The Muppets are one of those characters in life that for some reason is able to be ageless. The Muppets have been around for decades and yet even after all this time, to me they are far from over done and have a great ability to come across fresh time and time again, while still being able to appeal to new generations of kids. Growing up I could remember watching all sorts of Muppets movies and that no matter what they were doing it was enjoyable and fun to watch. Watching this movie at home I was amazed at how my little boy sat and watched this movie with complete interest and they were able to keep his entire attention for the entire running time for the movie. The Muppets movie in this go around knew exactly what it wanted to be and from the start it never took itself seriously and where other comedies try to be funny, but then have those serious moments at the same time and The Muppets does not fall into this trap, but is pure goofiness throughout and even comes across silly during those serious moments.
For the most part the acting in The Muppets does not require much. while the Muppets do not actually have to do much in the acting since they are all puppets they still do a fairly good job at coming to life onscreen that you kind of forget from moment to moment that they are puppets and not real. Jason Segel in the role of Gary is the most prominent human onscreen and the goofiness of this movie just really works well for him. Segel gives a truly strong performance as the movie while about the Muppets getting back together is a part of the story, the big aspect of the movie centers around his relationship with his girlfriend and his Muppet brother Walter. Segel works well on camera with both Adams and his Muppet brother. Amy Adams in the role of Mary in a way is undervalued. Adams plays the girlfriend who is pushed aside consistently to be a part of the relationship between Gary and Walter. The rest of the human cast all do great jobs and I particularly laughed a lot at Zach Galifinakis in the role of Hobo Joe. His role is the human equivalent to the old men Muppets as he has one-liners similar to those that they use. The star cameos also were enjoyable and did a great job at making me smile as well.
The story for The Muppets is truly a simple one that has definitely been used before in movies, yet with the Muppets the story worked all the while having a great lightness about it. The story ended up working for me because of the simplicity. The Muppets needed the simplicity of the story because of the mass family appeal. The story worked on many levels in that the kids could be entertained still and the adults are not overly bored from being at a kids movie. Of course, the story in the end really does not have much of a bearing on the overall enjoyment because of the story being one that everyone has seen before.
The comedy in The Muppets really worked for me and it made me laugh throughout the movie. The great part of the comedy that really works is how they make references about this being a movie, I love that they are not afraid to make fun of themselves. One of the best bits of comedy was that of the traveling by map. It was funny as they talked that when you need to get somewhere fast the quickest way to get to a destination is to travel by map, which is the map you see in movies to show characters moving to another location.
The Muppets is a movie that I never knew would be as good as it was. It is definitely a great thing to see the Muppets and the fact that they are ageless. The main human actors of Segel and Adams do a great job and really work well together, even though Adams character was greatly under utilized. A simple story and the comedy brought into The Muppet movie really worked. that is why I am giving The Muppets movie three buckets of popcorn out of five. This movie will make for a great family movie night because of the appeal to all ages, and is definitely one that older people can watch and be taken back to their own childhood of watching the Muppets.
-The Movie Man
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