Muppets Most Wanted (2014) Alright, being the big Muppets enthusiast that I am I certainly couldnt turn this opening night screening down. It seems with just about every classic entertainment figure out there, the best that those characters have to offer (mostly) came from the days of their original appearances. Does that mean the new stuff they star in is always bad? Of course not. I always think the best Muppet productions will always be the ones from the days Jim Henson led the Muppet team. There have been some weak productions since Henson died, but there are also some that still lead me laughing till my throat gets sore; especially the last one released in 2011. So where does Most Wanted stand? Well I think the opening number was right in saying it wouldnt be as good as the first. None-the-less most sequels arent perfect, but still end up a lot of fun. To be frank none of the Muppet sequels have even topped the original 1979 classic. This movie is basically like watching a updated version of 1981s The Great Muppet Caper. Twice the amount of show stopping numbers, international locations, special puppetry effects, cameo guest stars....this sequel basically went all out on its production values. Still most of it all comes out well. The story sticks to the classic Muppets motif that good things can come when people stay together and work together. Kermit is portrayed once again as a leader who wants the best for his friends, but has trouble when his friends expect him to follow all of his demands. A con-man disguised as a tour manager tricks them into going on an international tour, which Kermit doesnt trust, but his friends go along with it anyway. Soon Kermit becomes accused of being the worlds most dangerous frog, while the real bad guy tricks the Muppets into thinking hes Kermit. Thankfully this movie had all the laughs one could handle. The Muppets can still offer the classic irreverent but not too over-the-top humor of the classic Muppets, whether its clever fourth wall breaking, priceless puns or harmless slap-stick. While most of the movie is funny though, the movie did fall victim to a little problem present in most family-film sequels. As with some good sequels like Toy Story 2 and Shrek 2, Most Wanted was very big on pop-culture references which sort of weaken the charm of the story and make it a bit of a product placement commercial, whether its referencing Toy Story or Celine Dion. The last film did this a lot as well. When you compare the cameo guest star appearances in this film to the old ones, they tend to make it too obvious that the stars are making cameos, where-as it came off looking clever in the original films when the actors never really revealed who they were. In this film, the main human actors have the most entertaining quality to them. Tina Fey is hilarious as the over-the-top prison guard Nadya who is very serious at her job and at heart. Ricky Gervais is also really good as the persistent Badgee (I mean Badguy.). Ty Burrell unfortunately comes off kind of weak, he still gives out some laughs playing Jean Pierre, but his presence generally felt dull. The puppetry on the Muppets seems to get more revolutionary with each new release. The Muppets are actually starting to look like living creatures in the world they exist in with the way you can never ever see a string leading from their arms, and they way they interact and move throughout certain scenes while maintaining the size stature weve come to expect them to be. If George Lucus were involved in this, most likely wed be seeing CGI Muppets by now, but thankfully the Muppet team is like Studio Ghibli with their characters they like to follow tradition. The songs, as with the last movie, come off being fun and somehow useful, and occasionally unnessecary with a majority of them being of the former category. Were Doing A Sequel is a great establishment of the movie we are about to see despite some questionable pop-culture talk, with other songs like My Name First____Your Name and The Big House standing out as fun throwbacks to old-fashioned pop hits while also explaining something about the story. Its songs like Miss Piggys version of My Heart Will Go On and other real songs that seem unnecessary and are just their to sell popular music. I thank the creators though for giving us a throwback too the old days with Together Again from The Muppet Take Manhattan at the end. Over-all, it was great to see the Muppets together again, and hopefully they will live on the way Jim Henson had wanted them to. Muppets Most Wanted is kind of long, and strong on pop culture talk, but its also strong on all the heart that has made the Muppets the lovable and comedic friends they are to the world. TAKE THAT ADAM SANDLER ! 7.5/10
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 20:13:06 +0000
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