The Muppets: A Review

The Muppets (2011)
Directed By: James Bobin
Written By: Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller
Genre: FAMILY
Time: 1 hr 43 min
Starring: Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, Jack Black, and of course the Muppets
Plot: With the help of three fans, The Muppets must reunite to save their old theater from a greedy oil tycoon.

Comments: It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights. I am a child of the eighties and so I grew up on the Muppets and all things Jim Henson. I would have been Jareth’s bride in a second especially if Ludo could be my friend within the Labyrinth and I loved the Mythology brought to life in the Storyteller. Of course Fizgig should have been my own little terrifying puppy creature from The Dark Crystal though please let there not be any Skeksis. Sesame Street taught me a variety of things as a child. And finally Kermit and friends made me laugh, made me dream, and let my imagination soar. Jim Henson’s Muppets have always been there even into modern day with my beloved Farscape. But there has always been a very special place for Kermit, Beaker, Animal and even Miss Piggy. They are the Muppets after all. How can you not just love them all to pieces?


I remember watching The Muppet Show with my mom, singing to the opening theme grinning like a small idiot. I may not have recognized all of the superstar hosts, but it didn’t matter. I have the first two seasons of the Muppet Show on DVD, along with the movies save for Treasure Island and Muppets from Space. The Bohemian Rhapsody cover is watched whenever I am in a bad mood and now I cannot sing it without doing Animals part (Maaamaaa! Mama?) and I bought the Green Album last month with all of its covers of classic Muppet songs. And let’s face it Emmett Otter is kind of a Christmas staple in my house. 

There is something about the Muppets. It’s the happy feeling you get after watching. With the Muppets there is hope. And one thing that is great is that the Muppets haven’t changed. Statler and Waldorf are still cantankerous, Fozzie still tells horrible jokes and Miss Piggy still loves Kermie. Even though this film was probably to introduce a whole new generation to the Disney channel generation of the wonder that is the Muppets, I think it was really for kids like me who still refuse to grow up and know all of the lyrics to the Rainbow Connection. The movie is a giant trip through nostalgia and it certainly jerks on the heart strings a bit (especially when Kermit is going through his rolodex and trying to get a guest star only realizing that many of his old human friends have moved on, forgotten about them, or simply passed away). I love Jason Segal for being such a Muppets fan and bringing them back to me and not just because he is Marshall on HIMYM.


While the film is a little slow to get going, it is a fun roller coaster ride of nostalgia after that. I like Walter and even in the opening scenes when he quickly discovers, as he grows up, that he is not quite like his brother I kind of dig him. The songs that are thrown in throughout the film are fun as well and while Muppet or a Man doesn’t really hold a candle to Its Not Easy Being Green, I found myself singing along with the chorus. Then again I am one of those odd sing in the shower, in my car, and whenever else I can types. Just kooky that way.


Like many my age who have seen this film and loved it to pieces it was everything I was hoping it to be and a little more that I didn’t realized I needed or wanted. I left the theatre with a giant smile on my face singing Mahna Mahna. My day was complete. I left a happy lady. I think you will too if you love the Muppets still. It was great to see the gang again. Lets hope it wont be another decade before we see them again. 


Rent/Cinema?: Go see it on the big screen. Worth the money. Definitely worth owning as far as I am concerned. 


4/4 popcorns