If you've ever wanted to feel extremely nostalgic this is a movie to do it. I consider myself to have a fairly terrible memory of childhood. That's not to say my childhood was bad, merely that unlike my sister, I don't remember a lot from when I was 8 and younger. Despite not being able to distinctly ever watching any episode of the Muppet show from the 70s, Sesame Street, or Fraggle Rock this movie made me feel like a kid again.
Made from a script by Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Nick Stoller, and with new music from Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), the Muppets preys on your desire to be a kid and remember the better, naive bliss you used to have. I saw this movie while home for Thanksgiving at about 11pm at night, thinking that it being a kids movie, it would be as empty as the Sunday matinee I frequent. The theater was about 60% without a child in sight, it was kind of awesome to see.
The movie's plot is simple and lovely, just as a movie whose main characters are puppets probably should be. An oil tycoon played amusingly by Chris Cooper (Breach) is going to acquire the Muppet Studios and drill for oil if the Muppets can't acquire $10 million dollars by a deadline. The Muppets, led by the efforts of a new Muppet named Walter, must get back together from around the world and put on a show to raise the money. If it feels similar to part of the plot of the Blues Brothers, it's because it does, and that was fine by me.
The movie features standout performances from Kermit the Frog (The Muppet Movie) and Animal (The Muppets Take Manhattan), and from Amy Adams (Doubt) as well. The new songs don't feel out of place, a huge accomplishment I think, with the best in my opinion being the duet between Segal and Walter "Man or Muppet". The movie finishes with a slight surprise, and a great message for the audience.
The movie won't win any awards, except for maybe original song, but given its success at the box office $70 million domestic on a $45 million dollar budget will likely get a sequel. It just goes to show that a long dormant franchise can succeed if given a good story and production team.
Matt Brickell is a senior writer for Rambles and Reviews and believes not all movies need to have a boatload of CGI to be entertaining.
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