A Review Of Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted
Kermit: “We’re doing a sequel!”
Bunsen Honeydew: “Technically it’s our seventh sequel.”
That exchange between Kermit and Professor Bunsen Honeydew is not quoted verbatim, but it gives you a general idea of what to expect with this movie. The Muppets are back together and the people want more of them. So, they decide to go on a world tour with Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) as their tour manager.
Along the way Kermit gets replaced by an exact duplicate named Constantine, Ty Burrell shows up as a French Interpol agent with eight weeks paid vacation breaks and Tina Fey is a female warden at an all-male Russian Gulag.
This is a story about how Kermit makes The Muppets better. Without him they put on horrible performances, but are deluded into thinking they’re doing great because they are getting what they want. This is also a story about fantasy verses reality, and that sometimes what you want isn’t always the best thing.
Constantine and Dominic give The Muppets what they want even though that means the shows are horrible. Constantine poses as Kermit to marry Miss Piggy even though she isn’t sure that it’s what she wants (it does include a green pig and a pink frog for offspring).
Unfortunately this makes for a movie that is sometimes painful to watch. Constantine isn’t funny as a character, and some of the song and dance numbers could have been trimmed or completely removed. However, Ty Burrell’s character was entertaining as he represented an exaggerated look at European style socialism.
Sam the Eagle: “Jean. Come back from your eight week paid vacation!”
This movie’s pluses include Ty Burrell and some mature themes. Some negatives include certain song and dance numbers and Constantine as a character.
I give this 6.75 Statler & Waldorf heckles out of 10.
Clifford T. Hofferd is a movie critic living in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. Follow Clifford’s blog at thengpblog.blogspot.ca
