The Muppets (2011)

Maniacal Laugh!

Let’s be honest, this is a Muppet Movie. I don’t expect an amazing plot, stunning cinematography, or tour-de-force performances. I do expect a plot that isn’t too weak or nonsense, that clips along at a reasonable pace and characters & actors that looks like they want to be there and aren’t awful just because they’re along-side a bunch of puppets. Most of all I expect to laugh; and this I did.

Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) go to LA to celebrate their 10th anniversary. With them goes Gary’s brother Walter (a muppet), who is Muppet Show crazy. When they visit the Muppet Studios they find it in ruin and the evil Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) on the cusp of buying them. Richman is going to rip down the studios and drill for oil, unless Walter can persuade Kermit to get the Muppets together for one last show to raise $10M!

The Muppets were spot on; tremendous good fun, excellent cameos, and an underlying message about believing in yourself & finding out who you really are. I knew ages ago that Jason Segel was in the film, but it was only relatively recently that I realised that he co-wrote it as well. As the main human star he is suitably cheesy and over-the-top, particularly during the first song; I did like the fact that he clearly can’t dance and so during a huge choreographed sequence he just wiggled a bit at the front! He also has a tremendous range in silly faces:

          

Amy Adams doesn’t really do much, but Chris Cooper is pretty good as the daft evil Tex Richman (maniacal laugh!); mercifully his rap song was very short! Of course the Muppets are the stars of the show, and all the favourites are there, with a suitable number of Kermit flails, but not as much Beaker as I’d have liked. Now, I don't really like musicals at all, but the songs are all fairly inoffensive, and Am I a Muppet or a Man is done very well.

Great fun and very funny; I think that’s all I have to say!