Your Thoughts: "Muppets Most Wanted" Theatrical Film

[GonzoLeaper]

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I thought it might be fun to tally up all similarities I found between this, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.

Similarities to The Great Muppet Caper:

• A random appearance by the villain in the opening song (then again, in TMM we saw Max and Doc Hopper before we knew who they were, in MTM we briefly saw Ronnie Crawford about an hour before he was introduced, and in FTB the Sleaze brothers appear three scenes before we know anything about them).
• The opening scenes have Kermit telling the others what they need. In GMC, Kermit tells them they need an exciting cover story, in this he tells them they need a half-decent plot.
• Both movies have a water ballet (even if the water ballet in MMW is just a brief scene in the opening song).
• Both movies have the Muppets going to London.
• Both movies involve a jewel heist.
• Something about Beauregard being the train conductor feels similar to him being a taxi driver.

And similarities to The Muppets Take Manhattan:

• In MTM, the other Muppets want to take the show to Broadway (after a fellow student jokingly remarked that they'll be on Broadway) but Kermit feels that although Manhattan Melodies was a hit as a college musical, it's not good enough for Broadway. And in this, Kermit feels like although the Muppets had just become successful again, they shouldn't be thinking so big right away, while the other Muppets want to do bigger things.
• Maybe this should have been included in the above example, but in MTM, the others convince Kermit to decide to bring the show to Broadway. And in MMW, after Dominic books an expensive theater to perform at, the others convince Kermit to bring the show there instead of the smaller venues he had arranged.
• The tuxedos look like golden versions of the tuxedos they where at the beginning of Manhattan Melodies.
• The wedding, obviously.
• Both movies include the song "Together Again" (obviously... again)..

Okay, so I found one more similarity to GMC than MTM. Though most of the similarities to GMC that I noticed occur in the opening song.​

Thanks for compiling this- those were my main observations as well. I kept thinking throughout the movie of how many similarities "Muppets Most Wanted" had with "The Great Muppet Caper" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan". I mean, "The Muppets" had obvious similarities to "The Muppet Movie" as well, so I guess we've made references to the classic first three Muppet movies now in these last two movies. And of course, we actually got a clip of Kermit's original performance of "The Rainbow Connection" from "The Muppet Movie" in "Muppets Most Wanted" as well.

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Besides the human cameos, I also noticed at least a few Muppet cameos. The Muppets from Muppet Treasure Island appeared in the Gulag scenes. In the song "I can get you what you want" the armadillo was stolen from Puppet Up. When Dominic Badguy stole the Crown Jewels after going through the lasers there was a brief moment when he appeared to be hanging upside down from a wall with an Escher style pattern on it, similar to Labyrinth, there were probably other allusions to previous Henson films and productions both Muppet and non-Muppet related but these are the ones I saw right away.​

I saw that too and got really excited for the possible Labyrinth reference- I was wondering if anyone else would pick up on that. I don't know if it was really intended but I'm counting it as a reference to Labyrinth's M.C. Escher scene.

Speaking of references, I'm glad they got the clips from "The Muppet Show", "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Movie" in there. I would still have loved to have seen a Sesame Street cameo or maybe a Fraggle Rock cameo or something, but oh well. (I think there may have been some background characters from Fraggle Rock in there though.)
And what about the wedding scene? Did anyone catch if any of the Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock denizens snuck in there somewhere? I know they were there in "The Muppets Take Manhattan" of course and so I was looking for them in this scene too...
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[ConstantineFan]

Muppets Most Wanted: Movie Opinion:

Movie:
Muppets Most Wanted was a AWESOME Muppet movie with less humans and more Muppets. The story was pretty good, even though it felt kinda slow in The Big House aka The Gulag scenes, because my feet were already half asleep in the movie theater halfway through the movie.

Cameos:
Loki aka Tom Hiddleston was pretty good as The Great Escapo in The Gulag. I was the only person that recognized him in the movie in the movie theater without his special hat and staff. My parents didn't know it was him till I mentioned it to them

Ross Lynch aka Florist was a pretty good cameo that lasted for about 1-2 minutes of the movie.

Humans:
There were not a lot of humans stealing the spotlight from The Muppets like the last movie. There were about 3 main human characters in the entire movie. The other humans were all celebrity cameos from Disney Channel, Music Stars, and Hollywood Stars.

Ricky Gervais aka Number Two: main bad guy in Muppets Most Wanted. In the entire movie, he steals the spotlight from The Muppets as much as possible with the main evil Muppet, Constantine.

Tina Fey: has a massive shrine of Kermit like every other Muppets Fan

Ty Burrell: teamed up with Sam the Eagle to find the bad guys

Music:
The music was way more fun and catchier than the last movie. For people who already bought the soundtrack before seeing the movie, it's super easy to tap the fingers on the arm rests in the movie theater during all the songs.

Ranking: 10 stars out of 5 stars- Best Muppet Movie Ever in the entire universe

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I went with my two nieces and one of my nephews and my sister to see "Muppets Most Wanted" Sunday afternoon after church and it was great!!!
The kids all seemed to enjoy the movie and they had lots of questions about plot points afterwards. It was quite interesting to hear their conversation. I don't remember all of it, but I know my nieces were a bit confused about Bobby Benson's Baby Band members being criminals. That was interesting to see the babies as criminals indeed- but still, it was awesome to see those characters in there and actually have lines!
For myself, I totally loved the movie! It was great to see the tie-in from "The Muppets" at the start and then see "Muppets Most Wanted" progress from there.
And there were so many in-jokes for fans- like Kermit acknowledging that people tend to think the sequel movie is never quite as good. But that whole "We're Making A Sequel" number was great- that was actually fairly reminiscent of the "Hey! A Movie" song from "The Great Muppet Caper" as well, come to think of it.
There were a number of great songs in the movie- the opening was good and I also enjoyed "The Big House" song. It was really funny to hear the prison guys covering a Boyz II Men song- one of my favorites from that group too.
I think the "Something So Right" song was another great emotional ballad type song, similar to "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" movie. And of course, it was great to hear "Together Again" (Again) in the movie!!! Those were some highlights for me, but I really enjoyed all of the music. It will take a few more listens for me to really remember them all really well though.
(It was also fun to hear Miss Piggy do "The Macarena" too- and Scooter's "Moves Like Jagger" though I really am not familiar with this song.)
The plot was funny enough and it was pretty interesting too. The gags with Dominic Badguy (pronounced Bad-gee- lol) and Constantine (My name first...then space bar, space bar, space bar...your name)- there were some funny bits there. And it was hilarious seeing Sam the American Eagle and Jean Pierre going back and forth- that was a funny part of the movie. The badge comparison scene was great. There were a number of gags that just felt like classic Muppet jokes and gags- so I really loved that.
There were plenty of human cameos, in keeping with tradition from most all of the movies and that was funny for the ones I recognized. There were others I didn't really recognize and don't really care about- it doesn't matter so much to me. But it's nice that that tradition is maintained.
I also LOVED the in joke references from when he mentions that this is the 7th. sequel to their original movie. Yes!!! I'm glad they acknowledged that for the hardcore Muppet fans. And the bit about Fozzie reciting the plot of "The Muppets" about introducing Walter and Kermit asking if he'd even watched their last film. And one of my favorites was when they acknowledged was another one involving Walter. Now I will say- I've definitely gotten to like this character, but it's interesting that he had one of the bigger supporting roles in the movie.
I'm not sure that I like that Fozzie Bear was called dumb in the movie and that no one but Animal figured out that it wasn't Kermit- but then, the movie wouldn't have worked otherwise. But at least they acknowledged that too.
Anyway- one of my favorite references was when they mentioned that they had slighted other well known and loved characters that had been around a lot longer in these movies- with Rizzo himself giving that line and then having him call Robin by name and Robin getting a quick line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to see both of them there and for them both to finally have quick lines even if it was for a joke. I'd love to see both of them back to larger roles in future projects.
And that's of course, one of my favorite things with the movie- I don't recall anyone from "The Muppets" that didn't show up here- if anything, they added more characters and that's what I love to see.
Just to name a few that I recall offhand- I remember seeing Mildred Huxtetter in there! Yes! Sure, she didn't say anything, but it was still great to see her, even if just in the background. Annie Sue was there! Sweetums, The Bossmen, The Flying Zucchini Brothers! (and they even got a line.) Link Hogthrob had some great lines!!!!! And Dr. Julius Strangepork was there with him. I think I saw Andy and Randy Pig in there for a brief moment. Rowlf still got some lines and Scooter got like a bunch of lines!
Of course, Kermit and Miss Piggy are generally going to have the most lines, but I'm glad to see others get a good number of lines. Animal, Fozzie and Walter got their share of course- and so did Gonzo , but it felt like he didn't get quite as much this time. (But he did get to do an indoor running of the bulls act and that was great fun to see.) And I'm pretty sure I saw Camilla there with him. Oh yes- and Sam the American Eagle got a huge part and that was awesome since he's one of my favorite characters! (I did find it a bit odd that he wasn't actually there as part of The Muppet Show touring cast and all, but if any character were to be used for that role, he was the perfect choice and it worked fine. And he even called them all "weirdos". haha.)
The Electric Mayhem didn't seem to get as much lines, but at least they were all there- Floyd, Janice, Zoot, Dr. Teeth, Animal- and Lips!!!!!!!!!!
Pepe the King Prawn got some lines and it was nice to see him have a few more than just the one line he got in "The Muppets" (even though that was a funny bit.)
And the fireworks in the end credits were great fun too- and it was neat seeing Sweetums and Fozzie there in the end credits as well. Bunsen and Beaker got their share of lines too. And the Swedish Chef- his line in the opening song was pretty hilarious too. And Lew Zealand and Crazy Harry both got utilized quite a bit! So did The Muppet Newsman! And Beauregard's scenes on the train were funny- though it seemed a bit random for him to suddenly get hit in the head so many times. A funny gag, but it felt like it just came out of nowhere...
And the penguins were there!
Statler and Waldorf had their share of heckle jokes as well.
And Marvin Suggs and his Muppaphones were there! And I was glad to see Wayne and Wanda were still there. And Uncle Deadly and Bobo were paired up again- cool! Glad to see them back in there. I wonder if that's going to be the next Muppet odd couple pairing? (As we've had a couple of times in the past- the ultimate classic one being Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street" of course- but also Pepe the King Prawn and Seymour from "Muppets Tonight" and Gonzo and Rizzo in "The Muppet Christmas Carol", "Muppet Classic Theater" and "Muppet Treasure Island" and "Muppets from Space". (To some degree, perhaps, on "Muppets Tonight".)
And yes- Pops showed up and had a quick line- great!
And once again, we got to hear a number of references to "The Muppet Show" theme song (including hearing it performed in Spanish) and to Kermit's classic "Bein' Green" song.
I also noticed Beautiful Day Monster there and Behemoth and Thog- great to see them still included. And Angel Marie was there as well! Nice! And it was neat to see Miss Poogy already get incorporated either as a different character or just in a different kind of role (I couldn't quite tell)- but it's cool to see some of "The Muppets" characters being added to the Muppets' repertoire and being put in the mix. Speaking of which, I saw Zach Galifanakis and the hobo Muppets showed up again too- that was kinda neat.
And I guess the Leprechaun Muppets were pretty much the only new Muppets to show up in the movie- wonder if we'll see them again at some point?
I'm pretty sure I saw Afghan Hound in there too- and there are probably other background characters I'm forgetting.
I'd love to see other monsters return- like Luncheon Counter Monster, Shakey Sanchez, Splurge, Mean Mama, Timmy Monster, Gorgon Heap and others...I also like the background characters from "The Muppet Show" and other productions that never said much- like Gaffer the Cat and Brewster the Guru.....but what about other, bigger roles, like Hilda or George the Janitor? It would have been great to see George sitting next to Mildred on the train.
And I do believe I saw a Scrlapp Flyapp (I may be off on the spelling there) show up... those kind of characters are really great to see... also- maybe I'm missing them, but what about the Frackles? I'd love to see those on there- Droop and/or Snivelly and Boppity and others.
There is always room for some others to appear, but overall- the movie did a great job of balancing a lot of characters and I really enjoyed it!
I can't wait to get this movie on DVD when it gets released and I hope it will help spur the release of "The Muppet Show" Seasons 4 and 5 on DVD finally! (And I would also gladly welcome further Muppet movies of course.)
Yay for The Muppets!

 

[MelissaY1]

Might be going again to see it this week with my husband as he hasn't seen it yet, and I've been raving about it since last Thursday when i saw it. By the way, for those who ordered the film through Fandango's website, you get a free download from Itunes to download the song Cockatoo in Malibu (which I was thrilled with, because it was one of my favorites in the film).

 

[PiggyConnection]

So I went back to see it again last night. I am soo sad that in both screenings I've seen, there were only 10 people in the theater (counting my party). Guys, if you haven't gone please go. I saw a review that said "For Kermit, Miss Piggy and the gang, it may be back to the sock drawer." It made me really upset... Anyways, for the fun stuff! I also noticed the "SLOW NEWS WEEK: MUPPETS DOMINATE HEADLINES" haha that was so funny. I still laughed really hard when Constantine calls Gonzo "Zongo". I enjoyed "We're Doing a Sequel" a lot more the second time around and found myself singing along. Hopefully the box office sales pick up, this is such a great movie!

 

[beaker]

Just makes me sad that from all of you, my friends who saw it and myself...everyone is reporting a very low theater attendance regardless of time or day seen.

I mean I caught the very strange indie film "The Grand Budapest Hotel" by Wes Anderson yesterday at noon, a film that would maybe appeal to 1% of the population, but it was packed at the cineplexes. Noone seemed to be walking into MMW

 

[beaker]

The Muppets was made solely to get this movie made. I'll just say it. This was by far a more enjoyable, and better put together film. it didn't feel like they were trying to shove 3 films into one, they didn't end the movie's plotline during the credits. The humans were more engaging this time. We had a smaller, focused group of Muppets instead of "look how many we can put in a scene" while putting as many as they could into big scenes as possible. They showed just enough Muppet Show schtick that you get the general idea, without stopping the movie's momentum to perform them. The fourth Wall moments were much better and stronger. They went straight into the action (no 10 minute wait for the Muppets outside of a flashback). Danny Trejo wasn't cut out completely. Just editing, pacing... everything was superior there.

This is, without a doubt, my favorite Post-Henson Muppet project.

I'll say, yes... I agree that there wasn't a song as grand as Man or Muppet, but there were also no Big Lipped Alligator Moment klunkers like Me Party. My only real complaint was there wasn't a full Electric Mayhem song, but where would they put it?

And really... Link had multiple lines and scenes. That's amazing.

And the fact that this isn't doing well at the box office makes me utterly sick to my stomach. The Muppets was the movie we needed to have to restart the franchise... this is the film we deserved.

Oh, and I'm absolutely delighted they did dedicate the film to Jane and Jerry.

I HATED most the music from the first one. I still cant get over how much focus there was on the cringe worthy sappy Segal and Adams characters, and I love those guys in other films.

I couldn't get "We're Making A Sequel" out of my head. They worked really hard to echo the original film's vibe music wise I felt.

Ok now here's something....anyone got a "Don't Eat The Pictures" Sesame museum tv movie vibe? When they show that anything muppet painting, that felt RIGHT out of Sesame Street.

Maybe Im reading too much into the film, but I felt the touches of Sesame Street in a lot of places

 

[Drtooth]

I HATED most the music from the first one. I still cant get over how much focus there was on the cringe worthy sappy Segal and Adams characters, and I love those guys in other films.

I've noticed that with every kid's movie based on a nostalgic property, they always have Mary Sue/Gary Stu type characters for...uh...reasons? Seems they did that slightly ironically with a nudge that it's supposed to be a commentary on that. But the fact that some critics panned the movie for their lack of involvement just baffled me. The characters were alright, but not even in the ball park as intriguing as Jean Pierre or Dominic Badjeeee. And I admit, I really liked Man or Muppet, Pictures in my Head, and the full version of Let's Talk About Me... but other than Man or Muppet, I think most of the music surpassed those. I'm in that rare camp. The "I'm Number One, You're number Two" bit was a cartoonish, classic throwback that had me tapping my toes.

Ok now here's something....anyone got a "Don't Eat The Pictures" Sesame museum tv movie vibe? When they show that anything muppet painting, that felt RIGHT out of Sesame Street.

I know, right? That Sir Blood guy looked almost like he came out of Sesame Street. And hey... what about Rizzo basically commenting on the fact that he wasn't on the last movie, like everyone complained about? I loved the last film a lot, but this one is leaps and bounds better. I dare say I like it almost as much as the classic 3 films. At least MTM. Why this film isn't igniting the box office is a crime.

Edit: OH! I completely forgot to mention... I'm glad that Waltz was able to get a nice cameo in the film, but considering he was supposed to play the Interpol agent... well, I'm actually glad he didn't. Ty gave a MUCH funnier performance as Jean Pierre. He had such a buffoonish self-righteous Frenchness that perfectly accented Sam the American Eagle's Buffoonish, Self-righteous Americanism.

 

[Walterfan]

I enjoyed parts of this movie, but there is something dark about it. The Muppets normally have a sense of camaraderie and pulling together to achieve something. This storyline seems to be more about dissention, selfishness and apathy amongst the group. There’s something disturbing about seeing the gang being so quick to jump on Dominic’s bandwagon, and completely ignore Kermit. They all want to pursue their own selfish interests and don’t even notice or care when the quality of the show is being run into the ground (the show goes on for hours, the audience falls asleep, etc.). They see nothing wrong when their leader’s response to their inquiries is “Do what you want. Who cares”. The member of the gang who starts to become suspicious is actually the new guy. The one who has known Kermit for the least amount of time. It all works out in the end, but I didn’t come away with the positive, one for all and all for one, feeling I normally get from the Muppets.

 

[Drtooth]

But then the movie would be like 10 minutes long.