Dir: James Bobin
Starring: Jason
Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper
The
Muppets make their comeback in a film written by comic actor Jason Segel and
featuring the creative forces from Flight
of the Conchords.
Walter
is a massive Muppets fan. His brother Gary (Jason Segel) is planning a trip to
Hollywood with his long term girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) and invites Walter to
come and visit the Muppets studio. They find the studio in ruin and Walter stumbles
upon a plot to buy up the studios and mine the oil underneath it. Walter, Gary
and Mary go about getting the Muppets back together to raise the money to buy
back the studio and save it.
It’s
been many years since the Muppets have last appeared on our screens and it is
Muppets fan Jason Segel who has brought them back. Luckily he has given them enough jokes and
silliness to appeal to an audience of fans and newcomers alike. The film shows
a love for the material and for the Muppet characters which its writers and
makers share. It is a pleasure to see the Muppets back in a return to form. The
film plays on the fact that the Muppets have been away for so long with a story
about getting them all back together. We get to see what happened to all the
Muppets when they disbanded, tales laced with comedy and sadness. In the best, Fozzy
the bear is now a part of a band called the Moopets, with Dave Grohl on drums,
his dressing room in an alleyway outside of the building. It’s a story with
comedy, “Save the cushions”, and
pathos as Kermit apologises for not being there for him. All the classic
Muppets get a look in in the film, even if maybe your favourites don't get as long on screen as you'd hope, and with Walter we get a new Muppet who
should hopefully become part of the gang.
Bret
Mackenzie of Flight of the Conchords
provides the songs which are as funny as you would hope. It’s hard not to think
of the Conchords during songs like ‘Me
Party’ and ‘Life’s a Happy Song’ and it’s a shame that he didn’t appear in the
film. The actual celebrities that do appear are a little disappointing. Even
though there are some greats such as Neil Patrick Harris, Zack Galifianakis and
Dave Grohl you also get that girl going out with Justin Beiber and that kid
from Modern Family, two actors more
well known in America but still disappointingly slight. Hopefully in the next
film the Muppets will have gained their popularity back and they can get the A-list
stars that they used to pull in.
A
welcome return from a classic comedy troupe bolstered by some great modern
comedians. Enough jokes and silliness to remind you why they were so great. Hopefully we shall be seeing more of the
Muppets from now on.
4 out of 5 Buttons
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