MUPPETS MOST WANTED

We all go through stages where what we want isn’t what’s best for us. We might think it is – we might even manage to convince others of it too – but that might not change the fact that what we want so dearly, is what we need or even what we deserve. In these moments, we sometimes have to look at someone we care about square in the eye as they tell us “Sorry, but no”. In that moment, we can feel frustrated, angry, even betrayed. However those feelings don’t change the fact that there’s what we want, and what’s best for us – and those two things don’t always meet.

Beginning right at the point that THE MUPPETS ends, MUPPETS MOST WANTED is about what Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozie, Gonzo and the gang decide to do with their newfound return to fame. As the decision to go on tour is agreed upon, the manner in which they actually go on tour is up for debate. Kermit wants to stick to what works, not wanting to push their good fortune too far too fast. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, feels like it’s time to play the numbers they’ve always wanted, whether it’s an especially wild stunt featuring Gonzo the Great or an epic musical number by The Electric Mayhem.

While Kermit is adamantly denying the rank-and-file their requests, a new tour manager named Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) keeps allowing the stunts to go ahead, undermining Kermit’s authority. When the tour reaches Berlin, Kermit takes a walk to deal with the dissent, and manages to get into trouble. Seems as though Kermit is a dead-ringer for the world’s most notorious criminal, Constantine (give or take a facial blemish). By passing Kermit off as the escaped convict, Constantine is able to meet up with Badguy and use the Muppet tour as a front for a planned heist of The Crown Jewels.

Kermit is sent to a maximum security prison in Siberia, where his protests to the warden Nadja (Tina Fey) fall on deaf ears. Meanwhile, every tour stop The Muppets make is met with a daring heist at a location nearby. This prompts Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell) to take on the case.

Thus, the game is afoot: with Constantine and Badguy trying to pilfer The Crown Jewels before Kermit can convince someone that he’s not the world’s most dangerous criminal, and The Muppets not becoming a shadow of their former selves.

There’s a sly wink in MUPPETS MOST WANTED about the fact that many of the stories these characters tell us are wrapped around a lesson. The film actually gets snide and points out that our beloved troubadours are all about teaching us about “sharing, taking your turn, and the number 3”. It’s funny because it’s true, and true to form, The Muppets are out to teach us another lesson – that we shouldn’t always get what we want. Whether it’s chocolate cake for dinner, or performing “Indoor Running of The Bulls”, or even a Muppets sequel that’s an exact mirror of what we watched two years ago.

This is the eighth time The Muppets have taken their song-and-dance to the big screen. Of those eight adventures, some have been absolute gems (MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN, THE MUPPETS), and others…well…haven’t (MUPPETS IN SPACE, THE MUPPETS TREASURE ISLAND). This movie falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not interested in taking the audience by the hand and telling us a heartfelt tale, but that’s OK. I’d be wary of the storyteller that aims to turn us into a blubbering mess every time. Instead, it does what Kermit and The Gang do so well, which is get into a wild and crazy conundrum, and work on a way to sing-and-dance their way out of it.

Watching them do so is both absurd, and wildly amusing. For instance, while incarcerated in the gulag, Kermit is put in charge of the prison talent show (because of course he is). While Kermit tries to work with the limited amount of talent he’s been handed in the form of the inmates, he turns it into a song-and-dance number that has the prisoners singing “I Hope I Get It” from A Chorus Line. Putting aside the fact that seeing hardened prisoners sing that song is funny in its own right, watching actors like Danny Trejo and Ray Liotta play those hardened prisoners and sing the song makes the whole thing oddly delightful.

The film even has the cheek to call ‘shenanigans’ on The Muppets themselves. Whether it’s the possibility of being allowed to quit the group, or the fact that one-time favorites can be nudged aside in favour of fresh blood, the film is not above making fun of what it is and how it got here. Even Kermit’s lack of commitment to Miss Piggy is in play. MUPPETS MOST WANTED has learned the notes, and is ready to play a slight variation on the same old song.

Turns out, the song it sings is as screwball, strained and silly as we’ve come to expect from this gang of misfits.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ out of ★ ★ ★ ★

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