Well, I finally saw the trailer, and it was amazing! I think I came with up with a really good Statler and Waldorf remark:
Waldorf: Well, it looks like Kermit's on the run.
Statler: Too bad I wasn't.
Waldorf: Why would you want to be a wanted criminal?
Statler: So I can run away from this movie!
DOH-ho ho ho ho ho!
Even though it's 2 and half minutes of the final version, it already looks better than
The Muppets. This is no surprise to fans since
The Muppets have always been improving themselves given the last movie was pretty much season 1 of
The Muppet Show; it was an (re) introductory film of the Muppets and the writers are working on how to characterize them for the techno age. This movie, here, looks like season 2; it has strands of classic Muppet wit and wackiness, and I'm hopeful the heart of the Muppets won't get lost in the mayhem. Say what you want about this movie being eerily similar with
The Great Muppet Caper, but this movie feels more like
Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties with the main characters in Europe, and a doppelgänger of Kermit/Garfield switch places with the Muppets/Jon, Liz, and Odie having the wrong "Garfield" but with a criminal aspect to it.
Ty Burrell has great chemistry with Sam the Eagle, although I haven't warmed up to the new design of Sam the Eagle even if it does resemble his appearance in
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence. Tina Fey dons a good enough Russian accent, and Ricky Gervais is...well...Ricky Gervais.
The voice of Constantine is really good; it does sound like Bill Barretta. Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Matt Vogel, and Peter Linz still have it! I'm surprised by the non-speaking trailer time for Dave Goelz's characters. Anywho, I'll continue to look for cameos of the Muppets from the earlier projects that may land a non-speaking cameo in the movie. The celebrity cameos don't distract me too much, though I'm reading YouTube comments drooling over Tom Hiddleston's cameo.
I also liked that Jim Henson's Kermit from
Sesame Street plays a role. It's actually not surprising since Disney owns the rights of Kermit the Frog even from SS, though Sesame Workshop hasn't taken full advantage of them in the past ten or so years.
In the end, I'm more excited about the movie, which means the trailer does its job quite perfectly in selling its product.