The Muppets

[wp34]

We took the family to see this today.  Everyone loved it even the teenagers.  If you liked The Muppets as a kid I highly recommend this movie.  I hesitate to call it a reboot because it is very much like the first movie.  But it is given a fresh feel without seeming too obviously modern.

Chris Cooper is a riot as the villain.  He and the other actors really go "all in" with the campiness. 

[SavannahLion]

I was really nervous about this film. Ever since Henson's son took over, the films have taken on a kind of level-headed "normalized" mentality in tone. IOW, it's not a Muppet film unless someone blows up. Then I started seeing the Youtube videos of the critics and they're ---smurfing--- hilarious. Those videos are more like what the Muppets were before Henson's death. Then I saw a clip on a late night show (the scene where the little brother gets fried by an electric fence) and realized that either whatever influence ---fouled up beyond all recognition--- up the post-90 films is gone or Henson Jr. finally matured and realized the humor his father understood.

[AtomSmasher]

This one was written by Jason Segal (who also stars in the movie) which is probably what made the difference.  In an interview he did, he said his goal was to bring the tone of the Muppets back to where they were in the early '80s, which is exactly what he did.

I went to see it yesterday and I thought it was fantastic.

[Howard_Casto]

I don't think it had anything to do with Brian Henson.  You need to remember that for some time now, the Muppets have been owned, lock stock an barrell by Disney.  Disney didn't know what to do with the property.  Their idea was to have the muppets star in classic stories like the Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppet Treasure Island.... that didn't go that well... (see Muppet Wizard of Oz)

The Muppets started making a comeback when some of the old muppeteers asked Disney to give them a small budget to make web shorts for the Disney website.  Because it was so low budget, Disney execs weren't really involved with the creative process and thus couldn't ruin it.  It was such a hit that they managed to convince Disney to do a theatrical released movie the old way.  

I'm saving this movie for when I have more time to enjoy it, but I LOVE the muppets, Jim Henson is a personal hero of mine, and by all accounts they are back to true form.  

The only sad thing is that Frank Oz and company aren't involved with this project.  I thought it might have been due to age, but I checked imdb and they are still doing voices for other Henson/Muppet projects, so I dunno.

[wp34]

 

The only sad thing is that Frank Oz and company aren't involved with this project.  I thought it might have been due to age, but I checked imdb and they are still doing voices for other Henson/Muppet projects, so I dunno.

They did get Goelz but I think that is it.  I read somewhere that Oz was not happy with the script but I have no idea if that is true.  I honestly didn't notice he wasn't doing Miss Piggy but Fozzy was particularly bad. There were times when his voice would go in and out of character mid-sentence. 

[Vigo]

I have to say that this film is definitely a top-tier Muppet movie. The movie was very much a nod to the classic vision of the Muppets, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves the Muppets. I ended up sitting through the whole movie grinning ear to ear, not only out of Nostalgia, but from the movie being just plain fun.

I was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed the musical numbers. They blended more serious or emotional song tone found often in early Muppets with a wacky/campy feel to keep it entertaining, and it really worked out well. I spent most of the Man or Muppet song laughing ---my bottom--- off.

I also thought it was very obvious how much they drew back to the "Classic Muppets" Many of the Muppets that had a major role in the later films, such as Rizzo and Pepe have been dialed back massively. At the same time, they gave much bigger roles to some Muppet throwbacks. The focus is on the Core Muppets. While I still do also like the Muppet work after Brian Henson took over (Muppet Treasure Island, Muppet Christmas Carol etc.), This movie has more of a Jim Henson flavor to it, which was great.

Overall, this was a great movie. This film saved the Muppet name for a new generation. It is so refreshing to see this after trash like Muppet Wizard of Oz.

The only sad thing is that Frank Oz and company aren't involved with this project.  I thought it might have been due to age, but I checked imdb and they are still doing voices for other Henson/Muppet projects, so I dunno.

They did get Goelz but I think that is it.  I read somewhere that Oz was not happy with the script but I have no idea if that is true.  I honestly didn't notice he wasn't doing Miss Piggy but Fozzy was particularly bad. There were times when his voice would go in and out of character mid-sentence. 

I also noticed that the voice of Fozzie was not that great at times, but the guy who did replace most of Frank Oz's Muppets did do an overall good job. I did also hear the "bad script" rumor, but at the same time had heard that he had unofficially retired from the Muppets (perhaps not sesame street) 10 years ago, and any additional work he did was only because he wanted to.