In the normal course of reviewing a “kid's movie,” a natural question tends to be, “But how much does it offer any adults in the audience?” So it is a bit backwards to leave a Muppets movie asking, “But how much does it offer any kids in the audience?”
Here's one thing that seems almost certain: if you love the Muppets, particularly The Muppet Show, then you'll almost certainly love the movie. It is the purest example of a nostalgia play I've seen in a long time. Scriptwriters Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller are clearly in that camp and do nothing to betray the trust placed in them. The Muppets are not dropped, fish out of water, into a cynical world like in The Brady Bunch Movie (1996). This isn't a Judd Apatow bromance with drug humor and gross-out gags.
Simply, it is a Muppet movie made by people who love what Muppet movies have been.
If you don't have those strong nostalgic connections, however, there isn't a whole lot offered to bring you onto the bandwagon.
Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (Peter Linz) are brothers from Smalltown. Smalltown is like the black-and-white version of Pleasantville (1998) but more clean-cut. You'd be excused for jumping to the conclusion that Walter is a Muppet, but that would be wrong. Yes, he's a puppet, but nobody seems to be aware of that (though his prom date appears to sense somethings not quite right).
As a young boy, Walter discovers The Muppet Show on TV and is their biggest fan, and so it is a dream come true when Gary, getting ready to take his long-time girlfriend, Mary, to L.A., takes Walter along to visit the mythical Muppet Studios (played by the El Capitan exterior).
Of course, out in Hollywood, a set of a show that hasn't been on TV for 30 years isn't a huge tourist attraction, and the trio find it run-down and patronized mostly by tourists unable to find Universal Studios. When Walter overhears the plans of an evil oil tycoon (the only kind of oil tycoon there is, played by Chris Cooper) to buy the studio and destroy it, Walter knows what has to be done: He has to let Kermit know, get the show back together and do one more big show to raise enough money to save the studio.
Thus begins the best part of the movie, as all the characters are reintroduced, and we learn what has been going on with them. Most of the gags solidly connect. Let's just say that Fozzie isn't cut out for Reno.
The second half of the movie, as the big show comes together, doesn't work quite as well. It jumps around constantly, trying to fulfill too many storylines (Walter's burgeoning independence from Gary, Gary realizing he's taking Mary for granted, Kermit and Miss Piggy working through their issues, an '80s robot) to give any of them much attention. Then there are the acts that made The Muppet Show what it was: they're hinted at, but never actually shown in any detail.
In that sense, though, it is like the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies—sometimes the decision was made to just leave a blank, knowing the real fans would be able to fill in the holes.
There lies the problem, though. I'm not a real fan. As with everybody my age, I watched the Muppets when I was a kid, but they never quite worked for me. I was amused, but never fell in love (it may be blasphemous to admit that for me, the pinnacle of Muppet entertainment was the Muppet Babies Saturday morning cartoon). The Muppet movie continues that. I was willing to go along with this silliness, breaking the fourth wall, and there are quite a few good gags. But I still didn't care all that much.
The movie practically cries out that The Muppets should be relevant to kids again, but I'm not sure it ever really stops looking back at what it was in 1977 to explain what it could be in 2012. That could be the cynical view of a 37-year-old who never much got into them in the first place, but it may be noteworthy that at my screening, which are often packed with 6-year-olds, very few of the adults brought any children.
Now an overly defensive recap for those who will email me to tell me how cold, heartless, and lacking in any redeeming sense of fun and imagination I am (though it is the only time my mom emails me): I did not hate the movie, I kind of liked it. I also think it fulfills its intent, which just happens to be something not targeted to me. And that is OK.
The Muppets is a Walt Disney Pictures release.
Wide theatrical release Wednesday, November 23.
Directed by James Bobin.
Screenplay by Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, and Matt Vogel
Running time: 90 minutes
Rated PG for some mild rude humor
Alex's Rating: 7 out of 10
[Note: When originally published this article misspelled the name of Steve Whitmire.]
