There basically was no reason for the Muppets to disappear from the field for as long as they did. They never lost any of their entertainment value or started to become outdated in any way. So I'm glad they are being brought back again, in this, more or less, reboot of the franchise. It introduces the magic and the characters to a new generation and it brings everything back, so many generations grew up with in the past and shall grow up with in the future as well, hopefully.
In that regard this movie works on both levels. It's a perfectly fun movie for kids, who aren't familiar yet and a nostalgic trip for those who remember the Muppets from the past.
The world seemed ready and desperate for another good Muppet movie again and people seem to be mostly loving this movie because of nostalgic, which however seems to make most people blind of all the problems that this movie still has.
This is not the Muppet movie that made me laugh the most. It's also not the one with the best written script, songs or cast in it. Therefore it also isn't my favorite Muppet movie. It's obviously good entertainment and fun all but it's still too weak and flawed of a movie to consider this one of the year's most entertaining ones.
I have always really liked the Muppets, all of its many entertaining and very rich characters and their comedy as well but I frankly never have been too impressed with their movies. Most of them are still great fun but they are also quite weak and clumsily ones in some ways as well.
The story is really far too simplistic, even for a Muppet movie. This movie was meant to bring the Muppets back again and that's exactly what's happening in the story. The Muppets are reuniting once again to safe their beloved theater from being demolished. The story is the sort of story anyone could had come up with during a first brainstorm session for a new Muppet movie, that was supposed to reunite and reintroduce all of the beloved characters. It never feels like lots of time and effort went into it and the most important thing for the writers was to simply bring the Muppets back again, without having a true original story backing things up.
And I don't know what it is but human actors and Muppets don't work out too well together, most of the times. It's as if actors have no idea how to act when doing a scene with a Muppet, so they go for a very safe and childish approach. It's funny, no matter how many great starts you bring in to a Muppet movie, it will still be the Muppets who steal the show and upstage its human cast. And that is also definitely the case with this movie.
I don't know why they keep trying but again there are human characters who play an important role for the movie. But really, who goes to see a Muppet movie for Jason Segel or Amy Adams? You could say that this movie has too human characters in it, especially for its first half. I don't want to see humans dancing and singing. I want to see Muppets do that! And when you have an actor like Chris Cooper playing the main villain, you shouldn't waste him in the way like this movie does. He was the only human character I was interesting in seeing more of but he plays a very generic role and is hardly in the movie at all, sadly.
And talking about human actors; Muppet movies often had been filled by cameos of well known actors but this movie goes a bit too far. Seriously, some actors make a 3 seconds appearance, that is a totally irrelevant one as well. It seems like this movie is being filled with cameos, just for the sake of it. And I admit, I missed half of the cameos simply because I didn't recognize some people or had no idea who they were in the first place.
These are all complaints about this movie, that made me see it as a far from perfect movie, as opposed to most other people, who simply are in love with it. No, I don't really get that but despite all of my complaints I still really liked the movie.
It was good, clean, simple, fun and it was great to see the Muppets doing their thing again, like they never had been gone. Most of the big name Muppets appear in this movie, though some people might of course still complain about it that it doesn't feature his or hers favorite Muppet prominently enough. But that's what happens when you have a movie that is supposed to reintroduce ALL of the Muppets to the world again.
The Muppets especially get to shine in the final 30 minutes, which is a throwback to the famous "The Muppet Show", that aired from 1976 till 1981 and has aired for many years after that as well, in many different countries. It was the part of the movie that I truly liked and enjoyed watching and it made me wish the rest of the movie was more like that. But who knows. This movie has pretty much setup the Muppet franchise again and probably a lot more movies will spawn from it, in which the Muppets don't need to get reintroduced again and they can do their thing, from the start on, without the interference of too many human characters hopefully. Oh and with some better songs as well please.
Most people will mostly love it for nostalgic reasons and those unfamiliar with the Muppets will like it for its charm, comedy and just overall entertainment value.
7/10
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