Muppets: Most Wanted

The first one set the bar too high apparently

In the newest installment from The Muppets we leave off exactly after the events of the most recent installment. The Muppets are a "big deal" now and they are approached by an agent named Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) who convinces The Muppets to do a world tour. Little do The Muppets know that Dominic Badguy is working with an international criminal by the name of Constantine, who bears a striking resemblance to Kermit the Frog. After their tour begins Constantine takes the place of Kermit in order to pull off the greatest burglary in history. The gang doesn't notice the difference at first, and more so are left to do what ever they want without Kermit as the guiding light of the show. Kermit eagerly awaits his friends to realize the truth before it is too late.

The storyline in this is pretty much the same as any other Muppets movie: a dastardly deed that only The Muppets can put an end to. We don't go to these movies to be blown away by depth, we go to them for the laughs. This movie delivers on the laughs, but sadly not as well as the predecessor (which they admit to in song). A fair amount of the good jokes were seen in the previews, and the rest are classic Muppet moments. I do love The Muppets, I like how they break the fourth wall and how they work with A List celebrities in the background (instead of the foreground). The cameos in this are the parts that tickle my funny bone the most. Whenever I can see Ray Liotta and Danny Trejo in the background of a movie taking shots at themselves it is a great time. This movie seemed a little too reliant on star power for laughs though. There are some good jokes that have nothing to do with celebrities, but in the end it just isn't enough. It seems like the closest thing to selling out I can think of for The Muppets. One of the biggest surprises from this movie was how big a part Sam Eagle played, and how amazingly funny that part was. One of the biggest let downs from this movie was how annoyed I was at the character Walter (introduced in the lest movie). I don't know if it is the way he is starting to play the group Jiminy Cricket, or if it is just that I missed Jason Segle, but I sighed every time I had to sit through a scene with him.

The acting in this was as to be expected from any Muppets movie (much like the story line). How do you judge the same Kermit voice? How do you judge the same any Muppet voice? The only thing you can really judge when it comes to acting in any Muppet movie has to come down to the actually actors.  For "The Muppets: Treasure Island" it was Tim Curry, for the last movie it was Jason Segel. This movie gives us Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell; who mostly did well in their own right. Tina Fey was very convincing as the obsessed warden, and looked like she had a great time with her role. Ty Burrell was hilarious as the European counterpart to Sam Eagle, taking quite a few shots at Europe and Interpol. Ricky Gervais was.... I don't really know how to describe him. He acted great but it seemed like his heart wasn't in it, which made him a very forgettable villain. As stated before the cameos were great (especially a scene with Usher), even if the movie relied to heavily on them they were well worth the price of admission.

I try to refrain from commenting on the music in any movie, but since this is a musical and since music is a major part of musicals I guess I have to (the only reason I try to refrain from this is because I have horrible taste in music- see my iPod for a reference).  I liked the music in this, I thought the tunes were catchy in a very Muppet kind of way. The beginning song was hilarious, the following songs either had some great depth or hilarity to them. We even get a song from a person mentioned about twenty times in the film (no spoilers). The music doesn't really surprise any one who is used to The Muppets (much like the story and acting), but it is always worth noting.

Finally, let's talk about the short (I wasn't expecting a short from this movie either). It seems that Monster's University lends itself better to a couple of minutes rather than an hour and a half (not that I didn't like the MU, it just wasn't the best). This short was pretty hilarious, I'd dare to say even more so than the movie that followed it. It was all about the unpopular monsters stealing a party by using doors to the human world. I'm not going to reveal any more but you won't be disappointed.

Final Verdict: Rent It Muppets fans won't be disappointed by this, and any one who is new to the series (all three of you) will find a good starting sequel. It doesn't break any new ground like the last movie, but it doesn't disappoint either. I always leave any Muppets movie more up beat than when I went into it, and this movie followed that past time.