The Muppets

The old Muppets’ theatre is in danger: greedy oil businessman Tex Richman wants to get control over it to dig for oil reserves that are under the theatre. Walther, who is on the trip to LA with his brother, accidentally hears the plan, and now it is the race against the time: Muppets have to reunite to raise $10,000,000 to save the theatre.

When I first saw the trailers for the Muppets, I was amazed. Finally, good old-fashioned parody is coming along, with nice little subtle jokes about almost just everything on Earth! “The Immigrant Song” trailer was probably even better than the original one. However, the actual movie lacks this grit, and it is easy to understand why.

It is impossible to judge the Muppets as the normal movie we usually see in cinemas. The biggest obstacle is acting: Muppets don’t act! They simply open mouths and run around, trying to make us laugh. So the biggest deciding criterion for this movie is its humorous delivery: is it funny at all? And with respect to that question, Muppets the Movie had to overcome at exactly the same obstacle that Muppets the Show constantly tries to balance: they need to decide whether they are producing something for children or for grown-ups. You try to please everybody – and you fail to please anybody.

I feel Muppets the Movie though tries to concentrate on young audience more. This light festive movie, filled with songs and sunshine, makes a good watch for under-10, funny and entertaining. Of course, there are a few brilliant jokes that keep adults entertained (“Classic!” being my personal favorite), and Muppets are still as charming to everyone as they always were. Cameos by Jim Parsons, Emily Blunt and many other, as well as brilliant performance of Jack Black as, surprisingly enough, Jack Black, bring a lot of shine into the movie.

As for the two real leading actors in the movie, Jason Segel and Amy Adams, I think they didn’t understand either what kind of movie they are playing in. Jason Segel keeps this overly kind, “charmed-by-everything-in-the-world” type of face all the time, making you a bit worried about his acting potential. Amy Adams, on the other hand, acts as if she is in rom-com, which is close enough, but definitely in dissonance with Segel.

But, as I said, we don’t watch Muppets to see Oscar-winning performance. It is all about jokes, and even though I expected a bit more (expectations were too high after the trailer), it is still a very nice movie, one that you would love to go with your children because you are not going to die from boredom in the end.

Mahna-Mahnam.

VERDICT: festive and charming comedy, which is genuinely for all the family members.

WATCH: if you are with children, or just want to get a nice portion of laughter.