Man or Muppet?

I think I am a big kid at heart, especially when it comes to the movies that I watch. Every animation that comes out, I have to watch! It's like I never grew out of the phase, and luckily Grant is exactly the same. Only, while I grew up watching Kideo and Disney movies, Grant grew up five years earlier with the Muppets.

It's not that I didn't grow up knowing about the Muppets. I knew of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and I'm pretty sure that I watched movies like The Muppets in Space and Muppet Treasure Island, but I was always one who was more into watching Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast hundreds of times over rather than watching live action. But, dating Grant, it was slightly hard to avoid the Muppet mania. It just pops up every now and then, like when I was introduced to the Manamana song, which got stuck in my head for months on end and is likely to get stuck there again now that I have even mentioned it. Or, when Grant rediscovered The Muppet Christmas Carol and we watched that a couple of times.

So it should come as no surprise then, that we have been in Muppet mania over the last few months, ever since we heard about the Muppet movie. Even I couldn't resist the hype. The advertising campaign was amazing, with them running ads for the movie based on trailers for various other movies. Confused? Try watching the trailer entitled The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo or Being Green. You'll see what I'm talking about. Oh, and did I mention that the movie stars How I Met Your Mother actor Jason Segel and Enchanted actress Amy Adams? What about special guest appearances from Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and Jim Parsons (Sheldon from Big Bang Theory)? Mix that with the rave reviews that it was getting and Grant and I were practically jumping off our seats dying to see the movie.

We eventually managed to get a copy of it, and I suppose the real question is going to be, "Were we disappointed?" The answer is a resounding NO! Let me make something clear right now - the movie is a kid's movie. But it is a kid's movie that speaks to an older generation of kids. It is a musical straight from the 70's with the choreography and goofy moments that you have come to expect from a typical Muppets movie. And that is what it is - a typical Muppets movie in typical Muppets fashion, presented to today's children. Which they should be thrilled about! I don't know if they are going to be, but they should be.

The humour was great with moments of laughing out loud and moments of cringing, but not in the dodgy way that most comedies lead to these days. The songs themselves were hilarious and wonderfully done. The storyline is a little weak, but entertaining nonetheless. Basically it is about a guy named Gary and his girlfriend, Mary, who decide to take a trip to LA and bring Gary's little brother, Walter, along. Walter feels like he never fits in, which is not surprising considering that he is a muppet without actually realising it. Anyway, he loves the Muppets and they decide to visit the old Muppet theatre in LA only to find out that it is derelict and about to be torn down by an oil-digging Texan tycoon. So, of course, they go off and try to get the Muppets back together to save the theatre.

Who would I recommend this movie to? Anyone who loved the Muppets as a kid and is ready to see them with a slight (very slight) modern twist but with an old school feel. Also, anyone who is in the mood for a good clean laugh and anyone who has kids. Not Rudi. He apparently hated it. *Shrug* Anyway! 5/5 from me!