Review: Muppets Most Wanted

There's a line in the opening song from Muppets Most Wanted that struck me as peculiar to hear at the start of a movie like this:

"We're doing a sequel / That's what we do in Hollywood / And Everybody Knows / The Sequel's Never Quite As Good"

Now, I've written this review out in my mind several dozen times since I've seen the movie, and I always seem to start with those two sentences and then get stuck, because where do you go from there?  Honestly, I'm not sure if including that line in the film makes the movie incredibly self-aware or if it's simply the studio attempting to set expectations early because it knew that the last Muppets movie being so brilliant was partly due to the writing, cast, and acting, but also because 1992 is a nostalgia-blowing long time ago and it was the last time we had a proper Muppet movie.

Yes, I know those came out in 1996 and 1999, what's your point?

For anybody who hasn't seen it so far, here's the basics of my review:

Muppets Most Wanted is a sequel to the brilliantly made 2011 The Muppets.  Having now reunited the whole group together (along with newcomer Walter from the last film), the Muppets need to figure out their next move and movie plot.  Along comes Ricky Gervais as Dominic Badguy (it's not pronounced that way, it's French) who proposes that the second movie should be about a European tour, and I believe the phrase "striking while the iron is hot" was used once.

This lines up with the escape of Constantine, the world's most dangerous frog, from a Siberian gulag and his attempts to plan out an extremely daring robbery while taking Kermit's place in the Muppets.  There's songs, celebrity appearances, and some very well done background shots showing some of the major hot spots in Berlin, Paris, and London, among other locations.

If you think there's a great idea in that story, you're not alone.  The idea of seeing an "evil Kermit" manipulate the Muppets (which have never been the brightest group of light bulbs) into doing his bidding while Kermit and the few who realize the truth attempt to stop him is the great basis for a story.  However, watching it, the movie felt a bit flat, and after giving it some thought, I think I realized why.

Firstly, The Muppets was a wacky musical comedy that had some genuine heartfelt moments in it.  Anybody who didn't get misty-eyed when Kermit sang his tribute song to the group in his empty Hollywood mansion needs to go on television and announce themselves the ruler of the unicorns, because you don't exist.

Not Pictured: The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and you

The movie was able to explore some extremely big ideas, exploring what the cast does when the show breaks up, and how some are able to move on and some aren't.  Look at the differences between how well Gonzo and Piggy do once they're no longer tied to a stage show, and how a character like Fozzie is stuck as a member of a tribute group to the show he was actually part of.  The sequel doesn't really explore any ideas such as that, and in fact the few times it seems like they're actually going to look into them, they quickly forget about them and move on.

There's two brilliant moments with Constantine.  In one, he attempts to open the Muppet Show and gets immediate stage fright, completely locking up in place.  Later, you see him studying tapes of Kermit (and getting each line horribly wrong) in an attempt to both keep his cover intact and perhaps be able to do better managing the show.  I would have loved for this idea to be explored further, as a man (er- frog) realizes that he may be a master thief and martial artist, but he has a skill set that's woefully lacking and realizes that there are things other than wealth that could make him feel good about himself.  Yes, it's silly, but it's a Muppet movie, not Schindler's List.

There's other story lines and ideas that the movie sticks its toe into and then quickly extracts it, including how guards like Tina Fey can develop bonds to the criminals they watch and even feel pity and compassion for them even they still have to prevent them from escaping, an exploration of how European and American police forces view each other while investigating a crime together, the difficulties involved in life on the road as part of a travelling show, playing to foreign audiences, and the investigation of why "Kermit" is acting so differently.

None of these really get resolved in a satisfactory way, and a few even get abandoned outright.

Also, if you asked me who the lead character of Muppets Most Wanted was, I'd be really hard pressed to tell you.  The movie bounces between leads so often (Kermit, Constantine, Sam the Eagle, Walter, Fozzie) it's really hard to figure out whose story this is.  Either they needed to make the movie longer or ditch some of the side plots entirely.  The story feels almost aimless at times, with no single character really driving the plot.

Now, I'm sure it sounds like I didn't like the movie, but overall I'm pretty warm to it.  Even an "average" Muppet movie is still better than a lot of the big Hollywood movies that get as much advertising time.  There are some clever jokes for the kids, some clever dialogue, and a few references that (hopefully) only the adults in the crowd will get a chuckle out of.  Some of the guest appearances are extremely clever (including one at a church in England that I won't spoil, and the other prisoners at the gulag with Kermit are just downright genius), and while Tina Fey continues to impress me with her ability to transition between sophisticated (almost) comedy to goofiness at the drop of a hat in this film, I honestly feel that Ricky Gervais was somewhat wasted.  Now, if they had cast Jon Hamm into the role, I would've declared it to be the most brilliant casting job ever done.

While not as strong as their last showing, I do give Muppets Most Wanted some points for some good casting, some clever jokes, and a willingness to at least raise some complicated questions even if they didn't really try to answer any of them.  The movie knew what it wanted to be (a madcap international adventure) and it lived up to those expectations, I just wish it could've tried a bit harder to exceed them.  As a whole, though, I would not mind sitting through it again with a big bowl of home-popped popcorn and a pair of fuzzy slippers on my feet.