It's Time to Play the Music...

So, thanks to Den of Geek, I've gotten to see number seven of the list already; Muppets Most Wanted!  The screening even had Kermit and Gonzo do a specially filmed intro!  So how is it?  While it's not up there with their best, it's still a real blast with what really want from the Muppets; fun gags, leaning on the fourth wall, catching songs, and celebrities clearly fanboying out about acting opposite socks with attitude!



As you probably gathered from the trailers, the storyline this time is a globe-trotting heist affair, very much a tribute to The Great Muppet Caper.  Kermit's been replaced by an evil doppelganger (bar one mole) Constantine, who's using the Muppets show as cover for a series of robberies to gather what he needs to pull of the crime of the century.  So with the Muppets being wowed by Constantine and his henchman Dominic (Ricky Gervais) letting them do whatever they so please for acts, Kermit's stuck in a gulag under command of Nadya (Tina Fey).  Meanwhile, the law in form of Sam the American and Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell) are on the case too.

Since the last film made such a big deal about the Muppets making a comeback, and finding themselves in the modern media landscape, the film wisely decides not to labour similar areas, and instead just gets on with another big silly adventure for them to go on.  A lot of the story this time actually focuses on why is Kermit such a good leader for the troupe, despite his seemingly indecisive nature at times.  The answer it comes up with is that it's precisely because he is the sort to fully think things through, and not just let ego or other factors force him into snap decisions.  He's always able to put himself back to help find the ideal balance for the group, and the Muppets need someone to do that, as the chaos the show becomes under Constantine attests.  It's actually nice to see a film that shows that it doesn't take a big personality to be a good lead; in fact, sometimes it needs exactly the opposite.

Of course the real meat here are the gags, and they do come thick and fast! There are some superbly done slapstick moments (including a neat nod to a Marx Brothers classic), puns a plenty (though not as many from Fozzie as one might expect) and a lot of good character bits.  A lot of them come from good interactions between the double acts of human characters and Muppets.  Constantine constantly browbeating Dominic, Nadya's overseeing/hero worship of Kermit, Sam and Jean's bickering over the right way to do things all provide a lot of laughs.  Not all the gags hit the bullseye perfectly, but those that do are solid gold and carry the film well.  What also carries it are the songs; Brett McKenzie still seems to be the franchise MVP, providing highlights like an superb musical interrogation, and a memorable opening discourse on the art of sequels.

The really fun thing about this film is the cast.  Tina Fey and Ty Burrell are just superb in their performances, especially Burrell making good use of the running gag on the regulation of European police.  There are a lot of cameos to see, with some even tiny one sentence roles being filled by recognisable big names (one of which in the gulag is the source of the films single best joke!).  It would be a massive spoiler to name all of them, but nearly every scene will have someone else turning up, and it's great that all of them are so game to be part of it, clearly having a ball on set doing so.  It's nice that side of the Muppets has remained constant over the years.  The big surprise though: even Ricky Gervais is tolerable in this!  It's probably his best film role, given that he just has to play someone so obviously untrustworthy.  He's at his best here, in a story where one of the key morals is how truly great comedy and performance comes from wise forethought and a lack of ego.  Co-incidence?...

Muppets Most Wanted is a solid little film; it's kind of at the middle of their filmography, but considering how good some of their stuff is, that's not bad (it's definitely no Muppets in Space!).  It's charming, full of famous faces, and with wonderfully meta humour (one favourite gag of mine was a comment on Walter's role in the plot, given his big story-arc last time).  Definitely check this one out.  Oh, and the cherry on the cake; there's a Monsters University short at the start.  It's a lot of fun, with perhaps some of the best physical comedy Pixar has done yet!  Honestly, I'd say go see it for that short alone!