Film Review: The Muppets

Kirmit the Frog © by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer

This article titled “The Muppets – review” was written by Philip French, for The Observer on Sunday 12th February 2012 00.06 UTC

Back on the big screen for the first time in some years, the Muppets are in cheerfully postmodern mode as they set about reminding the world who they are and what they stand for. Their greatest fan Walter (Peter Linz), himself a Muppet, is on a visit from Smalltown, USA, to Hollywood with his super-dim brother, Gary (Jason Segel) and his none-too-bright fiancee Mary (Amy Adams), when he learns that the Muppets’ old studio is about to be razed to the ground. The wicked Texas tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) plans to drill for oil there. Only a successful telethon by the reunited Muppets can save this shrine, and a depressed Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire) goes around America to recruit his comrades. He finds Fozzie Bear (Eric Jacobson) playing with a tribute group called the Moopets in Reno, Gonzo (Dave Goelz) running a firm selling toilet bowls and Miss Piggy (Jacobson again) editing Paris Vogue. Among the guest stars is Emily Blunt, amusingly reprising her role from The Devil Wears Prada as Miss Piggy’s secretary. After these reunions, someone suggests cutting to a montage to save time. The film’s broad smiles and big-heartedness are bracingly disingenuous, the self-referential jokes well handled. Only the affection emanating from the audience is sincere.

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