It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight. It’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to dress up right. It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight. If you’ve ever been a fan of the Muppets, hearing this song and seeing this sequence will be just one in a long line of wonderfully nostalgic moments in their 2011 feature film, The Muppets. From the theme song, to Mana Mana, to Statler and Waldorf, and to a long list of celebrity cameos, The Muppets is…the Muppets.
Though you could easily see the full list of cameos on IMDB, I won’t ruin it here. This is unfortunate (for me and for the length of this review), because so many of the film’s shining moments include celebrity cameos. From [SPOILER ALERT] as the imitation [SPOILER ALERT] in [SPOILER ALERT]’s live show to [SPOILER ALERT] as the [SPOILER ALERT] version of [SPOILER ALERT] during the Man or Muppet musical number, and from [SPOILER ALERT] as the [SPOILER ALERT] tour guide to [SPOILER ALERT] as Hobo Joe at [SPOILER ALERT], and every celebrity appearance and role surrounding them, that core element of the Muppets is in full force here. Oh, and the [SPOILER ALERT] cover performance of [SPOILER ALERT]’s grunge classic [SPOILER ALERT], as well as [SPOILER ALERT]’s reaction to it…superb.
Along with the celebrity cameos comes the Muppets staple of acknowledging the fact that they are in a movie, directly and indirectly. Whether it’s a direct comment on the length of the movie, or a scathingly snarky comment from Statler and Waldorf about the audience, the tongue in cheek nature of the Muppets is ever present. The Muppets themselves are exactly as you remember them, and the cast list reads as a who’s who of Muppet fame. Their personalities are perfectly replicated in the film. Miss Piggy is still the same overbearing, overdramatic piggy diva that she always has been. Fozzie’s jokes have never been worse. Statler and Waldorf are as crotchety and snide as ever. Beaker meep meep meep meep meep meep, meep meep meep meep meep meep meep. The Swedish Chef is joost es incumprehenseeble-a und reedicooluoosly vunderffool es ifer, bork bork bork!
The greatest achievement of the film, though, is how it makes you forget that Walter is a Muppet. You care about the relationship between him and his brother, Jason Segel’s character, Gary. You forget that he’s a puppet, and actually believe the depth of emotion and connection between the human and puppet siblings. It’s not only a testament to Jason Segel’s performance, and Peter Linz’s performance as the voice of Walter, it’s an absolute testament to the quality of the script and the time and effort that went into writing something worthy of the title “The Muppets.”
This is not only a good Muppets movie, it is a good movie in its own right. Whether you’re a fan of The Muppets, or you’ve never heard of them, it’s definitely a movie to go see.
Review
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Everything is classic Muppets | None |
| Rating |
