Film Review: "The Muppets"

"The Muppets" is a very happy film. That's the way some of my friends described it, and I think that really puts it best. Disney's update / reboot of Jim Henson's Muppets franchise is not very complex, and it certainly contains no dark or somber themes that sometimes appear in films made for children. And while that may hold it back a bit, and keep it from being a truly great children's film, writers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller (the duo behind the R-rated relationship comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") have absolutely captured the tone, essence, and spirit of the Muppets.

At the center of this film is a character named Walter, a young man who has grown up among normal, flesh-and-blood humans despite being a fuzzy, felt creature who feels like he has a lot in common with all those loveable critters on "The Muppet Show." When Walter's brother Gary (Segel) invites him on a trip to Los Angeles to see the Muppet Studios and the famed Muppet Theatre, Walter can't contain his excitement. Gary is planning to use the trip to propose to his girlfriend of ten years, Mary (Amy Adams), but the three of them discover that the Muppet Studios are in disarray, the Muppets have all gone their separate ways, and an oil baron named Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) plans to buy and raze the famed theatre to drill for oil underneath it. In order to save the theatre, the trio must unite the Muppets and put on a telethon to exercise a clause in the sale contract for the studios that will allow them to keep it.

From this point on, the film really is just a get-the-band-back-together exercise, but it works really because it plays into the reality of the Muppets lack of popularity over the last decade. The film fully embraces this fact, and the characters' trademark self-referential humor is very much present. Almost all the major characters are appear...Kermit the Frog is living in retired luxury in Beverly Hills, Fozzie Bear is playing in a Muppets tribute band in Reno called "The Moopets," Gonzo is a plumbing magnate, Animal is taking anger management classes, and Miss Piggy is a Vogue fashion editor in Paris. The only major absentee I noticed was Rizzo the Rat. Musical numbers abound, as do celebrity cameos. The film peaks its final act, as Walter tries to decide whether he truly belongs with the Muppets, and Gary has to decide what lengths he will go to in his devotion to Mary...all of this set against the telethon, which is what amounts to a new episode of "The Muppet Show."

All in all this film is simply a return to the characters that many of us remember from our childhood. It's really like getting a visit from an old friend and having a long, wonderful catch-up. It's nowhere near the best film of the year, but it's a very good one, especially for those of us who are fond of these characters.

"The Muppets" is rated PG for some mild rude humor.
Running time: 98 minutes.
Released domestically on November 23, 2011, by Walt Disney Pictures.
3 stars out of 4.