Review 253: "Muppets Most Wanted"

Taking the world by farce!

Unless, freaking Divergent...

They're Doing a Sequel

      Muppets Most Wanted is a direct follows up to 2011's The Muppets and is the 8th theatrical Muppets movie total. A semi-play on The Great Muppet Caper, the film is directed by James Bobin (The upcoming Alice in Wonderland sequel), who also wrote it alongside Nicholas Stoller (Yes Man). The film follows The Muppets (The Muppets) as they are convinced by Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) to head out on a world tour. Little do they know that this is all a plot by dangerous frog thief Constantine (Matt Vogel) to replace himself with Kermit the Frog (Kermit the Frog) in order to steal the Crown Jewels. Once the swap happens, the Muppets shows go off the tails, Kermit winds up in a Siberian prison under the watch of guard Nadya (Tina Fey) and Constantine is pursued by cops Sam Eagle (Sam Eagle) and Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell).

The number of times this has happened
to me...

They're Number One

      I never did get around to reviewing is, by the original (I guess) 2011 The Muppets was a downright fantastic movie and I stand by it ending up on my best list of the year. I own it one Blu-Ray and I've already rewatched it several dozen million times.So, needless to say, I was pretty excited about a sequel. And, while not as good as last time, the Muppets once again do not disappoint. The thing I've always liked the most about the Muppets return is how authentic they kept it. They could have easily gone for CGI, but they kept it puppets and thankfully, the magic still works. There's a reason I list the Muppets as playing themselves and it's because most people have accepted the Muppets as honest real celebrities. I have at least. And here they are doing what they do best. Even if the times may have moved on, the Muppets have no interest in being anything less than what they always were: genuine, fun and genuinely funny.

Something So Right

      There actually isn't a whole lot to say about Muppets Most Wanted. The Muppets are still just as fun as ever. The plot this time around might be a little to structured for a Muppet movie, but it's a small nitpick. The character are all still great and the new additions are welcome, especially a great villain in Constantine and the surprisingly effective team up of Sam Eagle and Ty Burrell, who, yeah, I'd watch a whole movie with just them. The songs are great, maybe even better that last time. And finally, of course, the movie is just plain funny. I laughed more than I have in a while and I never doubted that the Muppets could do that. however, I will admit the whole thing felt (Heh) kinda safe. And while yeah, safe does mean pretty hilarious and clever, I would liked to have seen something new is what it mostly a standard Muppet film. What made the last one fantastic was the film's fresh looks at the Muppets place in entertainment history, something this film missed.

Yeah, I know, Divergent...

Interrogation Song

      Muppets Most Wanted is just as good as you'd expect a Muppet movie to be, no more, no less. Sharp, funny and genuinely sweet, the Muppets are back and proving why families all around should be seeing this movie. However, the film lacks a sense of freshness the last one had, but really, that does not hold back what was a great time at the movies, courtesy of the Muppets. Muppets Most Wanted gets 5 stars out of 6.