"The Muppets? Great show back
then. What? They still excist?" While it's true that The Muppet
Show and subsequent movies were big hits even the biggest Muppet fan
can't deny that the Muppets started to fade away from the public eye
since Jim Henson's death. Their last theatrical movie, Muppets in
Space was a box office disappointment and their last telefilm
Muppets' Wizard of Oz was even worse recieved. This year however, (or
last year if live in the United States) Disney is poised to bring the
felt faced creatures back into the spotlight with a new movie simply
called The Muppets. With a title like that you might think the
movie's a reboot of the franchise but on the contrary; the movie is a
sequel of some sorts to all previous Muppet productions. However,
Disney is aware of the fact that a whole generarion grew up with the
Muppets and there's a whole new generation who barely even heard of
the franchise. They set out to make a movie that's both for the older
fans and the fans-to-be but did Disney succeed?
In this movie we meet the newest
Muppet, Walter. Walter is the world's biggest Muppet fan and together
with his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary's girlfriend Mary (Amy
Adams) travel to the Muppet Studios to finally see where all the
magic happened. The studio hasn't been used in years however and
looks like a wreck. It gets worse when Walter sneaks into Kermit's
old office and accidentally overhears Waldorf and Statler talking to
the rich oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). Richman plans to level
the Muppet Studios in order to drill for oil. The only way he can be
stopped is by raising ten million dollars in order to repurchase the
studios. Walter, Gary and Mary look for Kermit and tell him the bad
news. Our froggy hero decides to try and raise the money with a big
Muppet Telethon but the problem is he hasn't seen the gang in a long
time so he, along with his new friends, try to bring the Muppets back
together and raise the money needed.
Judging by this summary you might
mistake the story for generic, boring and predictable but the story
is actually pretty smart written with the underlying question if the
Muppets are still relevant in 2012 woven in through the film. The
movie acknowledges the slump the franchise has been in head on and
uses this to its advantage. The Muppets tries to prove that there is
room for the clean, crazy humor that the brand is known for. This
time they don't try to stay hip by jumping on a currently
coolbandwagon o like they did in Muppets' Wizard of Oz. They simply
do what they do best; making us laugh in a same way they did when we
first met them in the seventies.
One of the reasons the franchise has
been in a slump is the deaths of prominent Muppeteers like Jim Henson
and Richard Hunt as well as the semi-retirement of Muppeteers like
Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson. Subsequent productions ommitted a lot of
their Muppets or relegated them to smaller roles and cameos.
These Muppet productions thus felt a
little incomplete since the strength of the franchise lies in the big
cast of characters and when certain characters that were popular on
the Muppet Show simply don't appear or only have cameo roles it
shows.
The Muppets is a comeback of sorts for
a lot of characters that were notably missed through the years like
Dr. Teeth, Rowlf and Scooter and a slew of lesser known characters
like Link Hogthrob and Wayne & Wanda. The cast of the Muppets is
finally complete again and it's firing on all cylinders. It just
wouldn't feel like a proper Muppet Telethon without Scooter warning
acts that there are "15 seconds to curtain" or Rowlf
playing the piano. The Muppeteers taking over these roles are doing a
great job.
The stronger cast of Muppets also
eliminates the need for a big human lead like earlier movies
attempted. Jason Segal and Amy Adams perfectly supplement the movie
without taking up too much screen time. They feel completely natural
in the Muppet world and it shows they had a great time making the
movie.
With the lead parts hanging on the
shoulders of the Muppets it's pretty hard to tell an convincing
story that also appeals to mature fans. It does work though and the
reason the Muppet characters work on screen is because they're three
dimensional, they're like us. They're not perfect. They laugh, get
angry but also get hurt . Kermit hasn't seen his friends and Piggy in
a long time and when he's singing about it and is hurting
inside,we're hurting inside because even though they're puppets they
experience the same feelings we've experienced. Don't get me wrong,
the Muppets is far from a somber movie but it does have some truly
touching moments and that makes the movie that much stronger. For a
movie about felt covered lifestock to touch people it has to be truly
special. And it is.
Muppet movies have always been
accompanied by great music and The Muppets proudly continues this
tradition. The original songs, written by Bret McKenzie of Flights of
the Concords fame are great and perfectly fit the feeling of the
movie. Life's a Happy Song is an upbeat song, reflecting the Muppets
positive outlook on life while Pictures in my Head is an poignant
song, describing Kermits feelings on the split up of the Muppets.
Accompanying Bret's songs are some song parodies like an amazing
cover of Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit by Rowlf, Sam the Eagle,
Beaker and Link Hogtrob in a Barbershop quartet style Cleverly, they
let Beaker sing (or rather, 'meep') the more profane parts of the
lyrics, effectively eliminating those parts. Several Muppet classics
are reprised with this movie containing both a (intentionally)
horrible and a truly fantastic version of The Rainbow Connection. A
review of the offical soundtrack will be up very soon, with a more in
depth look at the songs.
The Muppets is fantastic return to form
for the Muppets but is there really nothing wrong with it? Well, a
strange choice is the cutting of a part of Tex Richman's rap. The
soundtrack version contains an operatic part which explains why
Richman hates the Muppets. The movie cut the rap short, omitting this
part and making his 'maniacal laugh' comments a bit more random. It
works as random humour but it's strange that they cut it just to
shave of a minute of the movie. The entire song will be an extra on
the Blu-ray release.
If they cut that bit to save time, they
should have cut the Me party song. It is a nice song but doesn't
really add anything to the movie. I'm also puzzled to see why they
made this song a cutaway duet between Mary and Miss Piggy. Adding
another character to the song was unneccesary and made it feel like a
filler song, added just so that Amy Adams and Piggy could sing a
duet.
A general complaint about Muppet movies
is that Muppet X's part is too small with Muppet Y hogging to much of
the spotlight. This was especially the case with the post-Henson
movies and isn't really resolvable with such a big cast. If you say,
give Scooter more screentime Sam the Eagle-fans would complain about
Scooter hogging up valuable screen time and vice versa. I would have
liked to see more of Gonzo but as it is, screentime is pretty evenly
divided.
Overall The Muppets is a great movie
and and an even better movie if you're a Muppet fan. The Muppets are back in full
force and haven't been this funny in years. The movie is funny,
poignant, exciting and you're guaranteed to leave the theatre without
a big smile and humming the catchy Life's a Happy Song.
Video
Disney has a high reputation when it comes to Bluray video and the Muppets doesn't disappoint. Presented in a 1:78 ratio, the Muppets 2011 looks as vibrant and clear as can be which primarily can be seen on the Muppets itself as the sharpness of the image is displayed best when seeing the fabric on Kermit and friends. Colors are strong and there are no signs of artifacting or noice.
Audio
Muppets 2011 has a great, rich DTS-HD 7.1 mix that makes good use of the surround sound with sounds moving from one box to the other and spreading the instruments and voices during songs in a good way, ensuring that you can pick apart all the different instruments playing during the songs. There is a good balance between the voices and the background music and dialogues sound clear. Besides a 7.1 English track, the Dutch Bluray also hosts a DTS-HR 7.1 French track, a DTS-HR 7.1 Dutch track, and a 5.1 Flemish track.
Extra features
Unlike most Muppet movie home releases
Muppets 2011 has a lot of extra features. All the features are on the
same disc as the movie and are as follows:
A funny thing happened on the way to
the read-through
A nice little sketch about the Muppets
going to the script reading for the movie. Although it's billed as
lasting 3.00 the last 30 seconds are comprised of the Muppet Show's
theme song playing while the screen displays The Muppet logo. Strange
way to end a short feature like this.
The Longest Blooper Reel Ever Made (In
Muppet History We Think)
An eight minute blooper reel which
admittedly is pretty long. Like most Blooper reels, some bloopers are
funny, some not although it's certainly good to see the fun the
performers have on set.
Scratching The Surface: A Hasty
Examination of the Making of Disney's The Muppets
A 15 minute making of the Muppets 2011.
It's more funny than informative but it's entertaining and it
features some Muppets that weren't used much in the main feature like
Rizzo and Lew Zealand.
Explaining Evil: the full Tex Richman
rap
The complete Tex Richman rap, that
explains why he hates the Muppets. The rap was featured in it's
entirety on the soundtrack but was cut for the movie.
Deleted Scenes
As with most movies that hit DVD/Blu-Ray. The Muppets 2011 also has some deleted scenes on it's disc. Besides the ones listed under the Deleted Scenes there are also some deleted scenes hidden as easter eggs. More on that later.
Missing Verse Life's a Happy Song
A verse that wasn't featured in neither
the movie nor the soundtrack that features Walter singing a verse at
a slower tempo, like Mary does in the movie. Being that it takes
place right after Mary's versie, I can see why they deleted it
because it really slows the pace of the song but it's nice to hear it
nonetheless.
A Hero in Hollywood
Walter, Mary and Gary arrive at the
Grauman Chinese Theater in Los Angeles and want to get their picture
taken with a man, dressed up like Superman, played by Rob Corddry
in a cameo role. Very funny scene
Walter's Extended Nightmare
A longer version of Walter's dream at
the beginning of the movie where the Muppets escape from the TV
screen.
Muppets in Jail
The Muppets get bailed out of jail, a
scene that was briefly featured in the second trailer. Cameos by
Danny Trejo and Wanda Sykes.
Credit Card Club
Another fictional program the TV
executive shows the Muppets to show them how out of touch they are.
Boring. Cameos by Sterling Knight and Sarah Hyland.
The Strip Mall Awards
A very funny scene that explains how
the Muppets got into jail as they try to get a guest host for their
Telethon. Cameos by Kathy Griffin, Ricky Gervais and Billy Crystal.
The complete Muppet Telethon opening
An extended version of the Muppet
Telethon opening which features the opening as in the movie but then
sees the Muppets walking of the stage, commenting on how well the
sequence went.
Bowling for Beaker.
Brief but funny scene with Beaker,
Gonzo and Honeydew that features Bunsen's radio controlled bowling
ball and a nervous Beaker...
Audio Commentary
An insightful commentary during the
film by Jason Segal, James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller
Spoof Trailers
A collection of the spoof trailers that
let up to the movie's release, including two new ones, based upon
Fast Five and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Unfortunately, the Toy Story short
Small Fry, that aired before the movie in theatres, is not included.
This is a bit strange because the previous Toy Story short that aired
in theatres did recieve a home release on the Bluray the movie was
originally aired with. (Cars 2)
Also missing is the Muppets
Intermission feature, a feature that was dubbed groundbreaking by
Disney and was featured on the American Blu Ray. The gist of it is
that when you pause the movie the Muppets and cast appear on screen
and perform a quick joke, entertaining viewers even when the film's
not running. It's too bad that this feature got scrapped from the PAL
release.
Easter Eggs
There are also several Easter Eggs to
find on the disc. These are all the easter eggs and how to access them:
Highlight Bonus features and press
right, An egg will appear. Select this option.
A cut scene from the making of that
talks about getting permits when making a picture.
Highlight Play features and press right
and then up, An egg will appear. Select this option.
An "oinkterview' with the lovely
Miss Poogy appears. I liked Miss Poogy in the movie and this interview with
her is an enjoyable extra,
Highlight Bonus features and press
left, up, left, An egg will appear. Select this option.
A extended version of the Chicken act from the Telethon plays, featuring a Muppet farmer
Highlight Set Up and press left, up An
egg will appear. Select this option.
Another cut scene of the making up that features the Muppet version of the director appears. Just as
entertaining as the rest of the making of.
Final verdict
The Muppets 2011 has been a succesful revival of a franchise that has been in a slump for a long time. The Muppet family is finally complete again thanks to the return of several old favorites like Rowlf and Scooter and the film's plot is entertaining and funny. Most of all, it feels like a Muppet movie and not some sort of movie where the Muppets were shoehorned into like some movies from the past.
The Blu ray hosts an impressive amount of extras although it's too bad that the Disney Interaction feature was scrapped for the PAL release and the Toy Story short wasn't included in
any of the Blu Ray releases.
Still, the movie is great and Disney delivers a strong presentation with stunning video and a great surround mix and is sure to please anyone remotely interested in the Muppets.
