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After multiple disappointing attempts in bringing the Muppets back
into the mainstream – they finally did it! Finally, a highly entertaining Muppet movie!
Honestly, this is quite possibly the best Muppet movie ever made. And is quite possibly one of the
best movies to hit theaters in 2011.
Walter, the world’s
biggest Muppet fan, his brother Gary (played by funnyman Jason Segel) and Gary’s girlfriend Mary (played
by the adorable and highly talented Amy Adams) must help Kermit the Frog reunite the Muppets to help save the Muppet
Theater from the grasp of a evil businessman who plans to demolish the studio to drill for oil (played by Chris Cooper).
The Muppets was written by Nicholas Stoller (writer of Get Him
to the Greek) and Jason Segel himself. The script itself is movie gold, but it is topped off with
the clever and hilarious songs written by Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords). I am not a
musical person, but each and every song featured in The Muppets is truly genius and highly entertaining. Especially
when it comes to “Man or Muppet” (winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Song). Let’s
just say the best cameo in this movie is featured during this sequence. (and that’s saying a
lot because Selena Gomez makes a cameo in the movie, and you know how much I love her)
Speaking of cameos… one thing that comes to mind about the early Muppet movies is definitely the cameos.
And although I feel they could have been a little stronger (maybe feature more well known celebrities like they
originally promised), but it was fun to see many of the great celebrities here to support such a great movie: Selena
Gomez, Alan Arkin, Emily Blunt, Neil Patrick Harris, Mickey Rooney, Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Dave Grohl, Zach Galifianakis…
just to name a few. Each cameo was great, it was almost like playing “Where’s Waldo”…
who can pick out the most celebrities? It’s just a shame that so many celebrity cameos were found
on the cutting room floor, especially the cameo featuring Danny Trejo behind bars. (which can be found in the “deleted / extended scenes” section of the Blu-ray/DVD
release)
I grew up on the Muppets, Gonzo, The Swedish Chef, Rowlf the Dog…
it was such a joy seeing each and every one of the Muppets once again on the big screen… and now on Blu-ray!
If I can just say one negative thing about the movie, I do feel they had maybe too many Muppets featured in the movie.
I know they wanted to feature all of them, especially the ones that have been overlooked for so many years.
But… I think it took away some great quality screen time for many of the Muppets with minimal parts in the movie.
For instance, Rizzo the Rat… I only saw him in the background during one of the scenes. The
Swedish Chef, although his part started off relatively larger than expected… his character soon drizzled out of the
movie as it progressed. And even larger characters such as Scooter, Gonzo and Rowlf the Dog – their
parts seemed very minimal. The story, of course, seemed to focus mainly around the three main characters:
Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and Walter. Some more screen time for the background Muppets would have been
nice.
It was truly amazing to see the Muppets in such a mass marketed,
high budget release instead of another direct to TV or direct to DVD movie. It’s no wonder that The
Muppets is the highest-grossing film in the franchise to date! I hear there is a sequel already in the
works, I hope it doesn’t disappoint. Don’t just rent this movie, go out and buy it!
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