The Muppets
(James Bobin, 2011)
With the help of three fans, The
Muppets must reunite to save their old theater from a greedy oil tycoon.
Having not published my Top 10 films of 2011 yet is
one of the most shameful issues that I have with this blog. Each time I look in
my drafts it stands there pointing the fact to me that I have so many films of
2011 to catch up that I can’t even publish a self respecting list of the best
films of 2011 that I have seen. Well, The
Muppets, I swear, will get a very high spot on this list that I am still
working on.
When Jason
Segel announced that he wanted to reboot The Muppets I was more than
thrilled. His work on Forgetting Sarah
Marshall, I Love You Man, and the
popular sitcom How I Met Your Mother
proved that the man has a talent for comedy and storytelling. Add Kermit, Miss
Piggy and the whole gang plus the very talented Amy Adams and an almost endless list of guest stars and cameos then
you get my favourite comedy of 2011. This bold statement, considering that I
have seen and liked The Artist, is
made without hesitation.
Unfortunately, I’ve never seen a Muppet Show or a
Muppet Film, but I am always eager to watch children films. What stoked me the
most was the comedy à la Mel Brooks,
the puns at the movie conventions, and the whole story of the film. Since I don’t
like to spoil the comedy or the story of a film in my reviews I will tell you
that if you kept your heart of your childhood and have a good sense of humor
you’ll be in for a great time.
With the introduction where we discover Walter and
Gary (Segel), the two brothers. One is a man and the other one is a muppet,
from the first glimpse the filmmakers interact with us with a voice over like
the opening of Goodfellas. As if,
Walter was saying: I’ve always knew that
I wanted to be a Muppet just like Hank Hill in the aforementioned Martin Scorsese picture.
Longtime Muppet fans will undoubtedly have more fun than young ones, but for the most part, it's a witty, delightful romp, that shows you that you can still be funny, without ever being mean still in 2011. Good review Michael.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan! One of my colleagues watch it with his 8 years old daughter and 6 six years old son and they absolutely loved it. It proves that the charm of the Muppets is timeless!
DeleteMichael, the early Muppet Show stuff is great. If you get a chance, I recommend the episodes. They're only 30 minutes long. You can find a lot of clips on Youtube. Like Brooks, they're well known for spoofing popular films and TV. Here's a fun clip of Vincent Price and the Muppets:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBnk4U-Pggg
I'll try to catch those. Thank you for the recommandation John!
DeleteI'm old enough to have watched some of the original Muppet Show on TV, so this film was a delight for me. It made my Top 10 of 2011.
ReplyDeleteIt will be on my top 10 2011 too!
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