Film Review: Muppets Most Wanted

**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this film, PLEASE go and do so before proceeding!

           
           I just finished watching this film, and I have a stomach ache. From laughing. It has been called the best comedy yet this year, and I have to concur. Not only was the script tight, witty, and extremely melodramatic, but it seemed like a moment did not past but that the film was throwing some sort of joke at the screen. Verbal jokes, visual jokes, lame jokes, and more were packed into the story like sardines in a can. Some worked okay, some (in true Muppet fashion) were made to be groaned at, and still others left me practically in tears from laughter. Hence the stomach ache.

         It was so good, in fact, that I would hazard the suggestion that this Muppets film is even better than the last one. Where as last time the focus was put on the new Muppet, Walter (maybe they thought Kermit and Fozzie couldn't carry a film by themselves...or they just wanted to sell toys) in this film the focus of both the characters and the plot lies with Kermit the Frog and his evil doppelgänger, Constantine.

         This film was hilarious, but it also managed to hit you right in the feels from time to time. The Muppets are a group that excel at the zany humour and melodrama, but they can pull out the emotional stops whenever push comes to shove and really come across with a good message. Muppets Most Wanted was no exception. I laughed, I cried, it moved me.

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- I really want a look into Miss Piggy's wardrobe. In true diva fashion, not a scene went by in this film but that she was sporting a brand new, very elaborate outfit. Half of The Muppets' budget must go to keeping her in clothes!

- Right in the opening number they tackle the Sequel Curse. What is a Sequel Curse, you may ask? Well the Sequel Curse is the mandate that says that a sequel must, as a rule, be about half as good as the original, either because the creators become drunk and lazy with success or because they have no ideas and just rehash the ones that they have already used. Not The Muppets, though. No...they mercilessly poke fun at this trope and then completely subvert it by giving us a sequel ten times BETTER than the first (although, technically, this is at least the fifth sequel to the original Muppet Movie...as they point out).

- And was that Lady Gaga playing the coffee girl?!

- Miss Piggy also gets a lovely entrance in that first number a la The Birth of Venus. See...about thirty seconds into this musical number I knew this film was going to be great. And it only got better.

- I love Constantine's EXTREMELY melodramatic escape scene where they milk every cliché in the book. Although...aren't frogs cold-blooded? They're amphibians. So how could Constantine just walk away from Siberia's Gulag without freezing to death?

- And the Muppets News Flashes are back. I'm almost as excited about them as I am for the frog with the mole.

- 'Badguy' doesn't mean 'good guy' in French. I can't believe Miss Piggy fell for that one...

- "I didn't know they still had third class." "Third class...how about no class?!" 


- Miss Piggy wants to sing five Celine Dion songs in succession? Balthazar...smite me now!

- Good for Kermit for turning her down. Also; I know Gonzo likes to do crazy stunts and all that, but bringing mad bulls on stage is going a bit far...even for him.

- One great thing about this film was the music. From the catchy-as-anything songs to the delightfully hammy and epic soundtrack that plays for Constantine, I'm going to have that music stuck in my head for a long time to come.

- I especially love the theme that plays whenever Kermit is arrested as the world's most dangerous frog. That choir called up memories of Batman and Judge Frollo. Talk about chewing the scenery with your compositions!

- It was quite funny the way Animal immediately knew that Constantine wasn't the right frog. Too bad no one ever listens to him...

- So Constantine's endgame is to steal the crown jewels? Hmmm. Somehow I don't think he'll look as good in a crown as a certain other jewel thief did...

- I laughed so hard whenever I realized that Constantine (tough Gulag escapee and martial artist) had debilitating stage fright. He fainted!

- Now here's a disturbing tidbit for you: Sweetums in a ballgown...dancing to the Blue Danube Waltz. I think I'm scarred for life!

- The CIA vs. INTERPOL rivalry was hilarious, the icing on the cake being the increasingly larger badges they kept on bringing in to one-up the other. It was rather reminiscent of Bugs Bunny's shotgun gig.

- That INTERPOL inspector looks like the guy from The Pink Panther films. I wonder if that was intentional...

- A lot of the Gulag prisoners Kermit encounters (well, the Muppet ones, that is) I recognise from their Treasure Island film. Good times.

- The crown made out of bent sporks? Priceless!

- Taser Lady (Nadia) is awesome and her singing is HILARIOUS. Just throwing that out there.

- The musical number Constantine and Dominic share left me nearly in tears from laughter.

- "Godfrey the Unknown...no one knows what he looked like." 

- The scenes of Kermit in jail, having given up hope that his friends are coming for him, are actually quite depressing.

- The vintage Muppet footage that Constantine is watching to help with his act made me squee, as did their mocking of it and singing the iconic theme in horribly-accented Spanish. Even Gonzo's legendary trumpet solo was there!

- All of Kermit's escape attempts are so funny. The visual comedy in this film is perfection and I'm pretty sure that I caught at least two references to The Great Escape in there.

- They make fun of the cop buddy road-trip genre too with the INTERPOL vs. CIA subplot that Sam has started. Just another reason why I love The Muppets so very much...

- After discovering the depth of Dominic's villainy, Fozzie wonders why they never thought of paying off reviewers and critics. Good question!


- Kermit teaching Gulag prisoners to dance and sing cracks me up. So does Nadia's crush on Kermit. Actors in Muppet films must have so much fun...it gives them a chance to cut loose and really ham it up.

- "London...home of the crown jewels and good manners." 

- Poor Miss Piggy. She thought Kermit was actually coming around to her. I actually feel some pity for the porcine dear.


- So many celebrity cameos in this one. And I actually recognize some of them! Like Russell Tovey, for instance. Or the delightful Tom Hiddleston with a John Watson worthy mustache, pulling a Houdini act...and then promptly being tasered by Nadia.

- The outrageously epic trekking that Walter, Fozzie, and Animal do in an effort to find Kermit made me chuckle. Was that a reference to Lawrence of Arabia I spotted?

- An actual Celine Dion cameo?! BALTHAZAR! Where are you when I need you?!!

- Loved the climax where Miss Piggy lost her temper and beat the green snot out of Constantine.

            Again, this film was a joy to watch. It made me smile and laugh until I nearly cried. Especially during the climax where Miss Piggy looses it and completely beats the snot out of the impostor Kermit. The script was witty and full of the humor that I know and love from The Muppets. It felt like coming home again and yet was fresh and new at the same time. The characters were a riot, the focus was where it should be, and the pacing never relented in its mad dash towards the finish line. Muppets Most Wanted is DEFINITELY a 5/5!



What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently