The Muppets
{4.5/5} “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were reciting some sort of important plot point.”
The Muppets, released in 2011
Walter (a new muppet) is obsessed with the Muppets. Somehow Walter and Gary are brothers, although Gary is a human. When Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) go to Los Angeles to celebrate their anniversary they take Walter along. They discover that the Muppet Theatre is about to be destroyed by Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to make way for an oil well. So they try to get the Muppets together for a show to raise money to buy back the theatre — although the Muppets have all scattered and haven’t done a show in years.
If you like the Muppets, you’ll like this movie. If you don’t like the Muppets, why would you watch it?
There isn’t anything surprising in the plot. But if you think the usual sort of jokes the Muppets do are funny, you’ll think the movie is funny. The characters in the movie also often mention the fact that they’re in a movie, which you don’t see too often. The best parts are the songs — some new clever ones, the beautiful “Rainbow Connection,” and the fun “Mahna Mahna.”
And if you haven’t seen Chris Cooper rap before, the movie might be worth watching just for that.
Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Adams (Enchanted) are the main humans in the movie and are suitably charming. Cooper (October Sky) plays the bad guy and is suitably mean. There are lots of cameos from people you know.
Segel also wrote the movie with Nicholas Stoller, and did a lot to resurrect the Muppets — this is their first theatrical movie since 1999.
The movie was directed by James Bobin (the TV series The Flight of the Conchords).