Did Anyone Get Constantine Spoofing Annoying Cliches?

[beaker]

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this, but to me one of the biggest surprises of Muppets Most Wanted is that essentially, Constantine is spoofing the TWO BIGGEST annoying tropes by less than casual fans:

1. The average person conflating the Muppet Show with Sesame Street

2. The average person always getting the names wrong (I love the Muppets! Fonzie and Ralph from Sesame Street are my favorite! Oh and those two old guys)

To quote Constantine, regarding the running gag in the film... "Nailed It"

 

[Beakerfan]

I noticed that as well! Loved it! I thought Constantine was such a spectacular character, and I loved the inside humor he brought that only die-hards would notice.

 

[beaker]

I noticed that as well! Loved it! I thought Constantine was such a spectacular character, and I loved the inside humor he brought that only die-hards would notice.

YES! Exactly, "inside joke" easter egg humor only hardcore fans would know

 

[Drtooth]

Which is why it baffles me when those who didn't like this movie just don't appreciate that nod and are absolutely convinced the writers don't get the characters. That and the whole bit where Rizzo called out the last movie for not having him or Robin in it.

I thought the last movie was fanservicy... but this one was much, much better at mentioning the fandom's little subtleties. Like the Kermit and Piggy Babies sequence where they're just pallet swapped versions of the Muppet Babies versions of the characters. What was it, Progs and Figs?

Plus, it also mentioned a fan theory I had... Pooggy was totally a dude.

 

[beaker]

Which is why it baffles me when those who didn't like this movie just don't appreciate that nod and are absolutely convinced the writers don't get the characters. That and the whole bit where Rizzo called out the last movie for not having him or Robin in it.

I thought the last movie was fanservicy... but this one was much, much better at mentioning the fandom's little subtleties. Like the Kermit and Piggy Babies sequence where they're just pallet swapped versions of the Muppet Babies versions of the characters. What was it, Progs and Figs?

Plus, it also mentioned a fan theory I had... Pooggy was totally a dude.

Oh this movie was fan service top to bottom. I can understand purists or casual fans not liking the script or the setup, but to say it didn't feel Muppety is so far off base. This film to me was steeped in self awareness without abusing the fourth wall breakage.
And yes! Loved the Muppet Babies offspring. Again, fan service up and down this thing

 

[Drtooth]

Unintentional, but I noticed Constantine's pronunciation of "Mah-ppets" is kinda the Japanese pronunciation, as they don't have a short U sound. Dunno why I felt it was worthy enough to bring up. Just wanted to point that out somehow.

Oh this movie was fan service top to bottom. I can understand purists or casual fans not liking the script or the setup, but to say it didn't feel Muppety is so far off base.

There were projects that had a sliding scale of Muppetyness to them, I'll agree. This was just Muppet film top to bottom. I guess some fans were really turned off by the Idiot Plot... but I found it perfectly in Muppet style. At least in a Bullwinkle and Rocky sort of way. But the detail they put into this movie... somehow that doesn't get the appreciation it should.

Now that I think of it... there is one other little bit I find interesting. Constantine's videos were all of Jim Henson performances of Kermit. A sneaky little sub-reference to either A) trying to get Jim mentioned in the movie or B) the fact that Steve is a different Kermit performer anyway.

 

[minor muppetz]

Now that I think of it... there is one other little bit I find interesting. Constantine's videos were all of Jim Henson performances of Kermit. A sneaky little sub-reference to either A) trying to get Jim mentioned in the movie or B) the fact that Steve is a different Kermit performer anyway.

I noticed that too. Especially with the Sesame Street clip being from the early 1970s, where Kermit's voice was a bit dimmer than it would be on The Muppet Show (which was also a little different from how Kermit sounded during Jim's last few years).

 

[Drtooth]

I honestly can't decide if that was intentional as it's a different performer for Kermit, and thus trying to sound like the wrong one or they just wanted to sneak as many Jim Henson references as possible into the film.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Oh this movie was fan service top to bottom. I can understand purists or casual fans not liking the script or the setup, but to say it didn't feel Muppety is so far off base. This film to me was steeped in self awareness without abusing the fourth wall breakage.
And yes! Loved the Muppet Babies offspring. Again, fan service up and down this thing

MMW was fan service in a sort of fan fictiony way. I felt the same about TM2011. That doesn't mean I thought the plot or characters were entirely on the right track. Again, with the shining exception of the Kermit scenes in MMW.

 

[Drtooth]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. These guys are fans and they tried. If you don't like the film's direction, that's perfectly okay... but the point is, this wasn't some jaded, buzzword filled cash grab. It's a script by a bunch of well meaning fans who, if you didn't like the film, the blame rests solely on them. If I HATED these films, even I'd be able to note they're noble failures where as some of the worst of the last 20 years worth of projects were directionless, careless, or completely jaded and going for every audience but the Muppet fanbase.

I'm not saying Disney isn't capable of cynic cash grabs and cross promotion. The sequel to A Goofy movie was a commercial for the X-Games. They made that Underdog movie. I'm surprised they didn't pull a Loonatics and turn Mickey and Co into a generic bunch of "not really anime" Anime inspired super heroes. The entire pop star TV show line up since last decade to just a few years ago. Not saying Disney wouldn't have thrown together a Tween pop star filled Muppet movie that makes so many at the moment references (ones as bad as the Mice Girls poster and Kelly Osborne in MWO, if not worse) it comes off as some sort of Selzter/ Frieberg thing if left to their own design.

But even "fan fictiony" is better than "you wanna do this? We have T-shirts to sell." Heck, said fans are why we even got the last movie in the first place.

Again, you don't have to like the movie, but painting the writers as anything other than well meaning fans that tried to give us a better Post-Jim Muppet movie than the last 6, knowing the same things that didn't work for us didn't work for them either... I cannot abide by that. if they tried and failed, that's more effort than that horrible MFS director put into his work.