The Muppets Movie 2011 Review

Life is a happy song…when there’s someone by your side to side along!

On Thursday evening, I went to my local AMC Theater to see a sneak peak preview of the new Muppets movie! I was incredibly excited…I grew up watching the Muppets and I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the gang, especially Kermit and Miss Piggy! I was very excited when I heard that Jason Segel was working on this project – not only did he star in the movie, but he was a writer and executive producer as well!

There was a pretty long line by the time I arrived at the theater – an hour early – but I was fortunate in that since I was considered “press” I was whisked right into the theater and give my choice of seats. I literally got to choose whichever seat I wanted out of the entire theater. Armed with a Cherry Icee and Twizzlers, I sat down and watched as Radio Disney began entertaining the kids as they came into the theater.

A total surprise for me was that there was a Toy Story short at the beginning of the film…Buzz ended up left behind in the ball pit of a fast food restaurant and hilarious antics ensued! Make sure that you get to the movies on time so that you don’t miss it!

My Opinion of The Muppets Movie 2011

Honestly? I loved it! The story was cute, and completely appropriate for children of any age (in my opinion).

Gary (Jason Segel) and his brother Walter head to Los Angeles to celebrate Gary and his girlfriend Mary’s 10th anniversary. Walter is asked to tag along because Gary wants to take him to tour the Muppet Studios. Walter is obsessed with the Muppets…because he is a Muppet.

When they arrive at the Muppet Studios, they find it in a horrible state of disrepair and Walter overhears an evil businessman talking about taking ownership of the Muppet Studios and demolishing it so that he can drill for oil. Gary, Mary and Walter decide to hunt Kermit the Frog down and tell him the news.

I won’t give you all of the details, because I really hope that you go and see the movie, but the rest of the story goes like this: the Muppets get back together and try to save Muppet Studios. There is a little bit of a side story involving Gary and Mary’s 10 year dating relationship, and Walter’s learning to have confidence in himself, and Kermit and Miss Piggy working out their differences…but I felt that those side stories were worked into the main plot line very well and they fit very naturally.

And let’s face it: we all want to know what happened to Kermit and Piggy, didn’t we? I would have been heartbroken if that was left out of the movie!

As usual, there were fabulous celebrity cameos; Sarah Silverman, Dave Ghrol, Jack Black, Rashida Jones – it seems that each scene had a familiar face! There was a hilarious scene involving Animal and Jack Black – let’s just say that no one should say Tuesday around Jack Black…

There were quite a few song and dance routines, my favorite being the opening number, “Life is a happy song when there’s someone by your side to sing along” is such a sweet sentiment and I am still thinking about the simple message behind that. I love that everything about this movie was so wholesome and pure, there weren’t any innuendos or inappropriate jokes, like some children’s cartoons work into their movies to entertain the parents. The Muppets don’t need that – they are funny just as they are!

I laughed throughtout the movie. I really enjoyed it, and I will probably go see it again and take my nieces and nephew, once it begins playing in theaters on November 23rd!

 

*I received a complimentary entrance to see the Muppets Movie 2011 to facilitate this review.