It has been 12 years since The Muppets last graced theaters with Muppets in Space (there were two telefilms). For those of us that witnessed that uninspired debacle, it was a good thing they decided to take a break instead of continuing a creative decline in the post-Jim Henson era. The Muppets have now returned to theaters and thankfully the writing team of Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller has come up with a wholly original approach to the material that manages to mix sentiment, nostalgia, and humor with great success.
The movie opens in a hopelessly optimistic place called Smalltown, where Gary (Jason Segel) and his puppet brother Walter have grown up as huge fans of the Muppets, with Walter dreaming of becoming a Muppet one day. As adults, they travel to California with Gary's super sweet girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) and visit the now defunct Muppet studios. Walter stumbles upon a plan by an evil oil executive (Chris Cooper) to take the studio from the Muppets unless they can raise $10 million. Gary, Mary, and Walter convince Kermit to get the gang back together to put on a show to raise enough money to save the studio.
The whole plot is a great conceit that allows the movie to work in two ways. First, it provides a pretty simple and effective structure as they help Kermit convince each of the Muppets to return, allowing us a chance to see what each of them are up to currently (my favorite being Fozzie Bear's sad nightclub act). It evokes memories of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney films of the 40s where they would put on a musical act to raise money for some worthwhile cause. Rooney even makes a cameo appearance in this film.
Also, the plot is a meta statement on the real world state of the Muppets. They are yesterdays news. The TV show and films that were so popular in the 70s and early 80s have mostly faded from the memory of modern audiences. There is much talk in the film about wondering if they can stay relevant in the current cynical age. It is this angle that will really appeal to adult audiences who grew up watching the Muppets and would like to see them at their best once again.
Thankfully, they are at their best. Segel and Stoller do a solid job of writing great jokes for these characters. They have a ton of fun taking humorous stabs at Hollywood and messing around with genre conventions, while embracing them at the same time. Since none of this is taken seriously, they never write themselves into a corner as they've set up a world where anything can happen, with one of my favorite jokes being the ability to travel by map. It all fits nicely into the offbeat sensibility that has always worked for the Muppets.
The human characters don't rate very highly, despite the clear appeal of people like Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and Chris Cooper. However, the film is populated with amusing cameo performances by stars willing to poke fun at themselves, including a hilarious turn by Jack Black where his own comic persona works against him as he cannot get people to believe he has been kidnapped. The best new character is the earnest puppet Walter, who makes for a great addition to the Muppet cast.
The film is populated with some solid song choices, reaching a sentimental high point with Kermit's performance of the brand new song "Pictures in My Head" and the classic "Rainbow Connection". You'll even get to hear a former Oscar winner rap in an absolutely surreal, but definitely hilarious scene. Segel, Stoller, and director James Bobin have brought the Muppets back, and they've managed to do it in a way that embraces sentiment and makes fun of it at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment