The Muppets fit like a green hand puppet

I didn’t really like The Muppets as a child.  It aired from ’76 to ’81 and I was too into The Six Million Dollar Man or thought that The Muppets were just for little kids.  However, my mother loved The Muppets and would watch them every week.  Because of that, I do have some memories of watching Pigs in Space and other Muppet skits during Steve Austin’s commercial breaks.

As an adult I’ve seen most of the episodes and have enjoyed them much more.  On television The Muppets were a chance for kids and adults to watch the same program and have each of them enjoy it.  The adults liked some of the humor and the cameos, while the kids could relate to the silly songs, physical humor and Muppets.

The Muppets are back in movie theaters on November 23.  Walter is the world’s biggest Muppet fan.  He and his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary’s girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) discover the plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for oil.

In order to save the Muppet Theater they stage a telethon and try to raise $10 million.   Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is an editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate.

On the surface, The Muppets sounds like a movie strictly for children.  It’s rated PG and has no offensive content at all.  The only reason it’s rated PG and not G is for Muppet related violence, like being shot out of a cannon or thrown into an electric fence.

Some of the humor is deadpan and intended to get a laugh by speaking directly to the audience.  There is lots of physical humor for children and more than a dozen star cameos, including Ken Jeong, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis and many more.  A couple of the cameos are just there so adults will recognize somebody while some of the cameos, like Jeong’s reality show TV host are short, but very funny.

Just like the television show, The Muppets feature lots of song and dance numbers.  Some of the numbers are better than others, but they’re all entertaining and a few are laugh out loud funny.

I loved The Muppets.  On more than one occasion my eyes were watering because I was laughing so hard.  The social media campaign and numerous movie trailers leading up to the movie were great because they didn’t give anything away.  Many of the funny lines from the trailers weren’t even in the movie.

The movie is soft, breezy fun that even Waldorf and Statler, the two curmudgeons in the balcony, can love.  It’s the kind of movie that makes you wonder why they don’t make movies like that anymore.  It works on so many levels and is so technically entertaining you’ll forget you’re watching colored felt on somebody’s hand.

Is it a children’s movie that adults will enjoy or a movie for adults that children will like?  Like my reformed view of the television show, it’s a combination of the two and the rare vehicle that they both can really enjoy.  For the adults watching the jokes in the movie can come very fast.  Look for the robot, Jeong’s billboard and the multiple photos of Jim Henson in the movie.