I posted that review knowing full well that no one here would agree with it. I've come to expect that by now. Personally, I think this was a very fair review and I agree with a lot of what this reviewer says. The movie was good, but nothing fantastic, and I still prefer the 2011 film.
And I say meh.
Kidding. Well, kinda. Honestly, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but still...who the heck is Luke Bonanno and what elevates his opinion over some random dude on the street? And maybe that's the point - that the public didn't take to
Muppets Most Wanted like they did to Segel's
The Muppets. I counter that with the fact that modern auds don't much favor classic films and, at one time, that caused studios to colorize them. They looked awful but fared better on television than if they'd remained in black and white. Just how far should films pander to a witless public?
Segel's film did just that. At its heart, it was a very good, yet thinly plotted, Muppet informercial starring him, Chris Cooper and the talented Amy Adams (who shoved way back into the background in favor of Jason Segel's mugging for the camera). I like him, don't get me wrong. It's just that his part of the story was pointless. But if it hadn't been for his role, the Muppets would never have won a Best Song Oscar for Man or Muppet.
Muppets Most Wanted hit the ground running without need for laborious introductions or montages. The Muppets are no longer a novelty. It is a bit heavy on plot and long on time and there's more tedious Kermit-Piggy wedding drama. The rest is pure magic. Lots of memorable songs, that actually feature the Muppets singing and dancing, and have to do with the story. Each human has a reason to be there too. Everything was Muppet centered this time.
There was no human couple drama. There was Muppet couple drama and human-Muppet flirting drama between Fey and Kermit (not unlike Piggy and Grodin). The bad guy in this, Constantine, was a Muppet character paired with Gervais. And Burrell was paired with Sam. That alone makes this the most Muppety Muppet movie in quite a while, at least since they took Manhattan, and I couldn't be happier about that.
I'm going out on a limb here and dating myself by saying the first movie I saw in the theaters was
The Muppet Movie in 1979. I was very young, but remembered every frame of that. It was amazing. The Muppet Show had been my favorite program, I already had all the puppets and that film took things much further.
The Great Muppet Caper did too. It was a little more sophisticated and I appreciated that.
The Muppets Take Manhattan brought things back around to just being plain fun. In retrospect, I don't think any post-Jim movie can match the energy in these films.
Chistmas Carol and
Treasure Island were noble attempts to do something different, yet both of them stuck the Muppets into supporting roles.
Muppets From Space drained all the spark and music and joy from the gang. They left behind some tender and funny moments, but they were few and far between. It wasn't until Segel's The Muppets that they started to bring the magic back to the big screen. However, once again the main cast were largely supporting characters until halfway through the film, and kind of reductive avatars of their zany selves at that.
I see something special in Muppets Most Wanted that falls in line with Jim Henson's classic formula. Apparently his son does too. It's not perfect, but it's finally on the right track. I wish audiences would have responded better to it. The box office is such a grand challenge these days. Audiences favor crappy film versions of Transformers, Ninja Turtles over more artful films like Paranorman. It's a shame.
One of the determining factors is brand recognition. The Muppets have that, but unfortunately they're branded as the abbreviated versions in Segel's film.
I believe one of the primary reasons that Muppets Most Wanted underperformed is that it departed too much from the last film and displeased the people expecting a repeat. On the same token, many fans of the classic Muppets felt this outing would be like the last one and decided to skip it instead of being pleasantly surprised. I stick to that assessment.
But, to each their own. Peoples is peoples.
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