The Muppets: ****/*****
I had this really bad day at work last
Friday. Any Friday is bad, but this one was particularly nasty. I
planned to see Hugo afterwards, but I really needed something
less complex (and shorter) to take my mind of my misery. So in an
almost spontaneous burst of 'whateverism' I went to see The
Muppets instead. Oh my, am I glad I did... I left the theatre
happy and in a positive mood (which according to my colleagues is a
rarity these days).
Why turned the experience out to be so
uplifting? Because the Muppets are plain simple fun! There's nothing
more to them, and nothing less. And this attitude has kept them
popular and alive for well over thirty years, despite their notable
absence in the last decade. Now that they're back, it's surprising to
see how much they've stayed the same, despite the passing of creator
Jim Henson and Frank Oz' unwillingness to participate in their latest
venture. They're still puppets (and the occasional man in a suit)
performed by puppeteers and tireless craftsmen that make them feel
fully alive, without the almost obligatory use of CGI which rules
Hollywood animation today.
Even in terms of plot nothing much has
changed. Bottom line is a variety show needs to be put up and despite
the usual setbacks the old team succeeds perfectly. Of course, the
necessity for the show is a bit more severe this time, considering
the old Muppet studio is being threatened by a deliciously
stereotypical greedy oil baron by the name of Tex Richman (played
with an abundance of maniacal laughs by Chris Cooper) who plans to
tear it all down and drill for oil, while at the same time acquiring
the Muppets' name with the intent to exploit it solely for profit,
resulting in his creation of the Moopets, a team of 'harsh and
cynical Muppets (consisting of minorities and New Jersey type
puppets) for a harsh and cynical world'. Of course, you can question
the political agenda the film makers had with this villain and his
minions, which right wing America – thanks to the Fox channel –
certainly has done, outing the Muppets as 'Marxist puppets', but in
the end it could have been any type of greedy, sleazy character in
his place. How about a wealthy and overly powerful, conservative,
Rupert Murdoch type media tycoon next time? The negativity brought by
the bad guy is of no consequence, and neither are his sinister goals:
it's the cheerful attitude displayed by the good old Muppets that
sticks with us for days.
Of course the story has to start with
one Muppet, and it's not Kermit this time. Enter Walter, a rather
generic Muppet who has grown up with his human brother Gary (a
likeable Jason Segel) watching and loving The Muppet Show.
(The concept of a Muppet and a human being actually related by blood
is a bit uncomfortable and raises intriguing but disturbing questions
about Muppet procreation, but we're not supposed to consider this at
all, and certainly kids won't. After all, the idea of a pig falling
for and even marrying a frog with the full intent to 'raise tadpoles'
is equally alienating, but few children would even stop to think
about this for more than a few seconds. If adults see this as
disgusting, it's their own sense of reading too much into these
things that gets the better of them.) Gary has the problem of not
being able to choose between maintaining his relationship with
Walter, or moving on with his girlfriend Mary (a 'too cute to be
true' kind of Amy Adams). Walter is blind for this and only cares
about the Muppets, which eventually results in both brothers having
to decide where their allegiances lie: are they men or Muppets? This
naturally also deslves into the typical 'believe in yourself' and
'follow your heart' type of memes being thrown out all over the place
in the second half of the movie, but despite these life lessons being
cliché ridden they don't
get in the way of the real fun, which is the only thing the movie
really strives to be, at which it succeeds wonderfully.
When Walter discovers the old Muppet
facilities are in grave danger he seeks out Kermit who, Kermit being
Kermit, is immediately willing and able to help. In a string of
scenes we see Kermit and Walter getting the old team of our most
beloved Muppets together, resulting in a hilarious montage of
characters being re-recruited in rapid succession, with the intention
of not ruining the pace of the movie. It's clear from such comments
the Muppets are as self aware of their being in a movie as ever,
which is exactly the way we like them. When the final obstacle, which
turns out to be Miss Piggy's obsessive love for Kermit that hasn't
made her able to get over her separation with her little green
friend, is out of the way, the challenge of putting up a show that
brings the Muppets back into the audience's collective conscience is
on, resulting in the usual silly sketches and situations, all the
while being sabotaged by Richman and his band of nefarious
anti-Muppets. But even the bad Muppets eventually take the side of
the real Muppets. It would be impossible for anyone not to do so.
Of course the human element has not
been forgotten. In fact, on occasion it's awkwardly dominating,
especially in the scenes with Gary or Mary singing and dancing with
other humans while there's not a Muppet in sight. Fortunately these
scenes work well enough to make us care enough about the human actors
not to see them as getting in the way of our true heroes, and their
respective song and dance numbers are merry enough to make us roll
with them. But the film sees its greatest moments of strengths
whenever it's just a bunch of Muppets goofing around, preferably
mockingly making fun and play of a celebrity in a cameo role, of
which there are plenty (the most memorable ones being provided by Jim
Parsons, Emily Blunt and Zach Galifianakis).
In their struggle to find network
backing, the Muppets come against a cynical network executive who
claims the Muppets are 'not relevant anymore' in the modern world.
And she's damn right! There's no real point being made by these
Muppets (unless you go with the anti-capitalist messages, which the
movie doesn't encourage you to do), other than us being provided with
uncomplicated merriment. 'Bringing laughter' is the Muppets' grand
gift, this movie claims on more than one occasion, and since the film
completely entertains both kids and adults alike, it's proven to be
right. This is fun in its most basic shape and it never pretends to
be more than that. Despite the dreaded move of the Muppet franchise
to the Disney corporation (parallels to which can also be attributed
to the Richman character), the Muppet phenomenon successfully enters
the 21st century by being what it has always been: good
spirited entertainment for all. And it's not even in 3-D, because
'the Muppets are as one-dimensional as they've always been'
(Waldorf's words, not mine). Thankfully!
