Who doesn’t love the Muppets? I have fond memories of their earlier movies, as well as the old Muppet Babies cartoon and their appearances on Sesame Street. When the franchise was re-started a couple years ago, I’m sure many adults like myself were brought back to their childhood, with all the familiar faces and behaviors. I very much enjoyed the 2011 reboot. The new Muppets Most Wanted doesn’t quite reach the same level for me, though admittedly that may be due to my own sentimentality. Something can only be new and fresh once.
As a movie on its own feet, it’s not bad. There is plenty of humor and the Muppets’ antics are enjoyable as always. Ricky Gervais in the lead didn’t connect with me as well as Jason Segel in the first movie, his role (and acting) seemed very rote with little personality. But Tina Fey was great, and as you can expect from a Muppets film there were cameos galore. If you don’t go online and read the list of the cast, which I made sure to avoid, you will be surprised at every turn with another star’s face. The music is fun though not as catchy (again, my opinion) as the first one’s. Of course, the Muppets themselves make light of all this, even in the opening musical number they joke that “sequels are never quite as good.” While a good movie overall (I’m sure the kids, like myself back in the early 80’s, will love it), I tend to agree with them.
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