Muppets 2 - Ricercati

After being successfully rebooted in 2011 in The Muppets they return in Muppets Most Wanted and end up in London (their spiritual home) as well as other European cities.

The famous again Muppets have a new manager Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) and they embark on a world tour but the tour is a front as Badguy and his cohort Constantine (A Kermit lookalike who has replaced Kermit) rob historical venues across Europe. Tina Fey is fun as the prison guard in a Russian gulag where the real Kermit has been sent to.

Ty Burrell is Interpol Inspector Napoleon, co investigating with CIA agent Sam the Eagle while at the same time poking fun at French stereotypes.

There are many cameos some are blink and you miss them ranging from James McAvoy, Lady Gaga, Christoph Waltz, Frank Langella, Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Salma Hayek and Tom Hiddleston.

The film is fun enough, a solid and enjoyable film with a good musical number (The Gulag Song) near the end of the film. Its not as good as The Muppets and borrows from earlier films such as The Great Muppet Caper. Then again the film acknowledges that sequels are not as good as the original film in its opening number. Jason Segel's absence is felt in this film and it also does feel a little bit flabby here and there.

'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.

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.

The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his sidekick Number Two.

The last film put the Muppet's back on the the map, director/writer James Bobin and writer Nicholas Stoller corrects Bobin's own previous instalments niggles, gone is the focus on a new Muppet character and less focus on (real) human actors, here there's more Muppets, more songs, comedy and action.

Packed with one-liners gags and with the obligatory cross section of famous cameos including Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Frank Langella and Ray Liotta to name a few there's all you'd expect from a Muppets musical comedy caper. This offering even excels it predecessor and brings the Muppet's even more to life with some CGI (footwork) but without taking away any of the puppet characteristics of the Muppets we've grown to love along side the human leads Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey who are on fine form.

This is another proper big budget outing set in the 'real' world and not cheap TV movie nor is it based on a classic story. Most Wanted is a fine return to form and sits well with the classic Muppet capers. Highly recommended.

When The Muppets came out in 2011 people really liked it and therefore a sequel was made. The sequel Muppets Most Wanted was not as successful as it's predecessor. It wasn't as much a financial hit and people didn't dig it as much and it seems like The Muppets are back to the way they were after Muppets From Space. I actually really loved Muppets Most Wanted. At the time I thought it was better than The Muppets and in ways it is. The jokes are smarter. The songs are better and it feels more like a traditional Muppet movie than it's predecessor but this movie is not without it's flaws. The flaws are that Walter has more screen time than Gonzo and even Fozzie. That's just wrong! And the humans need to take a huge backseat to the Muppets. Tina Fey more than Ricky Gervais and Ty Burrell. Overall I think this is a great Muppet movie but it's so depressing how underrated it is. I hope this is not the end of The Muppets on the big screen. I'm an aspiring actor and filmmaker, maybe I should be like Jason Segel and try to bring them back if nobody else does. Even then I've always wanted to make a Muppet movie.