The Muppets- what'd you think?

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I finally saw it yesterday with my girlfriend.


I liked the first half.

I loved the musical number "Pictures in My Head", and I loved Walter and '80s Robot.


Unfortunately, I didn't think so much of the second half.


I thought it was a bad ripoff of A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, and with very dated humor in comparison.

I also thought it was embarrassing to see '70s special effects.

There's fan service, and then there's completely missing the point and just going for straight-up nostalgia...for the sake of it.

On top of it, they really missed the point of the comedy that each of the characters was known for. One of my all-time favorite skits on the Muppet Show was "The Rhyming Song"; seriously, check it out on Youtube; it's priceless, timeless, and it shows why the Muppets appeals to all ages. Somehow, they chose the lamest possible jokes for 'skits" for the Telethon. I know part of it was intentionally that way, but to an extent it still fell flat. It was like joking around about how lame it was made it even lamer.

My friend told me he flat-out hated the movie.


I really thought the Muppets deserved far better than this. Jason Segel may be a fan, but he's a fan that just doesn't understand the magic behind the Muppets. He appreciates it, and worships it...but doesn't understand it.

I personally loved it. I agree that the second act does tend to slow the film down, but IMO, Blues Brothers had the same problem and it's still regarded as on of the greatest musicals of the last 35 years. I use Blues Brothers b/c the Muppets' story reminded me a lot of it with the whole "getting the band back together" concept. As for the effects, I love the fact that they looked dated since digital effects are a dime a dozen these days. Sure they still had some digital effects, but they were practical (IE: removing the Muppets' control strings and rods) and kept to a minimum. I know computers keep things cheaper when it comes to filmmaking, but I still believe that just because you can do the whole film with computers doesn't always mean you should.

And at the risk of SPOILERS, the pre-credit ending was really good and bold even if they had a cop-out during the credits resulting in the typical happy ending. I still felt it was a great direction to take the story in during the closing moments even in spite of the cop-out.

I wouldn't mind seeing another Muppet film from Disney if it was handled with the same amount of care and love as this film was. Easily one of my top 10 films from 2011.

Maybe I would see it if I could stand Jason Segel at all, but he's on the list of actors who make me avoid any movie with their presence, along with Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Vince Vaughn, and Owen Wilson. When did the world decide that these people are funny, and why wasn't I present at this meeting to shout incoherently?