Make that double. While most children of my generation got his or her cinematic training wheels on George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, the person that really immersed me in not just movies, how much fun they could be to make, was Jim Henson with The Jim Henson Hour. Here he was, an imagineer of the first order, hosting a TV show that met its audience on the level, and without talking down to them, let a peek behind the curtain of the wizard. For me, that was truly inspiring. His death when I was a wee lad struck me as probably the first time I ever saw a filmmaker I genuinely admired pass away, and probably what made the Jim Henson Hour extra haunting for me was also me knowing I was hearing from a ghost.
So, I went to see this movie with a bit of trepidation; how could anything possibly surpass those memories? Short answer: they could not. To its credit, the movie seeks to reintroduce a new generation of young and young-at-heart to the Muppets way after they have passed their prime, which means framing it in a story with new characters rather than making the Muppets the central players of the film, as they have done for nearly all their features until now.
Jason Segel plays Gary, and Amy Adams plays Mary, and both are residents of Smalltown, USA. Gary has a brother, Walter, who is a Muppet. He follows on a trip to Los Angeles to celebrate Gary and Mary's dating anniversary, and while touring the now dilapidated Muppet Studios, they uncover a plot by oil tycoon Tex Richman to raze the studios for the oil supply underneath. As a result, they gather the Muppet crew together to put on one last great show to save their beloved studio.
I was very surprised at how much of it worked, especially with the new character of Walter. The Muppets have never needed an explanation for their very existence. They just were. So it would be a misstep and a blow to the necessary suspension of disbelief, to make them related to 'real' people. I was wrong. In some ways, the Muppets are that part of us that will always remain awkward, goofy and thirsting for adventure, and believing that tomorrow will be better than today. By doing so, the movie helps to reinforce the reason why we have related to these characters all these years.
Yet, a lot felt to ring false or not fully realised. A central conceit of the story felt false even in the film's own universe: the idea that the Muppets are unleashed onto a cynical, hard world to which they bring the gifts of laughter and joy. Maybe it's due to the film being too successful at being joyous and fun, that this conceit never succeeds in convincing the audience that the film's world was that cynical to begin with, even if Bret McKenzie's songs while serviceable, are nothing near the sheer whimsical poetry of Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher's songwriting from the earlier films.
Overall, the film while heartwarming and entertaining, just fell short. It was good comfort food for this fan, but if this makes those new to the Muppets check them out, then it's done its job. I'm sorry if I ever sounded like a grump, not because this movie is bad, but because the classics are just so good and have given me so many memories. Oh Muppets, I don't think the world ever moved on without you, for you have never left.
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