I just got done reading the "hated it" reviews of The Muppets and not one of them really explains why the nay-sayers hated it other than it wasn't true to their childhood memory of growing up with The Muppet Show. My own experience of growing up with the muppets was less than satisfying. Sure I loved them, but they were screened on Sunday night and as soon as the show was over I had to go to bed. So for me the muppets symbolised the end of the weekend and having to go to bed only to wake up to yet another week of getting bullied at school. This movie makes up for a lot of that!!!
From the moment The Muppets started, my friend and I were laughing appreciatively, as was everyone in the session I attended. But when the muppet telethon started, the laughs went into hyperdrive and I found myself barely able to breath from laughing so hard. It was also great to see Jack Black actually being funny again, after a run of tepid, unfunny "comedies." Black plays the perfect fall guy and actually adds to the hysteria. The whole thing is so masterfully executed. Then when Kermit comes out and reprises the song he is most famous for, my eyes welled, especially when he was joined by Miss Piggie and the rest of the cast. I'd forgotten that the muppets do sincerity and poignancy as effortlessly as they do their laughs.
A few criticisms. I noticed there were lots of kids in my session and most of them were pretty wriggly while the adults laughed like mad. I don't think Disney has been able to cater for all tastes with this film. There are too many "talking head" moments to generally keep kids engaged and they are too young to understand what nostalgia is, which is heavily emphasised in the film. I loved all the songs but during dance sequences the actors kept addressing the camera and then vaguely looking off into the middle distance which became rather jarring. I don't mind actors breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the camera, but it needs to be done with conviction and purpose, both of which seemed missing here and it kept pulling me out of the filmic experience (I may be quite alone here). I also didn't like seeing Disney unashamedly plugging Cars 2 in one scene near the end of the film. It was a shameless piece of cross-promotion. Having said this, I really loved the Toy Story short at the start of the film - fast paced and full of ingeniously hilarious toys.
From the moment The Muppets started, my friend and I were laughing appreciatively, as was everyone in the session I attended. But when the muppet telethon started, the laughs went into hyperdrive and I found myself barely able to breath from laughing so hard. It was also great to see Jack Black actually being funny again, after a run of tepid, unfunny "comedies." Black plays the perfect fall guy and actually adds to the hysteria. The whole thing is so masterfully executed. Then when Kermit comes out and reprises the song he is most famous for, my eyes welled, especially when he was joined by Miss Piggie and the rest of the cast. I'd forgotten that the muppets do sincerity and poignancy as effortlessly as they do their laughs.
A few criticisms. I noticed there were lots of kids in my session and most of them were pretty wriggly while the adults laughed like mad. I don't think Disney has been able to cater for all tastes with this film. There are too many "talking head" moments to generally keep kids engaged and they are too young to understand what nostalgia is, which is heavily emphasised in the film. I loved all the songs but during dance sequences the actors kept addressing the camera and then vaguely looking off into the middle distance which became rather jarring. I don't mind actors breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the camera, but it needs to be done with conviction and purpose, both of which seemed missing here and it kept pulling me out of the filmic experience (I may be quite alone here). I also didn't like seeing Disney unashamedly plugging Cars 2 in one scene near the end of the film. It was a shameless piece of cross-promotion. Having said this, I really loved the Toy Story short at the start of the film - fast paced and full of ingeniously hilarious toys.