Saturday, November 26, 2011

It's Time to Play the Music, It's Time to Light the Lights...

Review: The Muppets

It's time to meet the Muppets on "The Muppet Show" tonight!

They’re back! But are they better than ever? In the new Muppets movie, Gary (Jason Segel), Mary (Amy Adams), and unaware Muppet Walter team up with Kermit the Frog to get the old gang back together to save the Muppet Theater from being torn down by evil oil tycoon, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Since The Muppets is a relatively simple film, I thought I would try and do a more simplistic review than usual… 

Thumbs Up:
  • The film is great at reintroducing the Muppets for a new generation of audiences; Jason Segel and company are clearly huge fans of the Muppets.
  • The nostalgic throwbacks for older fans of the show abound. 
  • The musical numbers are classic and, in the case of the “Pictures in My Head,” “Let’s Talk About Me,” and “Man or Muppet” songs, truly inspired. 
  • Some celebrity cameos are hilarious. 
  • The humor works for kids and adults (kinda like Shrek). 
  • The finale is thunderously epic. 
  • The Toy Story short, "Small Fry," that plays beforehand is another Pixar short classic. 

Thumbs Down:
  • It takes the film almost 20 minutes to begin to introduce the original Muppets. 
  • The actual plot isn’t incredibly strong or inventive, being similar to many other original Muppet projects. 
  • Having so many characters and stories makes trying to take them all in a bit overwhelming. 
  • You barely even notice some celebrity cameos. 
  • Animal desperately tries to resist playing the drums the whole movie and when he finally gives in, his performance is rather anti-climactic. 
  • Where was the "Sesame Street" cameo? There’s always a "Sesame Street" cameo! 

Ultimately, The Muppets is enjoyable, but leans a bit too heavily on the past and isn’t the more complete stand-alone film it could have been. But it remains a lot of fun for all ages. Oh, and one more thing… Mahna Mahna!

The Final Word (if you're a Muppet fan): Go buy a ticket.
The Final Word (if you're not that familiar with them): Wait to rent it.

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