The Muppets (2011): ****

Gary (Jason Segel) and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) are heading out of Smalltown to L.A. for their 10^th anniversary. Tagging along is Gary’s felt brother Walter (Peter Linz), a massive fan of The Muppet Show, who is excited to finally see The Muppet Studios in L.A. Whilst visiting the deserted studios, Walter overhears oil baron Tex Richman’s (Chris Cooper) plans to destroy the Muppet Theater and build an oil drill in its place. Walter, Gary and Mary find and warn Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire) about Richman’s evil scheme. Walter convinces Kermit to gather the Muppets back together for one last performance to raise the money to buy the theatre. 

The Muppets is a slightly off-beat mixture of the old-fashioned and the contemporary musical comedy, with a sprinkling of nostalgic moments. It has the tap-dancing sequences and big chorus numbers, rap sequences and Muppet covers of songs – such as ‘Forget You’ and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ – and old fan favourites like ‘Rainbow Connection’. The film could have easily felt like it was pandering towards the audience, but it manages to pull it off successfully. The sweetness of The Muppets is tempered by the sadness acknowledging that the golden age of the Muppets has long past. But rather than feeling sorry for itself the film pushes forwards, devoting equal attention to the drama between the humans and the Muppets, and the comedic sequences. The Muppets never explains why the Muppets disbanded in the first place, but we see where they have washed up: Fozzie Bear performs with the tribute band The Moopets (Eric Jacobson), Gonzo is the plumbing king (Dave Goelz) and Miss Piggy (Jacobson) is naturally working at Vogue Paris. The comedy is a mix of vaudeville, ‘It’s an idiom, you idiot’, slapstick and the self-reflective, ‘If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were reciting some sort of important plot point’. 

Some moments in The Muppets go slightly astray, mainly with the main villain Tex Richman. The character is not interesting and is rather one-note compared to the other main human characters, especially as a villain. Richman also has the one musical number that falls flat, a rap called ‘Let’s Talk About Me’, although it does contain the nice gag of a cupboard full of chorus girls. Apparently Mitt Romney isn’t the only one with a cabinet full of women (topical humour!). Apart from that, Bret McKenzie’s original songs are witty and fun to listen to, especially ‘Life’s A Happy Song’. Some of the CGI-assisted moments are a bit sloppy in execution, particularly whenever a Muppet is fired into the sky. There’s a sense that The Muppets have so many celebrity cameos that director James Bobin isn’t quite sure how to utilise them effectively.    

  

The Muppets are performed by many veterans of the Jim Henson company, including the aforementioned puppeteers, Bill Barretta, David Rudman and Matt Vogel. In terms of human actors, Jason Segel plays the man-child Gary, always willing to help but not always considerate of other people’s feelings. Segel plays the character well, adopting a cheerful smile and big dopey eyes. Amy Adams is well-cast as Mary, elementary schoolteacher and capable of fixing a car. Adams does a good job of conveying Mary’s inner frustrations and sadness about her current relationship with Gary. Both Adams and Segel possess good singing voices, although Amy Adams has the better set of lungs and is a more skilled dancer than Jason Segel. 

The Muppets is a heart-felt and fun musical comedy, both hard-core Muppets fans and newcomers will find something to enjoy.