Jason Segal did something special a few years ago. He revitalized The Muppets. His love of the old show as well as puppetry in general paired with his growing fame and popularity launched the reboot that he co-wrote with Nicholas Stoller. Magic was created and a new era of Muppets was introduced. Due to the success of the first film, a sequel was inevitable. It's much like that of the success of Segal and Stoller's first major film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which, in my opinion, is one of the funniest and most well-written romantic comedies to have been released in the last decade or so. It was so well received that a spin-off was apparently warranted and Get Him To The Greek was created. Now, Segal did the smart thing and avoided influence with the spin-off and it wasn't nearly half as good as it's predecessor. Sure, it had funny moments, but the heart and soul and magic of the first film was missing. This is how I feel about Muppets Most Wanted. They took Segal's ideas and expanded upon them, but without him to power up the writing, the film is missing most of the heart and soul and... magic that the first film possessed. There are funny moments, and it's certainly not a bad film, it's just missing that great Segal charm.
The film begins the moment the first film ends with the fireworks spelling out "THE END" in the sky. Then, because The Muppets can get away with it, the film turns a little meta on us and they all realize they have just made comedy gold. So, obviously the next step is a sequel. Right off the bat it is acknowledged that sequels are never as good as the first film (even though the first film was really the seventh Muppet film in existence). So, to ostracize the movie for not having the charm of the first film would be pointless because all of the characters are already aware that this film won't be as good. They even sing a song about it. How can you hate a movie that already KNOWS it's not as good as the one before it and acknowledges it as such?? That's the fun that comes with the Muppets.
So, this time around the Muppets decide that they want to take their act on a world tour led by newly hired agent Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais). What they don't know is that Badguy is really a bad guy who needs to use the Muppets as a diversion while he and Constantine (a jewel thief frog who bears a very striking resemblance to Kermit) plan to steal the Crown Jewels. Of course, in order for this to work, Constantine needs to act as Kermit, so getting rid of Kermit involves locking him up in a Russian Gulag with terrifying inmates such as Prison King (Jemaine Clement), Big Papa (Ray Liotta), and Danny Trejo (Danny Trejo). There, the evil Russian Guard Nadya (Tina Fey) forces Kermit to put on a musical show for her. Finally, the Muppet FBI (headed by Sam the Eagle) and Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell) team up to solve the mystery of the jewel heists. It is, indeed, a lot of fun and even generates a lot of laughs, but it seems to lack the general sweetness that the first film employed so well.
While the first Muppets film was about growing up and realizing self-worth, this film seems to have ditched all that emotional and heartfelt nonsense in favor of a physical comedy caper. Don't get me wrong, these films can be a lot of fun. I could watch a Peter Sellers film as many times as I could watch Forrest Gump. But, it doesn't mean that a sequel to The Shawshank Redemption should be about how Red and Andy decide to become masturbating ventriloquist detectives. Sometimes it's best not to mess with the emotional tone that made the original film succeed. Taking the movie for what it is at face value, there are definitely worse choices out there. It's actually a fun little movie for both kids and adults. Had it not had such a perfect predecessor, this might've actually been a decent revitalization of the Muppets, as well. But, the fact still remains that The Muppets was a perfect film. It was the perfect homage to the older shows. It was able to bring back the Muppets as well as honor them. This time around it felt a little too... lazy? Convenient? Even the songs were sub-par. "Life's a Happy Song" and "Am I A Man or Am I A Muppet" were fantastic songs that would play over and over in your head after the film had ended. I don't actually recall any of the lines from any of the songs of this film. They were instantly forgettable and didn't illicit much emotion or any real reason for existing other than that the script called for a song.
It sounds like I'm bashing on the movie a little harshly. I'm really not. I did enjoy the movie. And like I said, at face value, it's a great little family film that does nothing to tarnish the Muppet name. But, when comparing it to the first film it seems to be like the little brother who tries his damndest to live up to his older brother's name, but fails to come even close. You will enjoy this film. This is guaranteed. But it will not have the same lasting effect that the first film did. Not by a long shot.
B-
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