Muppets Most Wanted Review

It's time to meet the Muppets...again! Check out our definitive verdict on Disney's accomplished caper comedy right here.
As challenges go, this reviewer would wager that topping The Muppets (or even matching it, for that matter- 5/5) ranks as one of the most daunting prospects for a production team in recent memory. That's not to say that anyone would lament the creation of the critically lauded 2011 motion picture, of course, since Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller's masterful screenplay was instrumental in reviving the legacy of Jim Henson's famed gang of puppets after a number of underwhelming sequels such as The Muppets Wizard of Oz, but at the same time, Muppets Most Wanted's burden of expectation is all the greater as a result of the acclaim which its immediate predecessor amassed at the time of release.

While it would certainly be dishonest to claim that the sequel reaches the same heights on a regular basis, we're glad to confirm that it comes remarkably close on a number of occasions. Most importantly, though, Most Wanted carries its own unique charm and distinguishing features in abundance, ensuring that fans won't leave the auditorium feeling short-changed or dispassionate about the wider, evidently strengthening franchise. It should come as no great surprise to the masses who witnessed 2011's Muppets in all its glory that Christophe Beck's soundtrack is paramount to this entry's enduring appeal, nor that much of the joy of your first viewing will come from the aural surprises that lie within, hence why we'll remain suitably coy as to precisely what you can expect this time around. Suffice to say that even if there's no Life's A Happy Song or Man Or Muppet-esque Oscar contender to be found in the setlist here, yet We're Doing A Sequel (good luck removing the song from your mind for the remainder of the afternoon now that we've mentioned it), I'm Number One, Something So Right and particularly Tina Fey's hilarious Gulag number The Big House are each superb in their own right, and ludicrously infectious to boot.

Leading the film's human cast are Ricky Gervais, The Office US' Fey and Modern Family's Ty Burrell, each of whom offer up respectable performances as Constantine (aka a villainous Kermit lookalike who steals the iconic amphibian's identity early on)'s partner-in-crime, an eccentric Siberian prison officer and an intrepid Interpol detective. Nevertheless, the loss of both Jason Segel and Amy Adams from the actorial helm will doubtless have an intensely detrimental impact upon any fan who shared this reviewer's deep admiration for their contributions to The Muppets, and much as returning scribe Stoller and director James Bobin do their utmost to throw countless cameos our way in order to distract us for the duration of the running time, the self-inflicted absence of even a mention of Gary and Mary takes its toll on an emotive level as we reach the climactic setpieces and find them curiously lacking in the personal touch which having the pair of love-struck travellers on board allowed last time. If only the celebrity appearances in question were slightly more substantial, then the pain would be lessened considerably, yet A-listers including (but by no means limited to) Zach Galifanakas, Sean Combs, Tom Hiddleston and Lady GaGa tend to come and go with barely enough screen-time for the viewer to attain any level of recognition of their identities or their (minimal) influence upon the central storyline or its various tangential strands.

For the most part, then, it's down to the Muppets themselves to keep the series' trademark satirical comedy alive and thriving throughout, a feat which- thanks to the array of one-liners afforded to them in Stoller's screenplay and Bobin's honed direction- they pull off to sublime effect. Three years may have passed since Kermit, Fozzy Bear, Waldorf and Statler (who surely warrant a mention in every Muppet-themed article?) and their cohorts returned to the big-screen with an almighty bang, but time has clearly not diminished their perfect timing or indeed their gut-wrenching punchlines. Although timeless singular gags from the first film such as "I once waited twelve months for September!" or "We travel by map!" aren't necessarily bested, you can't blame Stoller for trying, and as is the case with any accomplished genre entry of this ilk, every viewer is sure to depart their cinema with not only a favourite tune, but inevitably a gag which lingers in the memory forevermore, even if it makes virtually no sense whatsoever once it's taken out of context (and if that isn't a common trait of all legendary in-film jokes, then we're not sure what is). Such is the simultaneous burden and relief of penning an advance review such as this that we could barely hint at precisely what those gags entail even if we wanted to, and for the sake of your initial engagement with the movie, we'll hold off on doing so safe in the knowledge that the ensuing discussion will be all the more refreshing as a result, if not moreso.

Much as critics elsewhere on the web would have you believe that the Muppets' seventh (doesn't time fly?) cinematic outing drops the ball in comparison to many of its esteemed predecessors, the situation isn't nearly so disheartening, since for everything it loses in the absence of The Muppets' lead stars, it gains in good measure through acquiring another cracking musical setlist and the enduring comic power of its titular team of wayward heroes. Once the seasoned franchise veteran comes to accept the inevitable reality of the sheer impossibility of Bobin's team producing a superior sequel, they'll find plenty to love about Muppets Most Wanted in the form of those strengths outlined here and countless other intricate touches which serve to frequently solidify our ongoing relief at the franchise's recent resurrection. In the midst of its final moments, We're Doing A Sequel introduces the lyric "it's the Muppets again", and although the line works brilliantly as a reference to the follow-up's working title, more significant still is its role as a fitting reminder to the viewership at large that Jim Henson's legacy faded for a near-unbearable length of time in the noughties, and thus that we should cherish its current prominence within the film industry as opposed to seeking to cast it back into the shadows from whence it came. In this rare instance, the gang's assertion that their latest caper is "more of the same" is just fine by us.
4/5
BONUS MINI-REVIEW: PARTY CENTRAL (A MONSTERS UNIVERSITY SHORT) (2/5)
Lest we forget, there's also a short film from Pixar accompanying Muppets Most Wanted. Titled Party Central, it's a harmless skit based within the universe of Monsters University and Monsters Inc, presumably taking place during the timeline of the former before Mike and Sully depart for the latter (though no such chronology is ever firmly established). Unlike recent condensed animated hits such as Paperman and Get A Horse (A Mickey Short), though, it never threatens to steal the main feature's thunder as they did for Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen respectively, primarily due to the inevitable "been there, done that" sense of deja vu which pervades our latest foray into Oozma Kappa's freshman year. Uni's lead stars John Goodman and Billy Crystal are effectively relegated to supporting roles barely a minute in, leaving us to focus on the largely stereotypical college-goers introduced in last year's prequel such as Don Carlton, Terri Perry and Scott Squibbles (feel no shame if it takes a quick Google Images search to remind you precisely who they are...) and the latter's irksome mother, who ironically provides one of the solitary two gags which warrant hearty laughs (the other coming from the son of the two human parents whose room is subtly invaded by the aforementioned fraternity in order to kick-start their festivities). Even if our return trip to the Monsters franchise proved to be a genuinely pleasant surprise back in Summer 2013, Party Central serves as proof if any was needed that Pixar would be well advised to move into new territory from now on.