On the day after Thanksgiving, my husband and friend ventured out to see the new Muppets movie. We have been enjoying the numerous parody trailers this summer and frankly my expectations were fairly low, since the last several Muppet movies were pretty lame. I was taken aback when I couldn’t stop laughing and coughing, since I was getting over a cold, through out the whole movie. What a wonderful surprise! These are the reasons I think the Muppets turned out to be so good.
- They didn’t give it away. In a time where movie trailers are more like 1-minute versions of the entire movie, The Muppets did a great job of keeping the main plot line hidden from their teasers. For most of the movies this year, one could save money by watching their trailers off of Apple Movie Trailers. An example would be the remake of the already good Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” where you can see the whole movie in one long trailer. Even the Muppets parody of this trailer, called “The Pig with the Froggy Tattoo,” kept some of the plots hidden. A list of their other parodies are: Green with Envy (romantic comedy spoof), The Fuzzy Pack (The Hangover Part II), Abnormal Activity (Parnormal Activity), Being Green (Green Lantern), Fuss in Boots (Puss in Boots) and Breaking Prawn (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 1).
- Amy Adams and Jason Segal. If a movie needs actors to honestly portray a “happy-go-lucky” character or 1950′s parody without being saccharin, then these are the actors you want. Both of them can depict a bright eyed innocent without making you feel uncomfortable while also parodying these roles. Plus they both can sing, even if Jason Segal is not much of a dancer, though he plays to his strengths and leaves the heavy choreography to the dancers.
- Music supervisor and one of the lyricist Bret McKenzie Yes, one half of the Flight of the Conchords helped supervise the songs for the Muppets. Who better to know how to parody different styles of musical genres with Muppet style songs. My favorite, Man or Muppet written by Bret McKenzie.
- Celebrity Cameos. For those who remember the old Muppet Show, the best part was having the celebrity cameos. The movie pulls out the stops with their celebrity cameos like David Grohl, Jack Black, Whoopi Goldberg, Feist, and my four year old niece’s favorite actor from Dr. Horrible, Neil Patrick Harris. (And yes, she says the whole name!) And many more, see how many you can recognize.
- The Muppet Show. So part of the story is the Muppets having to put on a show for charity and all the usual antics the original show had are showcased. And the best barbershop quartet of Muppets doing “Smells like Teen Spirit.”
And for those who haven’t gotten enough of the Muppets, the Muppets: The Green Album, tribute with contemporary artists boosts OK Go doing their version of “The Muppet Show Theme,” a rocking “Moving Right Along” by Alkaline Trio, and everyone’s favorite “Mahna Mahna” by The Fray. So check out this movie and have a good laugh while enjoying some old favorites.
