I just came back from an afternoon at the theater. Not just any theater, mind you. I was revisiting the Muppet Theater as the Muppets returned to the big screen this weekend.
To put things in context, I wouldn’t qualify myself as a hardcore Muppet fan. I mean, I had never seen the original Muppet Movie until I was like thirty and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen The Great Muppet Caper in its entirety (I watched the heck out of The Muppets Take Manhattan though). Like a lot of folks from my generation, I grew up on Sesame Street. I remember the day Big Bird learned that Mr. Hooper died and what that entailed. I remember the day everybody finally learned that Mr. Snuffleupagus was real. Those were big TV moments for me. The Muppet Babies were a staple of my Saturday morning cartoon viewing. I didn’t get into Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show was something I wasn’t ready to appreciate as a child. I couldn’t stand the “special musical guests”. I just wanted to see more Muppet mayhem. It turns out, I still do.
When you’re growing up, you figure your childhood heroes will be around forever. Then you hear the news that Jim Henson died. Wow. How can Jim Henson die? He’s Kermit the Frog! He’s Ernie! He’s Rowlf the Dog! But there it was. A few months later, The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson aired. It marked the end of an era. The Muppets, with the exception of the Sesame Street cast, went through a dark period. There were revival attempts, the occasional Muppets adaptation-movie, but it wasn’t the same. Kermit, Fozzie and Piggy were on screen, but they weren’t being themselves.
Flash-forward to a couple of years ago. I hear that Jason Segal wants to be involved in reviving the Muppets. I like Jason. He has that goofy charm that fits in so well with the Muppets. If he’s involved, who knows what might happen? Still, I have my doubts.
Then, the ad campaign started with the multiple movie parodies They were really nifty. Things were looking up. I was actually looking forward to the movie. As the premiere date drew nearer, I read some advanced reviews and they were surprisingly glowing. Hey! Could this be for real? Well, on Sunday, November 27, 2011, I was all set to find out.
And?
It was GREAT!
I’d read that part of the theme for the movie was that today’s cynical world needs the Muppets more than ever. Well, that nails it right on the head. The Muppets is about friendship, optimism, finding your place in the world and having fun. It’s the perfect pick-me-up. I was with a good buddy and we both agreed that The Muppets was a lot of fun. The musical numbers were toe-tapping good and I admit that I even got a little teary-eyed in places.
There was one blogger who said he wished they’d focused more on the humans, namely Jason Segal and Amy Adams. What? Seriously? Don’t get me wrong, Jason Segal rocks in How I Met Your Mother and I loved Amy Adams in Enchanted, but a Muppet movie that focuses on the humans? Why, that’d be like a Transformers movie that decides that nobody wants to see the giant robots and focuses on the hu–well, you get the idea. When I go into a Muppets movie, I expect to see Muppets and plenty o’ them. I was not disappointed.
For the longtime fans, there are plenty of references and musical cues from the TV show and the first three Muppet Movies (Muppets From Space is ignored). Rather than just keep the movie dated in the past though, they freshen things up as well. I can’t wait to see the movie in English so I can hear the songs in English. I suppose I could buy the soundtrack (I probably will).
While I don’t think Jason Segal needs to be in any future Muppets projects, I hope he stays involved. He “gets it” and the Muppets needs someone like him at the helm to make sure the franchise doesn’t lose itself again.
Does The Muppets need to be seen on the big screen? Probably not. But if you don’t go see it in theaters, you’ll have to wait for the DVD release and really, why would you want to do that? We spend so much money on things we don’t need. Well, everybody needs to smile! So go out and see The Muppets!