Who Doesn’t Love ‘The Muppets’?

The Muppets is an all-around fun movie that made my day a little brighter. While it didn’t start off well for me—the main plot consisting of the dopey guy from How I Met Your Mother and his Muppet brother was kind of lame—once we saw actual Muppets I was having a fun time.

Main plot: two people and a Muppet travel from a square state to Hollywood to tour the Muppet Theater (and for a 10th anniversary getaway—crappy subplot). They find that they need $10 million to keep the Muppet Theater from being demolished, and work on getting the team back together.

There is too much focus on the humans in this story. While I love Amy Adams and thought she was great, it really felt like she was playing the third wheel to the third wheel. In the context of the plot, that makes sense. Her musical number with Miss Piggy, in particular, felt like it should have been cut. It was yawntastic, and kind of embarrassing.

I know Jason Segel wrote the movie, but I just wasn’t digging him. Either the parts of Gary and Walter should have been combined (as a Muppet), or the part of Gary should have been recast. Maybe I just don’t get his appeal. Neil Patrick Harris’ cameo, “Yeah, I don’t get why I’m not hosting it, either,” made me wonder, “Why isn’t NPH in the part of Gary?”

Also, the second half of the movie is pretty much The Muppets Take Manhattan. Just replace Manhattan Melodies with The Muppets Telethon.

On to the great stuff:

I loved the Kermit/Miss Piggy dynamic. There were some deep relationship issues that this movie dealt with, and they made the human couple look like dog doo. Gary and Mary, you both suck a bit. Also, what is it with chicks named Mary who stay in relationships for waaaaay too long hoping for a proposal?

The Swedish Chef. Best scene ever. That was some messed up shit. I couldn’t stop laughing.

“The Rainbow Connection”. One of my favorite songs, and it was done so well.

Mickey Rooney’s still alive?!?

Jack Black was really funny. Not my favorite movie he’s ever been in, but he did the best with what he was given. Same with Zach Galifianakis.

Rashida Jones is awesome, even though I can’t imagine her being so mean to Muppets.

Donald Glover and Sarah Silverman, two of my favorite comedians, made appearances.

In conclusion, The Muppets made me laugh, and had some heartfelt moments, but there are some flaws with the non-Muppet cast and storyline. While it’s not on the same level as The Muppet Movie, it was still pretty fun.