Four days after seeing it for what the first of what I suspect will be many times, I`m delighted to finally give two enthusiastic thumbs up for Muppets Most Wanted.
As much as I loved and will always treasure TM2011, I desperately hoped that Disney and the Muppet creative team wouldn't go back to the nostalgia well and would instead deliver a big crazy comedy that still had the Muppets' essential goodness at heart. I'm thrilled (and a little relieved) that MMW not only achieved these lofty expectations but also exceeded them.
Here's why:
Visuals:The question is as relevant in 2014 as it was in 1979 - are people going to enjoy a movie with puppets as the main characters? MMW's answers to that question resulted in some of the most entertaining and, in some cases, flat-out-astounding scenes in Muppet history, including Constantine's jaw-dropping dance number with Dominic, Muppet Ladder (beautifully bookended by Gonzo's nose on top and Sweetums on the bottom), an astounding number of full-bodied, standing and walking Muppets (especially Kermit in "The Big House" and Piggy in "Something So Right"), the singing flamingos, and the entire Spanish TMS intro - seriously, I nearly fell off my seat laughing at Constantine's "Latin Lover" pose and costume in the arches. Attention to detail on everybody's parts made MMW a feast for this Muppet fan's eyes.
Music:If I didn't think Bret McKenzie was a genius before, I do now. Dabbling in several different musical styles, he's cranked out some absolute gems, particularly "We're Doing A Sequel" ("Hey, A Movie" with some sass - I can't believe Disney allowed the Muppets to so regularly and completely bite the hand that feeds them), "Something So Right" (I was not prepared for how smartly the other Muppets were woven into Piggy's moment-of-truth ballad), "Interrogation Song" and "I'm Number One.” Even "The Big House," which I didn't like so much on my first listen, is growing on me. No matter what happens to this movie in the long run, I can see another Oscar on Bret's desk by this time next year, and - hopefully - a continued relationship with a franchise that is lucky to have him on board.
Classic Muppets get their groove back:With all due respect to their previous work, I think this may have been the best-ever collective performance - in puppetry, line delivery and singing (there were some INCREDIBLE high notes in MMW) - of Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Baretta, Matt Vogel and David Rudman. Jacobson absolutely nailed Piggy (especially her singing), Sam Eagle (arguably the character’s finest hour) and Fozzie (I haven't liked Fozzie this much since VMX - maybe even since MTI), Whitmire gave Kermit the energy and strength I actually missed in the last movie ("And if you have a problem with that, my door is always open!!!"), Goelz infused Gonzo with a wonderful new energy (I even found it funny when he refused to let go of the Indoor Running of the Bulls) and made the most of brief appearances by Beauregard and Bunsen, Baretta was bang-on for Rowlf, Dr. Teeth, Pepe and Bobo, Rudman delivered arguably his best-ever Scooter and Janice (and, weirdly, I liked seeing Poogy in the gulag), and Vogel...what did Vogel do again? Well, there was Lew Zealand ("You can QUIT the Muppets?!"), a surprisingly-sensitive Floyd, Robin, Pops (POPS!!!), a brief-but-effective Uncle Deadly cameo, and...and...
Constantine:One movie reviewer said she found more to like about Constantine in the first 20 minutes of MMW than she did about Walter in his two full-length movies. Not to take away from Peter Linz’s performance as Walter (who was a welcome returnee and actually got a couple of decent laugh lines off), I was floored by the surprising depth Vogel and the writers gave to Constantine, who had two (TWO!) great musical numbers, a ton of laughs and a delightful comic fallibility (stage fright in Berlin; overall inability and/or disinterest in learning the others' names). Even in the pre-fake-wedding scene, I was struck by what seemed to be a sincere attempt on Constantine’s part to reassure the rest of the Muppets that it wasn't so bad that they would stop performing together once they got back to the States. It almost made it feel just right that he got to sing even one short line in the closing number.
The perfect resolution to the Kermit and Piggy question:I can't put into words how satisfying I found the method the writers used to help Piggy determine which frog was the REAL Kermit, and - even better - the fact that she was JUST FINE with this. This alone makes me like this wedding scene a million times more than the MTM version. (And while I’m not a fan of violence as a comic device, I have to admit that I enjoyed Piggy whaling on Constantine in the helicopter, with Kermit adding the topper: “She’s my woman.” That scene, and the audience reaction to it at our local theatre, somehow reminded me of the Hulk’s fight scene with Loki in The Avengers - and SPEAKING of Tom Hiddleston...)
Just enough humanity: I didn’t mind Gary-and-Mary as a plot device in the last movie but I knew Stoller and Bobin would work harder to strike a cleaner balance between the Muppets and their human co-stars in the follow-up. Thankfully, they developed a script that gives the supporting cast - including cameos - JUST ENOUGH screen time to advance the story and/or make a comedic impact before getting out of the way and letting the Muppets do their thing. Ricky Gervais in particular did the trick here (he transitioned smartly between oily villain and whipping boy for Constantine, took one for the team in the Lemur outfit, and - gasp - HE CAN SING!!!), and Ty Burrell managed to be amusing and likeable in his Interpol inspector role without (a) upsetting the chemistry with Sam - the tearful finale in particular was hilarious - or (b) doing a lame Clouseau impersonation. I think I expected a bit more from Tina Fey but, like Celine Dion in “Something So Right,” she didn’t disrupt the proceedings or suck the fun away.
I also appreciated the more judicious use of cameos in this movie - no Selena Gomez “my agent made me do this” moments (even the Ross Lynch bit went by cleanly). Favourites: Tony Bennett (Muppets Tonight callback just after Andy and Randy Pig!) and Lady Gaga quick-hits in the studio commissary, Salma Hayek lambasting Gonzo in Madrid, Tom Hiddleston as The Great Escapo, Danny Trejo and Jermaine Clement leading the singing convicts (the boy band song cracked me up), and Usher, if only because that led to Link’s amazing line that he’s “on the groom’s side by marriage.” (Also, since this is largely a spoiler-free review, I’ll protect the Gulag Mystery Box Singer’s identity but add that Mrs. Otter found it hilarious when he was finally revealed.)
And, finally, the heart of the Muppets: While it’s true that a second straight heart-plucking nostalgia-fest wouldn’t have served audiences or the franchise, part of the reason I love this movie is because Stoller, Bobin, McKenzie and the Muppet performers didn’t forget that the Muppets are good-hearted characters and continued to add to the depth they gave them in the last movie. I think I will always be moved by how quickly the Muppets all volunteered to join Kermit in the gulag, Piggy’s emotional crisis in “Something So Right,” and the sadness the Muppets (especially Floyd) felt at the concept of breaking up again after the world tour ended. And somehow, it just seems right that Animal, Fozzie and Walter - in that order - were the first to figure out that Constantine wasn’t Kermit. (Their chemistry was marvelous.)
Bottom line: I had a blast watching this movie and I expect it to hold up well to repeat viewings. There’s a part of me that looks forward to watching this with Mrs. Otter in 20-30 years’ time, when we’re as old as Elderly-Kermit-and-Piggy. Big, big thanks to everyone involved.
Rating: 4/5. Already my fourth-favourite Muppet movie (behind only TMM, GMC, and TM2011 - and, I might add, not far behind TM2011.)
(P.S. My complaints about MMW are very few. I may address them in another, much shorter comment. But for now I’ll focus on the many, many positives.)
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