"The Muppets" Satisfies Children & Man-Children Alike

photo from teaser-trailer.com

Yesterday, Nathan and I took the kids to a movie we'd been looking forward to for several months; the new Disney/Muppet Studios production, The Muppets. Like many of our generation, Nate & I grew up with The Muppet Show on the television; the Muppets (and their Sesame Street cousins) were an integral part of our childhoods. I was a huge fan of the kooky physical humor, as well as the clever musical numbers and, of course, the genuine emotional sweetness at the core of everything the Muppets did.

We watched The Muppet Show faithfully, of course, and I had VCR copies of The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppets Take Manhattan on regular rotation in our house (we finally got the original The Muppet Movie when I was a little older). My favorite Saturday morning cartoon during my tween years? Muppet Babies, of course!

Then Jim Henson passed away in 1990, and even though I was a teenager, I remember being really shocked and depressed by the news. I feared for the future of the Muppets without their "founding father." True, the Muppets had some good moments over the next couple of decades (I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed both A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island). However, I still felt the Muppets were slowly but surely fading into the past. The franchise seemed directionless as the Muppet Studios passed from one owner to another (they're currently owned by the Walt Disney Company). In the last few years, it actually made me a little sad to see the Muppet characters shilling for Pizza Hut and car companies; I thought they'd lost their soul.

Well, with this new film, I'm happy to say they've found it again! I thought The Muppets was funny, edgy, heartfelt, and touching in the "classic" Muppet tradition. I have seen it described as "a love letter to Generation X," and I think that's right on. This film is the brainchild/passion project of actor Jason Segel, who like many of us, grew up as a huge Muppets fan. He apparently pressed the studios hard to get the movie written and made the way he wanted it, and the script definitely reflects his real-life struggles (Walter, a new Muppet & audience surrogate, is the driving force behind the scattered Muppets reuniting and putting on one more great show). Luckily, Segel stayed very true to the tone & themes of the original Muppet Movie, and this new film very much feels like a companion to the Muppets' first feature.

I'm glad to see the original, idealistic earnestness of Kermit & Company is very much on display here. Frequently throughout the film, the characters wonder if the world has grown too cynical and "dark" for their particular brand of entertainment. But they continue to press on, as they've always done, in the firm belief that their work is valuable, and meaningful, and that it still entertains and moves audiences. Kermit gets to give a couple of motivational speeches, while Miss Piggy provides backup. And (**SPOILER ALERT, but probably not that surprising**) their basic decency and goodness pays off in the end.

And you know what? I ate this all up. I enjoy my dark, edgy, cynical Hollywood pictures as much as the next gal, but when a movie radiates positivity like this (and does so in such a confident, hard-working fashion), it's impossible not to get a big cheesy smile on your face. My smile just kept getting wider with each new musical number, each of which was its own kind of awesome. We particularly liked the opening number, "Life's A Happy Song," which is very very cheesy in a good way, and pretty much sums up the mood of the whole movie. Take a listen above!!

So is the movie perfect? Not quite...it definitely starts to sag a bit in the middle and lose its focus, and it feels almost too self-aware for its own good at times. But these are really minor quibbles. It's a movie that wears its heart on its sleeve, and it's really funny too! It has covers of contemporary rock and R&B songs. It has Chris Cooper, Oscar-winning actor, rapping(!) with Muppets(!!). It has characters who realize what they are truly capable of, if they just believe in themselves.

So yeah, I give it a B+ or maybe an A- . And Nathan & I are definitely seeing this again...maybe without the kids next time, who did get a little wiggly toward the second half. If you are (or ever were) a Muppet fan, this movie will not disappoint. Go check it out!!