Your Thoughts: "Muppets Most Wanted" Theatrical Film

[Pinkflower7783]

And the other films before the 2011 film did? I don't recall feeling any emotion or even laughing from MWOO, MFS, MCC, just to name a few.

 

[CensoredAlso]

And the other films before the 2011 film did? I don't recall feeling any emotion or even laughing from MWOO, MFS, MCC, just to name a few.

No, they didn't. That's what I'm saying. TM2011 and MMW improved on some things when compared to the '90s. But compared to the original films, TM2011 and MMW don't have the same level of wit. Like I said, somewhere in the middle.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I can see your point and I can respect if people didn't like the film were all entitled to our opinions. I guess I'm having a hard time cause I just had fun with this film. At least when I went again Friday people were laughing which I thought was great particularly the kids.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I really should be used to the feeling by now, heh, but for some reason not enjoying MMW really got me upset last night. I'm sorry if I'm nerves are still raw.

I'm sure other audiences enjoyed the film. That's great for them. I will never be seeing it again.

 

[Ruahnna]

It's not easy to take up the writing duties for an already established set of characters. Most throw out the concept and give us something generic and offensive to fans of the originals. They don't try, and we wind up with crappy live action cartoon remakes that mostly bomb, but somehow, some inexplicably manage to get the audience that's too young to care about the characters.

Um...Sherlock comes to mind. And the fellows that write that are HUGE, OBSESSIVE fans of the original Conan Doyle. And, while I am NOT a fan of the Star Trek reboot, at least it said RIGHT UP FRONT that it was NOT a remake of the original (unless of course you take the second movie, which totally had no script elements that weren't stolen).

There were parts of MMW that were very enjoyable. Kermit's fond but very firm demeanor with the prisoners in the gulag was a very nice homage to the real Kermit. That's the Kermit that I know and love--the one who can take a group of performers, from the not-quite-found-their-niche to the frankly awful, and turn them into a show worth watching. Seeing Kermit be true to his creative roots while wondering if he'd been forgotten or abandoned by his old friends was heart-wrenching. Keep in mind that this Kermit is the Kermit that lost touch with all of his old friends, who had constructively abandoned them to sink or swim while he wallowed in heartbreak. It was nice to see him take decisive leadership and make it stick--would that he had done the same when Dominick attempted his coup! Honestly--Kermit was the only character in this movie who was really on-the-mark. (Thank you, Steve Whitmire, for a very nuanced and moving performance).

I confess I am really surprised by the comments about how the pacing for this movie was better. When you step back and look at it. all of the muppet scenes, except Kermit's and Constantine's, were just little one-shot scenes--no continuity with other scenes or with what is going on. (Sam and Ty had continuity, but their storyline ran mostly outside the other muppets' storyline.) There were three intersecting storylines--Kermit in the gulag, Constantine and Dominick and their heists and Sam and Jean Pierre investigating the heists. The other characters are just window dressing for those scenes.

I only realized it reading other people's comments here, but it finally dawned on me that I wasn't seeing Constantine's scenes as "muppet" scenes. Constantine's scenes were all about furthering HIS goals and not at all about what is happening with or to the muppets--not really. Walter's scenes in TM, on the other hand, were all muppet-centric once you got past the "getting to Kermit's house" parts. Once Kermit enters the scene in TM, everything that happens is all about The Muppets, even, in a way, the parts about Gary and Mary. Gary is sacrificing his own potential happiness to help The Muppets (I can relate!) and Walter is trying to find his place among his idols--those are muppet-specific plots, even if you don't like the Gary/Mary ushy-gushy stuff. In MMW, I was never quite certain why Constantine and Dominick needed to involve the muppets in their plans at all. (They didn't.) Why, for example, attempt to blow Piggy up. We have no reason to suspect that Constantine disliked her--in fact, we have almost no interaction at all between Piggy and Constantine, unless you count the song/music video--which is more of a performance than an interacion. Isn't that amazing, when you think of it? Constantine has been spending copious amounts of time with Miss Piggy, has convinced her that he cares about her (I'm your man) and is going to marry her and yet we've never heard him say, "Wow--that Piggy is one fast mover!" or "I'm going to have to do something about Piggy--she's beginning to suspect me!" or "Sheesh! My lips are are exhausted from kissing and my aural organs are tired of listening to her prattle on." We do not, in fact, know anything about how Constantine feels about her--except for his somewhat surprising decision to blow her up for...what was the reason? Did I miss that? Doesn't the bad guy usually conspire to run off with the beloved of the good guy and keep her for himself?

It all goes back to plot. The puppetry was amazing. The singing was good. Everything the characters were given to do they did ably. The problem was the lack of a cohesive, muppety plot. I don't think our only choices here were to have the muppets play other characters, as in MCC (which remains both one of my favorite muppet movies AND one of my favorite versions of ACC) or to have a bad plot. I think good writing is foundational (and one of the least expensive parts of film-making) for a good movie. Everything that follows builds on that.

Oh--just a quick correction. MFS was filmed in 1999. Jim died in 1990. He was NOT responsible for that movie in any way.

 

[CensoredAlso]

There were parts of MMW that were very enjoyable. Kermit's fond but very firm demeanor with the prisoners in the gulag was a very nice homage to the real Kermit. That's the Kermit that I know and love--the one who can take a group of performers, from the not-quite-found-their-niche to the frankly awful, and turn them into a show worth watching. Seeing Kermit be true to his creative roots while wondering if he'd been forgotten or abandoned by his old friends was heart-wrenching. Honestly--Kermit was the only character in this movie who was really on-the-mark. (Thank you, Steve Whitmire, for a very nuanced and moving performance).

Yes! YES! That's exactly how I felt. If MMW had focused on that plotline, I would be giving this film an A++.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

A quote from the great Frank Oz

"What really makes the Muppets work is affectionate anarchy.”

 

[CensoredAlso]

A quote from the great Frank Oz

"What really makes the Muppets work is affectionate anarchy.”

Yup. And I found that in all of the gulag scenes. They clearly KNEW how to get this across, they just didn't seem to think the Muppets (other than Kermit) should be involved, heh.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I have a whole new respect for Ty Burrell now.

Burrell, who plays a bumbling detective in the upcoming film, was also “over the moon,” to be a Muppets co-star. “I was like, really me? And they don’t know this, but it could have been the easiest negotiations of their entire lives. They could have offered me like $1.50 and some paper-towel coupons, and I would have done the Muppets.”

 

[CensoredAlso]

I have a whole new respect for Ty Burrell now.

Burrell, who plays a bumbling detective in the upcoming film, was also “over the moon,” to be a Muppets co-star. “I was like, really me? And they don’t know this, but it could have been the easiest negotiations of their entire lives. They could have offered me like $1.50 and some paper-towel coupons, and I would have done the Muppets.”

I loved every single cameo in the movie. Everyone seemed so charming and excited to be there.

They weren't my problem with this film, heh...