Thursday 5 April 2012

The Muppets review

WORTH SEEING? - Absolutely. This is one of my favourite films of the past couple of years. Everything meshed perfectly - cast, comedy, story.

TELL ME MORE! - Walter is a Muppet who is the world's biggest Muppets fan, and his brother Gary is a human who is the world's biggest Walter fan. When Gary, Walter and Gary's girlfriend Mary go on holiday and visit the Muppet Studios, Walter finds the place in a rundown state, complete with a villian plotting an evil plan to destroy the land and dig for oil. The trio must unite the Muppets to put on one last show and raise $10 million, put aside personal issues and use the power of song and dance to save the studio!



THE CAST - Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Amy Adams (Enchanted) put their vocal talents to great use in this musical comedy. Thanks to Segal's child-like demeanour and Adams' recent star turn in arguably Disney's finest live-action film, it was incredibly easy to believe in their characters and the universe (although it is never explained why Gary is a human and Walter is a Muppet). Hamming it up are Chris Cooper (The Bourne Identity) and Jack Black (Orange County) as the main villian and comedy roles respectively. Closing out the main human cast is Rashida Jones (I Love You Man, another Segal ace) who aptly holds her own in a role straddling the line between hero and villian.

Supporting this lot are some incredible cameos, entertaining both the young (Selena Gomez) and the old (Zach Galifianakis). My personal favourite was The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons, potraying the human version of Walter in my favourite song from the film, Man Or Muppet. (Interesting side-note - Bret McKenzie (Flight Of The Conchords) won an Academy Award for this song.)

IN SUMMATION - More than just a musical comedy, The Muppets is grounded by various personal issues each character must face and overcome - jealousy, seclusion, heartache and the like. Recognising that their audience would be a mixture of young kids and nostalgic adults, the writers have keenly included enough jokes and drama to keep the parents entertained while the usual Muppet madness and music will have the children enthralled also. An all-around hit, and one I feel will hold up with repeated viewings throughout the years.

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