In 1955, Mississippi native Jim Henson took a green coat his mother had thrown out and two halves of a ping-pong ball and created a character that soon millions around the world would fall in love with. The character was Kermit the Frog and his message of believing in one's self to achieving the impossible was adopted by countless fans young and old. One of those fans was actor Jason Segel, a lifelong admirer of The Muppets. Teaming with Walt Disney Pictures, he set out to bring new life to the characters he adored and wrote, produced and starred in The Muppets.
But the Muppets had a long road to get back to the big screen. After “The Muppet Show”, The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Great Muppet Caper, Jim Henson wanted to branch out into new directions (Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal) without solely being connected to the Muppets. In 1989, he decided he was going to give his company to The Walt Disney Company for near $150 million. This would allow him to go into darker material without leaving behind the Muppets. He completed two projects for Disney - a TV special “The Muppets at Walt Disney World” and the Disney World/Disneyland attraction “Muppet*Vision 3D”. Sadly in 1990, Jim Henson died of pneumonia. The world was shocked at this sudden death. At his memorial service (per his wishes), no one would wear black and the congregation would hold foam butterflies connected to puppeteer's rods.
As he had not signed an actual contract that signed away the characters, Disney could not take hold of the Muppets but distributed the two following Muppet films, The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. Columbia Pictures took the next film Muppets from Space, the first completely original Muppet film since Muppet Caper, and delivered the Muppets' first bomb (mostly because it came out the same summer as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Wild Wild West and Runaway Bride). Frank Oz said, “[Muppets from Space was not] up to what it should have been. [It was] not what we wanted it to be.” After laying dormant for 5 years, The Walt Disney Company and the Jim Henson Company reached a mutual agreement and bought control of The Muppet Studio. Two TV specials were made - “If's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas” and “The Muppets' Wizard of Oz” (featuring a notable appearance by director Quentin Tarantino).
Disney had tried to get a new feature Muppet film off the ground by going straight to Frank Oz. They had found an unused script that Jim Henson had approved called “The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made!” where Gonzo makes a new Muppet movie but blows the entire budget on the opening credits. Oz did take the offer under consideration, but parted ways when he and Disney had disagreements over the budget - Disney wanted $12 million to do the film, Oz wanted $24-$50 million ( he reportedly quipped, “Do you know how much money it takes to make things look cheap?”). After the release of his last film, Death at a Funeral, Oz dropped out of public view; however, recent reports have said he has moved onto the stage, directing plays. In 2008, Muppet fans Jason Segel Nicholas Stoller pitched an idea for a new Muppet film to Walt Disney Pictures. Segel had made no secret of his love for the Muppets in Stoller's film Forgetting Sarah Marshall - singing a melancholy version of “The Muppet Show Theme Song”. They opted to write their own script rather than use the “Cheapest” idea. After having script meetings with Pixar Animation Studios, the film started production in late 2010.The Muppets begins with the story of Walter (Peter Linz), a young boy doesn't seem to fit in with everyone else. Always getting hurt because of his small stature, Walter always sensed he was different until he happens to catch a rerun of “The Muppet Show” on TV. He instantly becomes infatuated with meeting his heroes, the Muppets, because of their similar looking appearance. He lives in Smalltown, USA, with his brother Gary (Jason Segel) who is dating a girl named Mary (Amy Adams). Gary decides that he is going to take Mary to Los Angeles for their 10th dating anniversary. Knowing that Walter would love to meet the Muppets, Gary invites him as well, though this secretly doesn't please Mary because she wanted Gary all to herself. Nevertheless, the trio leaves Smalltown, USA in a jaunty (and insanely catchy) musical number called “Life's A Happy Song”.
Arriving in Los Angeles, Gary, Mary and Walter discover that the Muppet Studios has been mostly abandoned and shut down. Walter sneaks into Kermit's old office and overhears a plot by evil oil tycoon Tex Richman (played diabolically by Chris Cooper) to destroy the Muppet Theater because of the oil that is underneath it. The only way the Muppets can save their theater is if they can raise $10 million considered to theaters in two days. Walter, Gary and Mary set out to find Kermit and put things right. They find him alone at his house with only his ‘80s robot servant (named ‘80s Robot) for company. A melancholy Kermit admits that he and the Muppets had gone their separate ways and there seems to be no hope of saving the Muppets had gone their separate ways and there seems to be no hope of saving the Theater until Walter makes an impassioned speech convincing Kermit that if the Muppets returned, the world would appreciate them again. Together, the gang goes out to find the rest of the Muppets for a televised Muppet telethon - Fozzie has reluctantly joined a Muppet “tribute” band, Gonzo had become a rich plumbing mogul, Sam the Eagle has become a talking head pundit on a FOX News-lite network and Miss Piggy, a Vogue editor in Paris. With time running against them, the Muppets band together to refurbish their old theater, find a celebrity host and remind the world of what used to be and could be again.
When I walked out of this film, I was conflicted. A rarity for me. I knew this film was gonna be good. I knew it. 90% critical ratings are not given to Rotten Tomatoes every day (certainly not on three different films released in the same time period; the others include Arthur Christmas and Hugo). But there were A LOT of things in The Muppets that raised my ire. The first was the Toy Story 3-esque opening montage of Walter's early life (which hurt all the more because a “Toy Story Toon” had just finished playing). For some reason in the first act of the film, Walter becomes less of a character and more of a punching bag for Jason Segel's character. Walter is hurt, thrown, slammed and abused in countless ways often directly due to Gary. Not that he's meaning to, of course, but it just makes him look bad. Speaking of Jason Segel, I think he actually wrote himself into the backseat of this film (practically literally). If he's not with Mary or Walter, he's really given nothing to do. Now, this is somewhat practical for this film because it *is* a Muppet movie, but he ought to give himself more stuff to do than just sing and dance. It just makes his character seem bland and boring, when you know Jason Segel is actually a funny guy.
Two of my favorite Muppet characters are Statler and Waldorf, those hecklers you love to hate. They are consistently crotchety, pessimistic and senile - which makes them hysterical. Which is why I was saddened to see they were given SO LITTLE to do in the film. They only appear in like 4 scenes (and steal each one). In fact, this film has a terrible habit of introducing Muppet characters and then pushing them to the background of the background. For instance, Rowlf, at the end of the “‘80s montage” comments that he just showed up and nobody got to see his backstory which is nothing more than Kermit waking him from his sleep in a hammock and asking if he wants to rejoin the Muppets. That's funny. But then Rowlf doesn't appear or have any lines for the rest of the movie (albeit a brief appearance in the credits). The same goes for a lot of the Muppet characters and that's not good. Granted, I know the main characters are more important but there is no sense in introducing well-known characters and then giving them nothing to do.
I like Amy Adams as an actress. I can't wait to see her play Lois Lane in 2013's Man of Steel. But in this film, she's not great. Her character of Mary is a bit conflicting. The movie would like you to believe that she's completely lost without Gary and that through their adventure, she gains modern-day women's lib independence. She just has everything set up in her mind and if it doesn't go that way, it's instantly Gary's fault. She has a completely unnecessary musical number in the film called “Me Party” that intersects with Miss Piggy and is about “girl power; I don't need no man to make me happy”-type stuff. It does not advance their characters or their story and just ends up making then look bad and selfish. She also seemed ambivalent to the plight of the Muppets. When she reminds Gary that he promised to take her to dinner, this is the middle of Gary helping the Muppets rebuild their theater. Can she not tell that Gary is trying to help the Muppets in their time of need? It's not like she's helpless and can't do anything; she teaches children how to fix cars. It just seemed as though the film is trying to portray her in two different lights and it doesn't work.
The cameos also don't work as much as they ought to. When “The Cheapest Muppet Movie” was announced, several celebrities were rumored to be connected with the film such as Billy Crystal, Barbara Eden, Lady Gaga, Ed Helms, Sean Penn, French Stewart, Eric Stonestreet, Rachel Ray, George Clooney (attending the premiere of Michael Clayton 2), Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn (reprising their roles from Swingers) and Christian Bale (as Batman). I don't know about you but I would pay money to see Christian Bale's Batman and Gonzo in a scene together. That would be comedy gold. But the cameos here don't quite measure up. For example, Alan Arkin plays the Muppet Studios tour guide that only appears on camera for exactly 60 seconds. He's dull. He's boring. Alan Arkin is a great actor, he doesn't have to play dull and boring. Now, had the character been played by Ben Stein, that would have been more acceptable. Being dull and boring is his shtick. That's what makes him funny. Sarah Silverman is also given a cameo that could've just as easily been given to another actress. Nevertheless, it's always good to see Mickey Rooney in a film.
Song used: “The Rainbow Connection” by The Muppets
This is not to say I didn't enjoy the film. Indeed, as I pointed out earlier, the film is completely centered around the Muppets and Jason Segel makes no attempt to overshadow them. In fact, without Segel, this movie would not have been made at all. He and Stoller have written a screenplay that allows the Muppets to be themselves and try to find their place in this world that seemingly had abandoned them. Rather than be a reboot of the Muppets, it plays more like a long-awaited sequel to The Muppet Movie. It's precisely what they needed. Chris Cooper stands out as the villain, not only a no-good jerk but also very dark for a kids' film. At one point in the movie, he just out-and-out says, “You're dead, Muppets. And I'm here to bury you.” I was astonished. Wow. I will be very angry if “Life's A Happy Song” does not get nominated for Best Original Song because that is one peppy song. Speaking of songs, I literally got goosebumps when I heard “Rainbow Connection”. It was as simple as it was at the beginning of Muppet Movie, but had a new sense of poignancy. The shot-for-shot recreation of “The Muppet Show Theme Song” also made me smile. I may get a lot of flak for the somewhat overblown negativity that I listed, but I sincerely assure you that I had a wonderful time watching The Muppets and would easily recommend it to anyone - long-time Muppet fan or newbie. I think Jim Henson would be proud.
“So, that dumb geek decided to give us the last laugh.” “‘Last laugh’? Don't you mean the first?” “OHHH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO!”
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