Muppets Most Wanted

It’s time to play the music and light the lights on the Muppets sequel tonight?  Nope, doesn’t have the same ring to it.  Most of the time sequels fail to live up to the original, but as the clever self-deprecating musical opener to “Muppets Most Wanted” will remind you, this is the 7^th Muppet sequel.  That gives the filmmakers of this one plenty of time and material to get it just right.  Right?

We begin literally where the last film ended, and the Muppets are immediately wooed by their new manager Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) into playing a European tour.  What they don’t know is Dominic is secretly the Number Two of a criminal mastermind known as Constantine, who looks just like Kermit except for a mole and a hard accent.  The evil duo hatches a plan to replace Kermit and use their tour to conceal several heists leading to the theft of the crown jewels.  The mistaken identity lands Kermit in a Siberian gulag run by a pretty funny Russian Tina Fey as she forces Kermit to put on a show of his own.

“Muppets Most Wanted” feels like a huge mash-up of the previous Muppet films, with the singing and dancing, the countless cameos, and a basic plot that seems to combo “Muppets Take Manhattan” and “The Great Muppet Caper”.  With a bit of “The Shawshank Redemption” thrown in as well.  Pretty much all the scenes with Ty Burrell and Sam Eagle are a waste as Burrell does his best impersonation of Steve Martin impersonating Peter Sellers genius portrayal of Inspector Clouseau.  The only problem is Burrell’s performance is just as forgettable as Martin’s.  The gags are rapid and most stick the landing, what is worth remembering though is the musical numbers by Bret McKenzie.  There are humorous moments and they are filled with lyrics that beg to be re-listened to again and again.  The opening and closing number along with Constantine’s love song to Miss are the stand outs.

The actual Muppet cast is given very little to do, they are mostly associated with the gags as are the celebrity guest stars.  Only late in the film do we get some time with Fozzie, Walter, and Animal, but it feels too late even as fun as it is.  The only other drawback is the humor seems to go right over the heads of most kids, they just won’t get the references like when Constantine calls Fozzie “Fonzie” most people under the age of 25 may not even get the joke, it just sounds silly.

I really enjoyed this new Muppet film more than the previous attempt, it was simple enough and had me giggling throughout.  My kids on the other hand only responded to the physical humor which added nothing new to this kind of comedy.  It’s almost as if the filmmakers wanted to keep the older generation happy as long as there are kids filling up the seats next to them.

--Robert L. Castillo