Muppets Most Wanted

About two and a half years ago, the Muppets made a MASSIVE comeback, with a film that showed a lot of heart, dedication, and passion for what made them good, back in the days of Jim Henson. Director James Bobin, and co-writer and star Jason Segal showed how big fans they were of these iconic characters, and brought forth a new light for them, with children of this generation finally getting to experience what their parents grew up with at the time.

Thankfully, the film did well enough to warrant a sequel, under the title “Muppets Most Wanted.” This time around, Kermit and friends sign on to do a world tour with an agent named Dominic. What they don’t know is that this is all a plan to lure Kermit closer to a criminal doppelganger, named Constantine, and take his place to steal the crowned jewels of England. With Kermit behind bars, and Constantine in his place, it’s now up to Walter and a few others to find Kermit, and stop Constantine from his dastardly plans. Yeah, it’s another one of those movies, only it’s with the Muppets this time. But despite being a cliché plot, it still manages to keep its audience’s attention with great humor and songs.

The cast members that are in most of the movie are Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey. Ricky Gervais plays Dominic Badguy, also known as ‘The Lemur’ and ‘Number Two,’ because he’s the 2^nd best criminal mastermind. It’s the typical “right-hand man wanting to step out his boss’s shadow,” but at least Gervais manages to keep the character funny and investing enough, especially at the end. Ty Burrell plays a European detective who’s working with Sam Eagle, searching for ‘the Lemur,’ and putting the Muppets as prime suspects. To me, these two were the best part of the whole film, as their chemistry was absolutely brilliant and chaotic, that I couldn’t get enough of them. While there is the joke about Gervais trying to outdo Constantine, Burrell’s laid-back personality, clashing with Sam’s constant determination is brilliant, as both are trying to outdo each other, just to see who is more professional for the job, leading into some really great jokes. Then we have Tina Fey, as the Russian prison warden that’s keeping Kermit locked up. She’s pretty much the stern warden character, but she knows every escape in the book to keep her criminals locked up. Even though she knows that Kermit isn’t Constantine, she still keeps him locked up, which you need to see the movie if you want to know the joke. The only problem with her is that, if she’s running the most secure prison in the world, then how could she not see Kermit’s successful escape, when she knew every other one of them. We also get great cameos from Chloe Grace Moretz, Christoph Waltz, Tom Hiddleston, Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, James McAvoy, and Jermaine Clement, which are all very funny appearances.

As for the Muppets, they still keep in the good spirit they’re in, especially with Walter as the newest member. I do get the fact that Walter already had his story arc in the first film, but I think it still would have been nice to see a bit more of him work off of the other characters. There were some bits that didn’t seem to click in as well as they did, but I didn’t think it got to me as much as it could have.

Overall, “Muppets Most Wanted” is…well, a good Muppet movie. If you like the Muppets, then you’ll like this film. It’s not quite as good as the last film, but it’s still to watch.

Rating: 8/10