Muppets : Most Wanted

'The Muppets: Most Wanted (2014)' picks up right after the muppets finish filming 'The Muppets (2011)'. This meta self-awareness continues throughout the piece, though to varying degrees, and is especially evident in the opening musical number in which the characters sing about doing a sequel. The first film must be based on a 'true story', though, because its events (the muppets getting back together, Walter being introduced) are directly referenced as having happened to the muppets even though the opening makes it explicit that the film itself is the reason for the muppet's reunion and subsequent success (which kicks in prior to their picture even being edited, since this starts as soon as they shoot the last shot and wrap up production). Confused? Well, the flick doesn't want you to think about it. It steams ahead with almost reckless abandon, unconcerned with most of its throwaway humour, which leads to a 'just go with it' vibe and prevents any semblance of self-seriousness. It's a distinct yet mostly successful approach that fits with the inherent silliness of the age-old 'puppets and people' concept. The flick is enjoyable enough for what it is, filled with a host colourful core characters and a slew of throwaway yet inoffensive celebrity cameos. There are plenty of lively musical numbers and the piece is relatively funny on occasion (though never side-splitting, by any means). A lot of the comedy is based around ever-so-slightly xenophobic stereotypes, but this feels more lazy than malicious. Therefore, it isn't particularly bothersome, even though it does make a lot of the movie seem somewhat old-fashioned. The most successful aspects of the feature are its villains, a dastardly doppelgänger and an in-the-closet furry. Their evil plan is as predictable as you'd expect, but the picture doesn't make a point of focusing on its plot and just uses it as a catalyst for its somewhat creaky comedy and its catchy song-and-dance routines (the latter of which includes an excellent 80s pop-ballad parody). Ultimately, this is a well-executed and generally enjoyable affair. There isn't anything particularly wrong with it, but it's only ever so engaging or, even, entertaining. It's good enough for a bit of throwaway fun, though. To be fair, it never pretends to be anything more than that. 6/10.

Jim Henson's successors have tried for years to re-capture the magic of the original Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and Muppets Take Manhattan and have failed to take us to that special land of wonderment.

2011's "The Muppets" tried hard (maybe too hard) but stumbled out the gate by making us sit through unbearable musical numbers such as Texas Richman's rap and Amy Adams' "Me Party." It's plot also focused on a new Muppet, Walter, as well his human brother Jason Segel and his girlfriend Amy Adams rather than center around the original Muppet cast that we love so dear.

The creators of Muppets Most Wanted understood these shortcomings and comically pointed them out. I'm not saying that Muppets Most Wanted is as good as the original three, or date say better. But it is as close to Muppet-Greatness as we've been since Jim Henson's passing.

The writers found that perfect balance between silly and witty. The plot centered around the beloved original characters, while introducing a hilarious new villain. The musical numbers had that uplifting, old-school feel and never induced cringing.

We finally have a post-Henson Muppet Movie that will stand the test of time. Rejoice!

Having read a few strangely critical reviews, I felt compelled to add my own for balance. I am not going to compare this to this Muppet movie or that. I already see too many people doing that.

Having grown up with the original Muppet Show and seeing every movie and many TV specials, I have seen this bunch put together movies and shows with varying success.

The return to the big screen a few years ago was very welcome, and very well done. With this movie, I think they topped that and quite a few others! To me, as a lifelong fan, this easily ranks near the top of the best Muppet movies made.

Once I heard the opening number to the movie, I knew I was in for a treat. Every song in this movie was pure Muppet. Jim Henson always had a way of celebrating the best we all have to offer with a twinkle in his eye and a joke or two along the way. That spirit lives on in this movie. Whether it's doo wop, cheesy 70s music, or just a fun musical number, they cover a lot of ground.

The plot, as you may already be aware, involves some creative switcharoo, which is played off very well. This leads to a number of interesting scenes on both sides.

The movie is paced very well, and does a good job of switching back and forth between story lines. Just as you become reinvested in one, you're switched back to the other. You will most likely see your favorite Muppet at some point, although only a handful have significant parts. I always enjoy the familiar faces in the background scenes.

The human/Muppet ratio was back where it should be. Any proper Muppet movie should always star the muppets, with humans being "around". This delivered that perfectly, but also picked the perfect co-stars. Ty Burrell is fantastic, and his time with Sam the Eagle is wonderful, and something I had been looking forward to. Of course Tina Fey is great as well. She's Tina Fey!

There is a lot of well done will they or won't they at the end. You'll have to see for yourself if they do or if they don't!

And finally, while the matinée I went to wasn't hugely attended, there were a number of kids in the audience, and they all seemed to like the movie very much, even clapping at the end.

I personally enjoyed this movie quite a bit. I laughed A LOT. It's fun. It's silly. It's somewhat absurd at times, and that's what the Muppets are all about. And of course, they remind you how great it is to stick together with your friends and family. And any movie that can get the seal of approval from kids that includes clapping must be doing something right!

So, I saw it last night... and as much as I enjoyed it, something seemed missing. For a devoted fan like me, I believe the missing piece was the emotional impact that many of the great Muppet movies have had. Don't get me wrong, MMW was definitely fun, and I highly recommend it to anyone with kids, to keep the legacy alive. There was plenty of in-joke meta humor, sight-gags, visual puns (Christoph Waltz cameos as himself, dancing the Waltz with a bear), like the last one (and so many before that), which I love. There were references to previous movies (including nice plot AND song callbacks to The Muppets Take Manhattan - one of my favorite Muppet movies ever), and characters (Rizzo and Kermit's nephew Robin get a fun moment). And maybe it's just because the first movie of the Muppets reboot was SO damn good, and contained such incredible levels of nostalgia, but for long-time fans like myself, MMW didn't connect with me quite as well.

One big missing piece of the puzzle from the last movie, though, is Jason Segel. Even though this was written by Nicholas Stoller, Segel's writing partner in the first movie, the dialogue and the jokes sometimes fell a little flat. Segel's obvious deep-seeded love and fandom of the Muppets showed through in his script, and that same level of love wasn't here. Plus, Segel as Gary in the first movie, just brought a lot of on- screen fun with him. But of course, I understand that the Muppets don't typically have any permanent human counterparts, so if he had just continued writing on this one, I'd have been happy.

The songs were cute and fun, but nothing here nearly compares to the last film's soundtrack. Nothing catchy enough to stay in my head, like 'Man or Muppet' or 'Life's a Happy Song' were. No emotional punch like 'Pictures in My Head' was. I'm afraid that Bret McKenzie will not likely be able to continue his streak of Best Song Oscars. One of the more fun musical highlights, though, was Constantine's (the villain - who was just basically Kermit with a mole and ... a frog in his throat *rimshot*) off-handed seduction of Miss Piggy in one of his (THREE!) songs, "I'll Get You What You Want".

The human co-stars of the movie were Ty Burrell (Modern Family), Tina Fey and Ricky Gervais. All three shine in their scenes, and all seem to be up for all the fun of your typical Muppet movie, but Fey really stood out in her song "In The Gulag". She plays an over-the-top stereotypical Russian guard, keeping Kermit under lock and key for being mistaken for Constantine (the World's Most Dangerous Frog!), complete with Kermit, at one point, wearing a "Hogan's Heroes"-style hat. The rest of the human cameos were really fun, too. Hobo Joe re-cameos in this one, a carryover from the first movie. There's a cute surprise cameo at the end of the movie. The other standout amongst the cameos for me was Danny Trejo, who at one point, late in the film, you realize is playing... Danny Trejo, the Russian gulag prisoner, which I found to be immensely hilarious. A lot of the cameos are 'blink and you'll miss 'em', though. So the movie does have some rewatchability value for me, at some point.

The last thing I'll point out here is that there seemed to be a lot of Muppet cameos as well. MANY different older generation Muppets show up as background characters, so it was fun to play 'Spot the Familiar Muppet' throughout the film. My favorite was the Muppet Newsman, who unfortunately, had nothing bad happen to him.

So overall, I think the Muppet legacy has a great chance at continuing their legacy, and I think the last movie gained a lot of new young fans of the franchise, who will all enjoy this one immensely (since kids don't really have the same sort of emotional attachment to the Muppets that I might). I enjoyed the movie greatly for what it was, but am slightly disappointed in the movie for what I thought it could be. I look forward to the next movie, and may actually go back and give this one another chance, to see if maybe I misjudged it the first time around. Sometimes Muppet movies are like that... they take a second viewing to really appreciate the more subtle humor elements, catch some of the sight gags you might have missed the first time around, etc.

If any of you were planning to go this weekend, please don't be swayed by my review here to convince you otherwise. Go see it! And please come back and tell me how wrong I am. I'd love that, more than anything.

I hate to give the Muppets anything less than a 10, I really do. I'm an enormous Muppets fan, but this movie disappointed on a couple counts.

First, they started using CGI - A lot.

The charm of the Muppets is that... well, they are puppets. That somehow got lost in translation in this movie when some scenes included full bodies of dancing and walking Muppets. In the past movies, Muppets were shown full-bodied only as stop-action; but the CGI thing just takes the fun and mystery out of it.

Another negative is over-saturation of the Muppets. They are everywhere now, from car commercials to my lunch at Subway. Disney is milking the franchise to death, sadly, so the movie doesn't have that special pop.

All that said, the movie starts with a bang. It's a hilarious transition from the last film, though the absence of Jason Segal is quickly noticed. A cameo may have done justice there.

Overall, the movie is fun; though the writing didn't get a lot of laugh- out-loud moments like their other films. The evil Kermit concept was well executed and the human actors were excellent in their roles. A few good songs, but nothing I'd commit to memory to sing on a road trip.

It's worth a watch for every Muppet fan, and overall a strong 7 out of 10.