Saturday, March 22, 2014

WE'RE DOING A SEQUEL:  Part of what makes Muppets Most Wanted work so well is that they don't feel the need to follow up every plot thread from the reboot--Gary and Mary don't make an appearance (except in a split second clip of them from behind from the end of The Muppets), nor is the idea of "Muppet Studios" addressed.  That said, pieces from the reboot remain--Walter continues to play a major role (and there is a great joke about how much time is devoted to Walter rather than other returning characters), and Bret McKenzie's songs remain a delight.  However, the most interesting change is that this time, the Muppets themselves are clearly the main characters, while humans are reduced to supporting roles--it mostly works, and Gervais and Fey acquit themselves admirably on the song and dance front.  (As do a couple of more unexpected folks in cameo roles.)  It's been a long time since I've seen Great Muppet Caper, but I'd be interested to see how this plays in comparison to that one.

7 comments:

  1. Nothing insightful to say, but the Interrogation Song made me smile and laugh more than anything else I can think of in 2014 so far.

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  2. BarbL1149:57 AM

    Yes! I adored this song.

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  3. jbreddick11:10 AM

    Most Wanted was SO much better than The Muppets because, they let the Muppets shine. And for longtime fans, it was SO familiar. The pool scene was so much like the one at the supper club in the Great Muppet Caper, and Rickey Gervais is like this generation's Charles Grodin. Just delightful. And the cameos were inspired.

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  4. I think the song joined the two best things about the movie: Ty Burrell (who I thought far outshined Gervais and Fey, both of whom I love) and Bret McKenzie (whose songs were generally better than the non-musical portion of the movie). (I liked this movie a lot, but I think less than Matt or jbreddick did.)

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  5. One more note on Burrell. I think he was weighed down a bit by a script that, in his scenes, relied far too much on very familiar jokes about the French. But I still thought he did a great job with what he was given. I saw someone bellyaching that he was no Peter Sellers. I'm not so sure.

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  6. Clearly not many people have seen the movie here, but I wanted to raise on question. The movie suffers a bit, I think, from the nagging question "Why was anyone fooled by Constantine?" Kermit calls out his fellow Muppets for this at the end. It would have been easy to make Constantine a better Kermit impersonator. Why didn't they? Was it that they thought younger audience members would be confused about why Kermit was doing bad things?

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  7. Lurker David6:53 PM

    I think it was partially to prevent the confusion of littler audience members, but I also think it speaks to a deeper level. [Spoilers] When "Kermit" comes back and allows the troupe to do whatever they want, they hesitate, but quickly figure they've persuaded him. They *want* to hear approval, so they ignore the fact that he "has a cold."


    I really liked the songs, too. I thought "I'll Get You What You Want" was right out of Flight of the Conchords.

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