The Muppets (2011)
- Thread starter Kai "the spy"
- Start date
Finally saw it this past weekend.
I didn't love it, like I do The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Show and The Muppet Christmas Carol, but I certainly enjoyed it and my wife and I will probably see it again in the theater. Getting Bret McKenzie to do the songs was a stroke of fucking genius.
It had pretty bad pacing issues, though a lot of that is due to all the cut cameos, subplots, and the drastically changed ending:
My biggest problem was that too much of the script felt like self-insertion fanfic by Jason Segel, and both he and Amy Adams were playing it hugely tongue-in-cheek with a huge wink to the audience. Contrast that to Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol, delivering the line "This is old Fozziwig's rubber chicken factory!" with such wide-eyed earnestness that you'd think Dickens wrote it that way all along. He plays a completely straight Scrooge, which is exactly the secret to co-starring with Muppets.
I smiled the whole way through and I was tearing up during the massive "Rainbow Connection" sequence, but it really felt disjointed, as though Segel and Stoller wrote a two and a half hour opus that got chopped to death by being cut to about an hour and a half.
I'm sounding far too negative -- I really enjoyed the movie, and I think Frank Oz, with his complaining about how it was a disgrace to the Muppets or whatever, can go pound sand. And I'll re-watch this any day of the week over Muppet Treasure Island or Muppets from Space without question.
I didn't love it, like I do The Muppet Movie, The Muppet Show and The Muppet Christmas Carol, but I certainly enjoyed it and my wife and I will probably see it again in the theater. Getting Bret McKenzie to do the songs was a stroke of fucking genius.
It had pretty bad pacing issues, though a lot of that is due to all the cut cameos, subplots, and the drastically changed ending:
Originally, the ending has the Muppets getting to $9,999,999 when the clock struck midnight. Richman gets up, gloats about how he won...
... When Statler and Waldorf, from the balcony, look at each other and go "y'know, that wasn't that bad." And they drop a single dollar down onto the stage. The Muppets win! The stuff like Richman getting hit with a bowling ball ends up not being a reversal of the ending, but just the culmination of a side plot.
... When Statler and Waldorf, from the balcony, look at each other and go "y'know, that wasn't that bad." And they drop a single dollar down onto the stage. The Muppets win! The stuff like Richman getting hit with a bowling ball ends up not being a reversal of the ending, but just the culmination of a side plot.
My biggest problem was that too much of the script felt like self-insertion fanfic by Jason Segel, and both he and Amy Adams were playing it hugely tongue-in-cheek with a huge wink to the audience. Contrast that to Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol, delivering the line "This is old Fozziwig's rubber chicken factory!" with such wide-eyed earnestness that you'd think Dickens wrote it that way all along. He plays a completely straight Scrooge, which is exactly the secret to co-starring with Muppets.
I smiled the whole way through and I was tearing up during the massive "Rainbow Connection" sequence, but it really felt disjointed, as though Segel and Stoller wrote a two and a half hour opus that got chopped to death by being cut to about an hour and a half.
I'm sounding far too negative -- I really enjoyed the movie, and I think Frank Oz, with his complaining about how it was a disgrace to the Muppets or whatever, can go pound sand. And I'll re-watch this any day of the week over Muppet Treasure Island or Muppets from Space without question.
I liked this about the new movie. A Muppet Christmas Carol was telling a classic story, starring the Muppets. This new movie was about the Muppets as real people. Even Kermit says, "Didn't you see our first movie?" That's actually one of the things I really enjoy about the Muppets in general...they can be deeply entrenched in the story they're telling, or they can break the fourth wall and acknowledge their audience, and it all comes across just fine.
This movie was a re-introduction to the Muppets. I think they made the right call interacting with the audience in the ways that they did.
You're completely missing my point. I said that Adams and Segel were playing their parts with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks, with nearly every line delivered with a gigantic wink to the audience, whereas actors like Michael Caine, Tim Curry and even Steve Martin were playing their roles in their movies like it was any other movie.
I wasn't complaining about the Muppets doing the same thing. For the Muppets to break the fourth wall is fine -- even expected; they've been doing that since day one. But when the human characters are trying to be in on the joke, too, it hurts the product as a whole.
That's fantastic.
Those people are truly demented. 
It's weird that they would complain about the Muppets being too liberal.
I mean, have these people seen pictures of Jim Henson? Have they seen Dr. Teeth, Animal, and the Electric Mayhem Band? Have they ever watched an episode of Fraggle Rock?
The Muppets were created by a Bohemian who based half his characters off of old hippies and wanted his kids shows to end war! There's always been a left-of-center subtext to the Muppets.
I mean, have these people seen pictures of Jim Henson? Have they seen Dr. Teeth, Animal, and the Electric Mayhem Band? Have they ever watched an episode of Fraggle Rock?
The Muppets were created by a Bohemian who based half his characters off of old hippies and wanted his kids shows to end war! There's always been a left-of-center subtext to the Muppets.
I didn't miss your point. I was just including Jason and Amy in "the Muppets" as a part of the cast. I had no problem at all with them breaking engaging the audience the way they did. Muppets or Humans...I thought it was funny.
And I think that's where those movies went wrong. When you've got a bunch of felt puppets running around and acting crazy, you don't want the human actors pretending like it's all perfectly normal.
What made the Muppet Show and first few movies so fun was that the human characters were constantly breaking the fourth wall along with the Muppets. I thought Segal did a great job bringing that spirit back.
That's fantastic.
Jeez, to even suggest that ONE businessman could be too greedy, ruthless, and unethical is too much for these people.
It's worth noting that Tex Richman isn't the villain because he's rich. Kermit seems to have become somewhat wealthy in this film himself. Tex Richman is the villain because he deliberately misrepresents the contents of contracts he tricks people into signing, in order to trick them into accepting less payment than their property is worth -- and then he tries to illegally sabotage their efforts to clauses of those contracts to protect their property.
Tex Richman isn't a villain because The Muppets thinks capitalism is bad and he's rich. Tex Richman is a villain because he engages in what amounts to fraud.
... on the other hand, I can see where that might make Wall Street's servants feel uncomfortable...
Tex Richman isn't a villain because The Muppets thinks capitalism is bad and he's rich. Tex Richman is a villain because he engages in what amounts to fraud.
... on the other hand, I can see where that might make Wall Street's servants feel uncomfortable...
Wow, loved this. They totally nailed it. I hope the success of this movie means more will come.
Which begs the question: if future Muppet movies are made, will they or should they include Segal and Co. in either the cast/creative team? Or should it be passed on to new folks?
He wouldn't necessarily have to appear, but he could perhaps still write them. I think that the Muppets have found a great showrunner in Segel. Maybe in a few years time they could even bring back the TV show. Although maybe a movie once every few years is enough.
