The Muppets (2011)

Cal & I were lucky enough to get a few hours to ourselves, and decided to check out a film. Our options gave us a pretty stark choice, and we opted for The Muppets over Lars von Trier’s (supposedly fantastic but probably a wee bit depressing) Melancholia.

This was a good call.

It’s a great film. Sure, not perfect. The pacing felt a little bit *too* rushed at the start, like you were waiting for it to catch up with itself. But all the bits were fantastic. It was classic Muppets action. Lew Zealand got one of the best lines in the film, and you know something’s going right (or terribly terribly wrong) when that happens. Heck, the film trusted its felt talent enough to hand over the screen to its chicken cast, who of course (unlike the other Muppets) cannot speak, only cluck. Everything stopped for a big chicken-only musical number which was performed in its entirety. And it worked.

And I even teared up a bit as the Muppets recreated their classic TV opening.

I only had one complaint about this film, one moment where it kicked me out of the zone. The Muppets are performing probably their most famous song, and it cuts to the audience in the theatre, who are all smiling and swaying along with the music. And I thought, NO! That’s not right. They should be SINGING ALONG!

Anyway. This card-carrying member of the Victoria University Muppet Club loved it.

Bonus: Yesterday I listened to this Q&A podcast with the writers of The Muppets – revelatory and laugh-out-loud funny. Obviously, filled with spoilers, but if you’ve seen the film I highly recommend it.

Also: Chris Cooper’s song in the film is a SHOWSTOPPER.

8 thoughts on “The Muppets (2011)”

  1. It was entertaining while I was watching it, but in the end, I thought it was a little too predictable, a little too vanilla, and a little too smug. There was never any dramatic tension, and nothing surprising or particularly original.

    I guess I just compare it to the original movie and to Muppets Take Manhattan and I think that both of those films are far more interesting and far more ambitious.

  2. Heather: APPROVE

    alasdair: yeah, I can’t and won’t argue with any of that, except maybe the “smug” call. It’s no Muppet Movie, that’s for sure. But it had the right feel which for me went a long way.

    Jack: I might be misremembering, but I was pretty sure they had membership cards with little stickers on them. I had membership cards for something or other back then and if not that Muppet Club, then what?

  3. Charlene and I did the same – just back from honeymoon, we went on a date to see the muppets and it was great! I laughed more than anyone else in the cinema. Stupid toddlers just don’t get it.

    Chris Cooper’s song was one of two in a row by Bret McKenzie, I’m pretty sure.

  4. OK, and slightly more research tells me he wrote all of the songs. But the rap and “More than a Muppet” sound extra Conchordy to me.

  5. I think he wrote most but not all the songs. I agree on the conchordy sound of the ones you id’d.

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