us over.
As always, the cameos are great fun. Some of them are quite clever this time. Some seem to make sense. Others are a bit more puzzling. (I love Frank Langella, but I have no idea why he shows up in his particular role. Is there some inside joke I’m missing, or does he just love the Muppets, so they found a random cameo for him? I’m not sure.)
Wisely the movie focuses primarily on the Muppets this time and casts the human stars in supporting roles. I’m not particularly a fan of Ricky Gervais. My mother hates him, and normally when she dislikes celebrities, I find myself going out of my way to defend them, but championing Gervais has always proved too Herculean a task for even an apologist of my stature. When I saw that he’d been cast in the Muppet sequel, I immediately thought, Oh no! I’ll never be able to get my mother to see it now!
But you know what? He’s actually really good in this role. I think Gervais plays the perhaps-not-so-misleadingly-named Dominic Badguy just right. His “I’m Number One” duet with Constantine is one of the towering strengths of the early part of the movie.
Throughout the film, Gervais’s line delivery is consistently strong. He does seem to be winking at the audience a bit from time to time, having a joke at the expensive of the credulous, easily hoodwinked Muppets. But he doesn’t turn the character into a joke. When Badguy is not slickly conning Muppets, he takes his work (and himself) very seriously. Gervais plays it straight, and that’s why it works. Yes Badguy’s name is bad guy, and yes, he works for an evil frog, and yes, that evil frog has a conspicuous mole and a thick Russian accent. Does Badguy find any of that funny or ridiculous? Not at all. If he were a minor character in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, he’d play the part in exactly the same way.
Even better than Gervais is Tina Fey (another person who is not on my mother’s Christmas card list). Why no one has thought of teaming up Tina Fey and the Muppets before now is beyond me. In retrospect, the pairing seems so obvious. In fact, after watching how well she clicked with Kermit in this movie, I’d honestly like to see a reboot of The Muppet Show with Fey involved. Seriously The Muppet Show is like a blend of SNL and 30 Rock with more song-and-dance routines and (obviously) more Muppets. Even if Tina Fey is busy (and when isn’t she?), there needs to be a new Muppet Show. At the very least, she could be a guest host. I’ve always liked Tina Fey, but I was honestly somewhat surprised by how conspicuously excellent her scenes were. After the movie, I told my husband, “I would have watched a whole movie called Kermit in the Gulag,” and he agreed.
Best Scene:
When you find out the plot of this movie—most of the Muppets tour Europe putting on sold out shows while Kermit is trapped in a Siberian prison camp—you really wouldn’t expect the most fun and memorable sequences of the film to take place in the Siberian prison camp. And yet that’s exactly what Muppets Most Wanted delivers.
The longer Kermit stays in the gulag, the better the scenes there get. It helps that the gulag scenes feature a great cast. Besides Tina Fey as the prison guard, Nadya, we get Jemaine Clement, Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, and Josh Groban (among others). And best of all, we get Kermit the Frog, the real Kermit the Frog.
At heart, I think that’s why life in the gulag is so superbly entertaining. Tina Fey is there giving a great performance, and her scene partner is Kermit the Frog, the rightful protagonist of any Muppet movie.
Like Gervais, Fey plays her character straight. Yes, it’s funny. But Nadya the prison guard isn’t in on the joke.
I suppose my favorite scene of all comes when everyone is auditioning for Kermit. The musical number that they choose just fits the moment so perfectly, especially if you’re familiar with the musical. There’s an off-the-wall (literally off the wall), absurd hilarity to the entire thing. And then a moment later, we get a quick scene that reminded me (fondly) of the Menudo movie I watched in my seventh grade Spanish class. (I think it may actually be called The Menudo Movie, but I’m not sure.)
Actually one of the things I liked most about the gulag is that the humor is so associative. One minute, Nadya is telling Kermit that there’s no family in the gulag, and the next, she’s going through a nightly ritual that is very reminiscent of a classic TV show about a family.
I actually think Nadya’s character nicely echoes Charles Grodin’s character in The Great Muppet Caper. They’re not alike in temperament or occupation. What I mean is, Grodin’s Nicky Holiday is so desperately, wretchedly in love with Miss Piggy. And it’s not a joke—to Nicky, I mean. He really is legitimately besotted. Fey’s Nadya has a similar intensity.
Funniest Scene:
There’s something winningly random about the first time we see “the wall” and how it works as a punishment. I also liked one-liner about the Tower of London being the most romantic place ever. Not only is that darkly hilarious in its own right, but it reminded me of my honeymoon. We were staying at the Hilton London Tower Bridge, and I didn’t remember to call and confirm the reservation or to find directions to the hotel. When we got there, I told my husband practically, “Well, we’ll just take the train to Victoria Station, then take the tube to the Tower of London. The Tower Bridge should be right by the Tower. Then we’ll walk across the Tower Bridge, and the hotel should be right there.” Sure enough, we could see the Hilton from the Tower Bridge as we walked across. And that is why I love London.
Best Action Sequence:
I love the way the wedding scene plays out. Seriously, I wish my wedding had been like that. And while I’m on the subject, I should note that another towering strength of this film was its improved use of Miss Piggy. She really has a lovely part in this movie, which is nice because in the 2011 film after a fabulous introduction (featuring a very clever cameo from Emily Blunt), Piggy goes on to spend the majority of the movie off in a huff away from the others. The Piggy/Kermit relationship in this one was good, especially in the last act. I just wish they’d done more with Kermit/Fozzie. Frank Oz and Jim Henson had such amazing chemistry as screen partners. They were brilliant as Bert and Ernie, Kermit and Piggy, and Kermit and Fozzie. These new films do make the most of the Kermit/Piggy romance, but they don’t showcase Kermit’s relationship with his exasperating but devoted sidekick Fozzie as well as they could.
Best Song:
Just like last time around, Bret McKenzie’s songs are great. On a first viewing, I didn’t hear anything that sounded as much like a shoo-in for an Oscar as “Man or a Muppet.” But all of the songs were jaunty and pleasant. I personally loved Miss Piggy’s moment with Celine Dion, and my stepson is a huge fan of Constantine’s “I’ll Get You What You Want.” The interrogation song is also extremely catchy.
Best Scene Visually:
Some of the best visual elements come late in the film. We get beautiful shots of The Tower of London and the surrounding area. There’s also a great mirror gag, a car joke, and (my personal favorite) a wonderfully hilarious scene of babies crawling through a tunnel.
The Negatives:
The first part of the movie could definitely be more compelling. Last time around, I remember thinking, “This movie is okay, but it’s supposed to be about the Muppets. Do we really need Jason Segel and Amy Adams?”
But then today, I sat in the darkness realizing, “Hmm, maybe we do need Jason Segel and Amy Adams.” (Maybe we always need Amy Adams. I’ll be honest. I kind of wish she were here right now.) Their romantic subplot (or was it the main plot?) was pretty weak, but together, they brought a lot of star power, charisma, and energy to the screen. And though their opening song was on the long side, by the end of it, we definitely knew for sure which characters mattered and what they all wanted.
By comparison, the beginning of Muppets Most Wanted seems almost spectacularly unfocused. (Seriously, they have a whole big production number about how they’ve got to throw something together fast.) The plot gets underway immediately, but the problem is we don’t feel particularly invested in the characters. As I watched the early scenes of the movie, I found myself thinking, You know, last time around, they did a pretty good job of giving us a reason to care about Jason Segel’s Gary, his suspiciously Muppety brother Walter, and his long-suffering girlfriend Mary. In fact, that was the biggest problem with that movie. It was called The Muppets, but the Muppets were reduced to supporting players. Now that problem is bleeding over into this sequel. Last time we eventually got invested in the protagonists, but now those protagonists aren’t here anymore—except Walter. And we haven’t really gotten to know Kermit and the others properly.
For people my age, this movie is a little confusing. Growing up, I loved the Muppets, but these aren’t exactly the same Muppets. Jim Henson being gone makes a huge difference. I will say, though, that what James Bobin, Nick Stoller, Bret McKenzie (and also Jason Segel) have done with the Muppets is a huge improvement on everything anybody but Jim Henson has tried to do with them before now. Still, the gang may be back together, but it doesn’t feel quite like the ol’ gang. The Kermit/Piggy storyline is surprisingly compelling, but the Kermit/Fozzie camaraderie doesn’t even really exist. The characters seem to have slightly different personalities now, and we don’t have long enough to get to know them all as a group before Kermit disappears.
On the other hand, my daughter volunteered that her favorite characters were Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Animal. So maybe this is not as big a problem for new Muppets fans as for older ones. The beginning of the movie is slow, though. There’s just no real sense of urgency, and there’s no focused star power. It’s hard to become invested in any particular character.
For me, another weakness of the film was the pairing of Ty Burrell and Sam the Eagle. I really like Ty Burrell. He’s great on Modern Family. As far as that goes, I like Sam the Eagle, too. I’m just not sure I like them together.
Part of this may be my own problem. I went in knowing that Christoph Waltz was originally cast in Ty Burrell’s part and that he had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. Knowing that, it’s practically impossible not to imagine Waltz in the part. And my imagination has convinced me that Waltz would be much better in the role. Now whether my imagination is right, of course, is open to debate.
I guess the problem I have with Burrell’s performance is that unlike Gervais and Fey, he doesn’t play it straight. He is having entirely too much fun as the self-consciously ridiculous Interpol agent. He’s laughing at himself too much. He seems like Phil on Modern Family pretending to be an Interpol agent and getting a big kick out of it. (It pains me to write this. In my imagination, I’ll post this review, and nobody in the entire world will actually take the trouble to read it—except Ty Burrell. Seriously, in my mind, he’s reading it right now and weeping at my savage inhumanity. If you are reading this, Ty Burrell, please know that I really like you in Modern Family.)
The part is wittily written. Perhaps it should have been played by a Muppet. Actually, I think the best choice for the part would be someone who is actually French and who pointedly does not seem amused by all the references to long lunch hours and extended vacations, someone who delivers these announcements factually and dares you to laugh at them. That would be extra funny, of course, because any French person willing to take the part would be complicit in the humor of the film. What’s funnier than pretending to be humorless?
Overall:
By the end, I really loved Muppets Most Wanted. It gives us some extremely funny moments, winningly whimsical songs, probably the strongest part Miss Piggy has had in years, and great supporting performances, especially from Tina Fey. Never before has a family movie managed to make hanging out in a Siberian gulag look so strangely appealing!
If you like Muppet movies, you should see this one. All four of us left the theater with smiles on our faces, eager to listen to the soundtrack. I’m glad Disney is pushing the Muppets back into our lives again. Now I’ve got my fingers crossed hoping the future holds a mind-blowing Muppets/Star Wars crossover. You know there’s major merchandising money to be made there, so don’t think for a minute it can’t happen.