It’s Time To Meet The Muppets

On Saturday, we headed out to the movie theaters.  Our waiting was over.  It was time to play the music.  It was time to light the lights.  It was time to meet the Muppets on The Muppet Show… I mean, the Muppet movie.

The movie opens with a montage of scenes of Gary and Walter growing up.  As Gary gets taller, Walter remains the same height year after year.  Of course, Walter also looks a little bit different as he’s a bit fuzzier than a normal human.  One might say even a bit felt-like.  Walter’s woes over being different subside the minute he sees the Muppet Show on the television.  From that moment on, he’s hooked.  He’s the Muppet’s number one fan.

Fast forward to the present and Gary and his girlfriend of ten years, Mary, decide to take a 10th anniversary trip to Los Angeles, California.  Gary surprises Walter by telling him that he’s coming too to see the Muppet Studios.  A musical number later and they’re on their way.

Oh, yes.  There are musical numbers.  Characters and extras will just burst out into spontaneous song and dance numbers.  My boys and I had heard much of the soundtrack earlier, so we knew what to expect once the music began.  Or at least we thought we did.  The music took on a whole new light once we saw it in context.

For a quick glimpse into the music of the movie, here’s a Muppets social media comments-enhanced preview:

Back to the movie, though.  Gary, Mary, and Walter find Muppet Studios all but abandoned.  Apparently, the Muppets went their separate ways a long time ago and people have forgotten about them.  Walter stumbles across a plot to tear down the buildings and drill for oil.  It’s up to Gary, Mary, and Walter to find Kermit, gather the Muppets back together for one last show to rescue the theater.  Along the way, they have to decide what is really important in their lives.

My boys loved it.  They were singing parts of the soundtrack for the rest of the day (and requesting that I play them the MP3s after that).  I’m still laughing over cameo appearances and over jokes.  It was all that a Muppet movie should be.  There was fourth wall breaking (After Kermit declines to help save the studio, Mary comments “This is going to be a short movie.”), call backs to their previous movies (as they are gathering Muppets together, they drive past a used car lot out of which Sweetums runs yelling “Hey you guys! I want to come too! Not again!!!”), and new jokes.

I would definitely recommend for everyone to see this movie.

Now, I have one more thing to say about the movie, but it’s a major spoiler.  It gives away the entire ending.  So, if you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading here.  Go on out and see the movie and then come back and read the rest.  Go on.  I can wait.

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Have you see the movie yet?

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You have?  Ok, then.

Anyway, some people were disappointed that the Muppets didn’t win back their studio in the end.  They came up way short of their goal and lost the studio to the evil Tex Richman.  People said that they should have won.  I’ll admit, I was looking for some sort of impossible win as well.  I even thought that perhaps Statler and Waldorf would donate the money.  (Anonymously, of course.  They wouldn’t want the Frog and company to know that they actually enjoyed making fun of the show.)

But they didn’t.  They lost.  The important thing, though, is that they realized what was important to them.  It wasn’t the studio, it was each other.  Even without the studio, they would keep performing and stick by each other.  No matter what happened, they wouldn’t break up again.

And then Gonzo accidentally bonked Tex Richman on the head just before the end credits and they got their studio back anyway.  Leave it to Gonzo to employ a Dues Ex Bowling Ball.