Muppets Most Wanted (Rated B)
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell
Genre: Musical Comedy
Dwight's Rating: 3 stars
Finally! The arrival of "Muppets Most Wanted" in theaters last Friday should mean that what has seemed like the longest and most widespread promotional campaign for a single movie in recent memory is hopefully coming to an end.
Since late last year, through the Super Bowl, and into the film's opening weekend, television viewers have been bombarded with heavy direct promotion for the movie. Various Muppets have been popping up -- literally -- on almost every daytime and late night talk show. Then there's been months of aggressive and often bizarre cross-promotion. We've seen Muppets proclaiming the "no room for boring" nature of a new model of SUV. Even stranger, we've had Muppets selling the virtues of tea, and how tea can make people less "animal-like". Muppets selling tea! For goodness sake!
Usually, this much promotion before a release augurs ill for the actual movie. It would either be just plain awful, or it would simply collapse under the weight of the hype. Thankfully, "Muppets Most Wanted" falls into neither category, and is actually even better than I could have ever expected.
This sequel represents a vast improvement from the previous Muppet outing, 2011's "The Muppets". While that movie was critically acclaimed, for the most part, and was a commercial success -- becoming the highest-grossing movie in the Muppet film franchise to date -- I actually thought it was a bit too sappy and a bit dull. The new release, which had a less than stellar box-office opening weekend performance in the United States, is a lot edgier.
"Muppets Most Wanted" picks up where "The Muppets" leaves off. Through a series of manipulations, the gang is led to embark on a global tour, mainly across Europe. But they unwittingly find themselves entangled in an international crime caper, headed by the evil Russian frog Constantine, who as we're frequently reminded is "the world's number one criminal". He also happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit The Frog.
With that, there is non-stop hilarity. Constantine, who makes the dreaded cane toads terrorizing western New Providence last year seem like a joke, steals the show. His attempts at masking his Russian accent as he impersonates Kermit are classic. The musical numbers are intentionally cheesy, but are fresh and funny, and some even have catchy melodies.
Then there are the human stars. Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey appear to be having a ball, and are a pleasure to watch. Along with Ty Burrell from TV's "Modern Family", there's also a dizzying number of big celebrity cameos, including Celine Dion, Usher and Lady Gaga. It's unbelievable the number of stars apparently willing to play second banana to a Muppet.
That all adds up to fun. And with "Muppets Most Wanted", there's fun in abundance. It is delightfully zany in the tradition of another comedy caper classic, the original "The Pink Panther". While children might be inclined to want to watch it because there are Muppets, it's likely adults will enjoy it even more. In any event, there's something here for everyone.
And about that winding down promotional blitz, enjoy the reprieve while it lasts. You know the drill by now -- it will be just a matter of weeks before the Muppets will once again be invading our lives to promote the movie's release on Blu-ray and DVD.
o Dwight Strachan is the host/producer of " Morning Blend" on Guardian Radio. He is a television producer and writer, and an avid TV history and film buff. Email dwight@nasguard.com and follow him on twitter @morningblend969.
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