LunaVeg87
Since: Mar, 2015
02/11/2016 00:00:00
This perfectly sums up almost everything I thought was wrong in with The Muppets (I also hated how its emotional moments about the Muppets losing their theater and not \"being famous anymore\" came across as more manipulative than truly heartfelt; earlier Muppet movies, including Christmas Carol, Manhattan, and even the widely considered So Okay, It\'s Average Muppets From Space all did emotional moments better than this movie).
TheRealYuma
Since: Feb, 2014
02/16/2016 00:00:00
I know. What\'s worse is that Disney rejected Frank Oz\'s script in favor of this Jason Segel treatment, which I swear feels like an excuse for him to star in a Muppets movie.
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Overrated - A human movie with Muppets
To start. this didn't feel like a Muppets movie, it felt like the Muppets were second banana to a couple of humans. Gary and Mary seem more like they would have been minor characters in any other Muppets movie, and they don't quite work well as main characters in this one. What worked for Carol and Island does not work for everything, especially if the execution isn't as well-done. Then there's the disturbing implication of a human giving birth to a Muppet, but moving on.
The story borrows certain aspects from IAVMMCM. Does it borrow to the point where this makes it bad, no. There also seems to be too many plots going on at once. On the one hand, you have Mary and Gary's love story which became annoying, on other you have Gary who can't let his little brother Walter go, you have Walter who's trying to prove himself, you have Kermit and Piggy's relationship which becomes an actual focus, and you have trying to save the Muppets theatre. They don't all converge well. The villain is seriously under-developed and The Moopets are doubly so. This is the best they could do with Gary Cooper? For shame. Plus, why was he an oil tycoon? It just doesn't seem to add any substance. It seems like making him some kind of modern-day land baron would have made for a better villain.
Sure, there are some nice callbacks and references, but those alone do not make for a good movie. Plus, how did the Muppets lose the theatre? It's never explained. It's a gaping plot hole and the very selective continuity doesn't help. Also, the 4th wall breaking felt out of place, and that Product Placement felt forced.
One of the big reasons that it feels like a human movie as opposed to a Muppet movie is that a lot of noteworthy Muppets don't get to do much. For example, Sam Eagle could have been reverted back to his Moral Guardian characterization but instead all he does is appear on a very short parody of Fox News and sing.
The songs felt really underwhelming, which is odd considering this is Disney. The music wasn't particularly impressive either. It boggles my mind that they didn't go with Alan Menken or Hans Zimmer, or Alan Silvestri, or a number of other names.
To sum it up, this really didn't have that of Muppets magic. The films of Frank Oz and Brian Henson were the best when it came to capturing that magic. I'm putting this down as the worst Muppets movie by far.