The Muppets

 

Release Date: November 23, 2011

Watch Date: February 20, 2023

"While on vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, his brother Gary and friend Mary uncover the diabolical plot of a greedy oil millionaire to destroy the Muppet Theatre. Now, the Muppet-loving trio must quickly reunite Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and their friends to stage the greatest Muppet telethon ever and save their beloved theater."

    The Muppets are their own beasts, their own brand of humor, and they were designed that way by one of the great comic geniuses of the modern era. And then he passed away, and The Muppets passed into Disney ownership and they performed in a few classic literature pieces turned comedy movies, and then sort of...disappeared from view.

    Until Jason Segel managed to bring them roaring back into the spotlight, back into life, with a magic and a passion for the characters that Disney has been mooching off of ever since. They've released a sequel to this movie, their own Disney+ series, a Halloween special, they get interviewed again, they're relevant, and it's all because an exceedingly tall man had a passion for puppets. Which is...kind of how they started off in the first place, come to think of it.

    When this movie first came out it was a breath of fresh air, a nostalgic walk down memory lane while introducing new characters and refreshing the relationships between old. But now, on every re-watch, I find it losing a little bit of the magic, the jokes getting a little bit staler. No one will ever have the staying power Henson had with these characters, and I think that's something we're all just going to have to accept, no matter how much we love The Muppets.

    Celebrity guest stars are used really well, and you can tell that there was a pull of big Hollywood names to be one of the many people to even share a second of screen time with a Muppet. Jack Black does a fantastic job in his role, though whether or not he wanted to is up for debate.

    The musical numbers are probably the best part of this film, proving that "Life is a Happy Song", at least as long as a town full of people is there to sing along with you. But "Me Party" and "Muppet or a Man" are two equally good offerings as well, and I have found a decade later still wondering if I'm a man or am I a muppet?

    Look, in the end, I'm happy that something finally showed off the potential of The Muppets, and when you watch this film you need to try to stay there, in that moment, where they were being reinvigorated and had the potential to become bright spots on the entertainment scene again - don't think about the Disney+ series no one watches. Think about this, the brief moment where there was a chance, just a chance, they might return to their glory days.