In their first big-screen outing since 1999’s Muppets From Space, Kermit, Piggy, Fozzy, Gonzo and the rest are back. The Muppets takes the characters back-to-basics in a move away from their fantastical space/pirates/Dickens phase in the 1990s.
When three muppet fans, including Jason Segel of How I Met Your Mother fame and his puppet brother, Walter (Peter Linz), discover an evil oil baron (Chris Cooper) plans to demolish the disused Muppet theatre to drill for oil, they seek out the help of Kermit the Frog (as himself) to reunite the old gang for one last fundraising show.
Once the basic premise is established, the plot can be fairly easily guessed at, particularly for those familiar with 2002’s It’s A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. It’s formulaic, yes, but also self-aware enough that it doesn’t matter. Hilarity ensues with laugh-out-loud moments coming thick and fast. The number of self-referential moments make this both a fitting tribute to the original Muppet Show and a clever comedy with enough celebrity cameos, in-jokes and cultural references (Honeydew and Beaker working at the LHC, anyone?) to keep people of all ages thoroughly entertained.
It puts other family musical comedies such as Alvin and the Chipmunks to shame, with genuinely funny, catchy and moving songs, compared to the rodents’ ear-bleedingly awful renditions of pop hits.
The journey of uber-fan Walter is akin to that of Segel making the film in real life. A fan of the show, he wanted to see the Muppets brought to a new generation so approached Disney to write and star in the new film, and his enthusiasm shines through without overshadowing his brightly-coloured co-stars.
In many ways this is homage to the original show, as Segal attempts to do for the Muppets what JJ Abrams did for Star Trek, but with a better understanding of black holes. He pays tribute to a time when children’s entertainment didn’t need to gross out its audience to get laughs, and has a few jabs at the media along the way.
It’s not perfect. Fans of Rizzo the Rat will be disappointed that he gets only a few seconds of screen time, and there are moments of borderline-schmalz. The cold-hearted may also bemoan the inevitability of the plot, as well as the unnecessary romance of the two human protagonists which is all-but forgotten about then hurriedly concluded in the final act. Fox News branded it socialist propaganda (“Are liberals trying to brainwash your kids against Capitalism?”) for having a message that there are more important things in life than money, and if that doesn’t make you want to go and see it, nothing will.
All-in-all this is an outstanding return to form for characters who are older than most actors in Hollywood, and anyone who doesn’t leave the cinema with a smile on their face must be either dead inside or a Fox News pundit.
8/10