The Muppets film was a dream of Jason Segel’s for years. He always loved the Muppets and wanted to create his own Muppet movie and he did this with James Bobin as a director. Going into this film my thoughts were:
“Will it maintain the feel of older Muppet films?” Will it cater to both children and adults? Will it be funny?
I’m happy to say that I can answer yes to all these questions. The feel of the old Muppet movies is definitely here, but at the same time it brings the Muppets into current times. Kermit seems a little older and sadder. Animal is in a group for anger management (which is a pretty good bit in my opinion).
The film certainly caters to adults and children with jokes that both will laugh at and enjoy. It might be a bit complicated for the Sesame Street set, but I feel the older films were as well.
Most importantly the film is very funny. The dialogue and acting from our protagonists Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams), to the evil villain Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) and all our favorite muppets is excellent and funny. The funny songs (written by Bret Mackenzie of Flight of the Conchords) are hilarious. One of the standouts being Man or Muppet which has a great cameo and Jason Segel rendered as a Muppet.
The Muppet acting is top notch as always, although the voices are a little different due to different actors. There are also a good amount of surprise cameos that are hilarious and endearing.
Jason Segel’s script hits the nail on the head and gives us a great new Muppet movie for this century. He definitely maintains the magic that Jim Henson created years ago and adds his own signature to it with the introduction of his own Muppet creation named Walter. It’s also great to hear new work from Bret Mackenzie since Flight of the Conchords is no more. Hopefully this will give the gang a comeback.
**** Four Stars
Director – James Bobin
Filmic Brevity 