Review: The Muppets

It dawned on me earlier this week that I've seen every single Muppet movie in a theater on its original theatrical release, from The Muppet Movie (which I love) to The Great Muppet Caper (my very favorite) to Muppets From Space (oh, dear). I couldn't believe it myself, but it's true. And now actor/writer/Muppet fan Jason Segel has brought us The Muppets, a new movie starring every Muppet he could find, including a new one, and his own non-Muppet self. While it's a fun outing, I would have liked it better with less Segel and more Muppets, but again, look where I'm coming from -- a child who was told when she was growing up that she was the exact same age as Sesame Street (which I found out later wasn't quite true), and who thought that was awesome.

Those of you who are familiar with the felt folk -- and apart from my Muppet-hating husband, I'm assuming the Slackerwood demographic includes many old-school Muppet fans -- might be surprised to learn that it takes 20 minutes or so for the old familiar Muppets to appear onscreen in the movie, except indirectly. The story opens with a focus on two small-town brothers, Gary (Segel, again with the man-child) and Walter, an Anything Muppet performed by Peter Linz. Walter -- who believes he's human -- is obsessed with the Muppets, and when Gary and his longtime girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) decide to take a romantic trip to Los Angeles, Walter tags along so he can visit the famous Muppet Studios.

When the trio finally arrive at the Muppet Studios, after some singing and dancing, Walter is devastated by the decrepit, neglected buildings and accidentally stumbles across their new owner, millionaire Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), who has secret plans to blow it all up and drill for oil underneath. Walter realizes the only way to save the studio is to get the original Muppets involved and raise $10 million, so he and Gary and Mary decide to track down the gang, starting with Kermit.

The problem is that we have to go through all that exposition just to get to Kermit ... and then the movie turns into a Muppet-y Blues Brothers for a bit (mind you, this is not a bad thing) while they put the band back together, so to speak, to raise money for the orphanage-nope-I-mean-studio. And once the old familiar Muppets show up onscreen, the movie blossoms. Until then, all we get are humans and a fairly generic Muppet character. And the three of them are really the main characters of this movie, which is unfortunate because they're not nearly as interesting as our old Muppet friends.

However, it's worth dealing with the nutty humans and their predictable plot situations in order to get to some truly inspired Muppet scenes. The "putting the band back together" sequences were fun and I was sorry they were cut off, frankly. Animal in particular has a wonderful subplot. I don't think it's at all spoilery to tell you that a big Muppet variety show sequence is going to occur, and that is the highlight of the movie, with some hilarious numbers. Again, I wished that had been the bulk of the film, with the storyline going on backstage, like in A Prairie Home Companion.

The Muppets' musical numbers that are not part of the actual variety show tend to flail. The idea of having Amy Adams and Miss Piggy duet in "Me Party" sounds great but practically ground the movie to a halt; the "Man or Muppet" number with Gary and Walter wasn't much better. And I was very disappointed in the choice of music for the sequence in which the Muppets start rebuilding their theater ... really? You couldn't find anything better than Jefferson Starship? Finally, the finale was a rehash of an earlier number, and seemed almost hasty -- and again, with too many humans involved.

And then there's the musical number involving Chris Cooper, which has to be seen to be believed and fortunately is just short enough to be amusingly bizarre and not annoying. Cooper is a wonderful villain, in the fine tradition of other human bad guys in Muppet movies. The Muppets gets this exactly right, although again, I'm still not sure how I felt about that musical moment.

Speaking of humans, the cameos are numerous and often unnecessary -- well, I've sometimes thought the same thing about other Muppet movies. Perhaps it's become a tradition. Still, there are a few standouts, notably Jack Black. My goodness, Black is practically a Muppet himself. As much as I like Segel in other movies, Black interacts much more effectively with Muppets. Zach Galifianakis is also very Muppet-y. And Kristen Schaal is terrific as the moderator of an anger management group. On the other hand, what the hell James Carville was doing in this movie, I will never know. I got the impression that some actors just wanted to be in a Muppet movie even if it meant they took a quick walk-on role (Donald Glover, for example), and I can't argue with that.

The Muppets spends more time with humans than I want in a Muppet movie, but fortunately the Muppets do manage to take over the screen and act delightful. As someone who's been watching Muppets since toddler age, I can spot the voice changes and they're occasionally disconcerting, but not for long. And there are a few wince-inducing misfires, like a certain fart joke that was almost tolerable the first time, but then showed up a second time and became irritating. But it's worth sitting through the brief lulls and flaws to get to brilliant moments like the musical number involving chickens, and another moment involving Kermit and Piggy that is a sweet reminder about why so much of us have enjoyed the Muppets for so long.