Monday, May 23, 2011

ARE THERE MUPPETS IN THIS MOVIE? I'm not quite sure what to think about the oddball (and exceedingly meta) first trailer for The Muppets, other than that I love Jason Segel's delivery of the headline and the announcer's brilliant use of pausing, but I'm quite sure y'all have some reactions.

31 comments:

  1. Watchman3:48 PM

    We saw that trailer in front of POTC the other night and the audience seemed to be quite confused.  Our party of huge Amy Adams fans was onboard until the reveal, after which the general reaction was, Meh--not even for Amy.  But we're not the taget demo, so YMMV.

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  2. Jordan3:59 PM

    Quick way to get me from "You couldn't pay me to watch that" to "Please take my money so that I may watch that": Swedish Chef.

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  3. Natalie3:59 PM

    Who is the target demographic? Everyone I know has loved the trailer and we range from mid 20s to early 30s in age.

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  4. I feel like that's the sweet spot, and then hopefully kids?  I imagine it will be appropriate.

    I was so confused, but that was a great reveal.

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  5. Look, anything with Muppets (and anything with Jason Segal) is a win in my books. I think the trailer is great, but I'm already in on the joke.  I can see that people who have no clue that Segal has been working on a Muppet movie for a couple of years might be completely baffled.

    However -- general reaction, Meh, to THE MUPPETS? Not the target demo? I think almost everyone is in the target demo for a Muppet movie, but then, I grew up when the Muppet Show was still on TV, so maybe my perspective is skewed.

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  6. Jenn.4:05 PM

    Dear producers of the new Muppet Movie:  Please let me know when and where I can buy opening day tickets for this movie, and I will so be there (with cash and/or credit card).  That is all.

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  7. Eric J.4:19 PM

    Big bonus points for not using the "record scratch" sound effect for the Muppet reveal.

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  8. Watts4:24 PM

    Miss Piggy appears to have Lady Gaga's most recent hairstyle.  I approve.  Although money's 100% on Piggy in a fight.

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  9. Jenn C.4:32 PM

    LOVE.

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  10. Professor Jeff5:04 PM

    Liked it a lot more than this poster, which is all kinds of creepy. Muppets don't have legs, dammit!

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  11. Tosy and Cosh5:05 PM

    There will be plenty of time for the "here's the plot, dummies" trailers. For a teaser this is a delightful approach. I only wish I had seen it unawares.

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  12. Natalie5:09 PM

    Muppets have legs sometimes. There is that awesome biking scene in muppets take manhattan, the swimmin scene in Great Muppet Caper. I'm sure I'm missing more but those two come right to mind.

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  13. My one concern is that while it's a brilliant YouTube/viral teaser, I'm not sure how well the joke plays in a theatre.

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  14. At least one Muppet definitely has legs.

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  15. I think it might be a great risk to take this far out.  They have all kinds of time to play up the absurdist Muppet stuff/whatever the plot is between now and the release.

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  16. Jordan5:34 PM

    Don't forget about this guy:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFLZ-MzIhM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco

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  17. Marsha5:38 PM

    The list of movies that I have to see in the theater the weekend they open are:

    1. Anything by Pixar
    2. This new Muppet Movie

    Loved this trailer. Loved it. Loved Jason Segal, love Amy Adams. Love Kermit most of all. Love.

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  18. Professor Jeff5:44 PM

    Let me clarify: except for Big Bird and other human-sized characters, Muppets don't walk on their legs. Yes, those legs may be adorably draped across a log or off a wall; perhaps they may even make brief cameo appearances, as Natalie notes. But I swear, if this movie uses CGI tricks to make the Muppets routinely stroll around on two feet/paws/flippers -- as the poster implies and Segel confirms -- I will be terribly vexed.

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  19. Andrew5:54 PM

    I suspect that this might play better in a theater. OK, trailer number 6 is generic looking Jason Segal/Amy Adams rom-com... with Muppets? If I had seen this unaware that it was a trailer for the new Muppet movie, I would have loved it even more.

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  20. Michael6:21 PM

    Squee! That is all.

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  21. Anonymous8:51 PM

    "<span>But we're not the taget demo"</span>

    You're not people who like fun?

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  22. Pirate Cookie11:11 PM

    I. Can. Not. Wait!

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  23. slowlylu11:47 PM

    My internal anticipation index (TM NYMag) has gone up a hundredfold on this teaser but I am now also concerned about legs and also Fozzie's voice.

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  24. isaac_spaceman12:20 AM

    Cut Watchman some slack.  He is, after all, named after a cynical or broken or psychotic or murderous character in a dystopic apocalypse graphic novel.  If anything is not the target demo, it's that.

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  25. It opens on Thanksgiving? I wonder how early I can (politely) kick my guests out of my home on Thanksgiving night so I can go see this? 

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  26. Heather K10:19 AM

    I am going to tell you a little about the way I like my movies and reveal that I probably would've seen the movie at the top of the teaser and sans muppets (but way more jazzed about the muppet version).

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  27. Jim Bell10:24 AM

    For me that list would include:  Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, and Rocky V.

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  28. christy in nyc1:24 PM

    I've seen the negative reaction to the legs around. Maybe it's because I'm wrapped up in the book world, and in books/other print media the characters are standing on their legs all the time, both in illustrations and photographs. But the fact that they're standing/walking in the poster didn't strike me as odd or wrong at all. It wouldn't occur to me.

    That Kermit walks in the film is riskier. But so far I have no reason to doubt that Segel has stayed pretty true to the Muppets' essence. Let's face it, if Jim had lived, he not only would have been probably USING modern technology to make the Muppets do all sorts of things...he probably would have INVENTED said technology and much more, long before anyone else, and Avatar would be looking like amateur hour compared to what he'd have done.

    Muppets ride bikes in all three Jim-era Muppet feature films. I think he liked messing with those kinds of expectations just as much as Segel apparently does.

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  29. christy in nyc1:28 PM

    On a more general note, that one moment in the trailer where it looks like a bunch of them are dancing down the street, and Jason looks right into the camera while they all tip their heads to the side? That is the center of my universe right now.

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  30. christy in nyc1:29 PM

    OOOH and Piggy ROLLERSKATES in Muppets Take Manhattan! I love that part.

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  31. Marsha11:21 AM

    I'm referring to going forward. My list of must-see-opening-weekend is drastically shorter now than it was before I had to pay babysitters.

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