I love The Muppets.
Jim Henson’s lovably unbelievable creations were a joy both in my
childhood and my adult life. Their
over-the-top antics and tortuously gratuitous celebrity cameos work precisely
because of the unreality of the Muppet experience. After all, we have to suspend our disbelief
enough to personify characters that are clearly made of nothing more than felt
and plastic, yet are more real in their cinematic universe than anyone
else. And that’s precisely why I loved
2011’s The Muppets so much as a
revival of the seemingly-dead franchise.
Essentially, that was a fan-made film that made us remember exactly why the
Muppets were so much fun, and it was carried along with some fantastic music
and some very silly writing. So I had
high hopes for the continuation, Muppets
Most Wanted. And those hopes were…
not quite satisfied.
Don’t get me wrong, Muppets Most Wanted is still a good,
funny movie. However, when drawing the
inevitable comparison to its predecessor, it assuredly comes up short. The opening number of the movie is called
“We’re Doing a Sequel,” and there’s a line that sums up my feelings about this
film quite nicely: “We’re doing a sequel.
That’s what we do in Hollywood. And
everybody knows the sequel’s never quite as good.” See, The
Muppets was a nostalgic trip that played off the Muppets’ strengths for
nonsense and whimsy. While those factors
are still present in Most Wanted,
they’re played down for a more coherent plot that is reminiscent of the
Muppets’ less fantastical theatrical outings.
A criminal mastermind named Constantine has broken out of
the Russian gulag, and he seeks to become the world’s greatest thief by
stealing the royal crown jewels.
Conveniently, Constantine looks just like Kermit the Frog, so with the
assistance of the Muppets’ new manager Damien Badguy (played by a surprisingly
not-obnoxious Ricky Gervais), Constantine replaces Kermit in the Muppets and
leads the group on a European tour to gather artifacts he needs to hack the
crown jewels’ security system. Meanwhile,
Kermit is shipped off to the Gulag, where he struggles with the realization
that no one realizes he’s missing.
While this set-up does work well for some mistaken identity
and mirror-image gags, the writing doesn’t venture too far out of that safe territory. There’s some great stuff with Sam the Eagle
and Ty Burrell acting as competing cops in trying to catch Constantine, and
there is the occasional bit of self-referential meta-humor that will keep
Muppet fanatics satisfied, but those are the exceptions rather than the
rule. Even the musical numbers, with the
exception of “We’re Doing a Sequel,” feel phoned in and uninspired, which is a
shame coming from Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), who did so well
writing songs for the previous installment.
However, these criticisms come more from a feeling of
disappointment than from dislike for the film.
This is still the Muppets, and they’re still just as silly as ever. I just saw the potential that this franchise
had to move in new directions from 2011’s brilliant revival, but instead I see
the Muppets spinning their wheels, unable to venture beyond a comfortable,
no-risk regurgitation of old whimsy. Muppets Most Wanted may not have been
the film I wanted it to be, but it’s still worth seeing, and I can only hope
that the next Muppet adventure doesn’t continue this downward trajectory.
Have a favorite Muppet movie or episode? Let me know in the comments below!
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