Muppets 2011
Edit: Something seems a bit whacked with the automated cross posting. I am entering this manually for now, but if it pops up a second time, that's LJ and Dreamwidth, not me.
I'm not sure that there'd be any point to reviewing this movie, since it's less a movie and more an exercise in nostalgia. I grew up with Grover and Kermit on Sesame Street, and then we moved to Italy and I had to lose the Muppets for awhile, and then we came back and the Muppets were on syndication in something even funnier that didn't attempt to teach me about numbers and letters and important life lessons, and a couple of them were throwing fish or blowing things up. I could approve of that.
So I'm the target audience, and with a few missteps here and there (I could have done without Fozzie's shoes, and the major life lesson imparted by this movie is that Chris Cooper should never, ever, ever, and I do mean never, ever, ever, ever ever, rap again; that sequence stunned our multiracial audience into stark horror), it worked for me. Oh, sure, the mania and zaniness has been toned down some, and although the guy during Kermit did a great job with Kermit's voice, Miss Piggy and Fozzie were recognizably....different. Not bad, just...different, and as someone who loved loved loved Grover I must say I wish Frank Oz could come out of retirement for the Muppets. Gonzo, though, is the same puppeteer/voice. All together now...Awwwwwwwwwwwww!
But these are quibbles. Overall, this is a movie with a heart, and a few explosions, and one of the hands down best Nirvana covers ever (I admit it took me a second to recognize the song, but once I did I was rolling.)
I'm not sure that there'd be any point to reviewing this movie, since it's less a movie and more an exercise in nostalgia. I grew up with Grover and Kermit on Sesame Street, and then we moved to Italy and I had to lose the Muppets for awhile, and then we came back and the Muppets were on syndication in something even funnier that didn't attempt to teach me about numbers and letters and important life lessons, and a couple of them were throwing fish or blowing things up. I could approve of that.
So I'm the target audience, and with a few missteps here and there (I could have done without Fozzie's shoes, and the major life lesson imparted by this movie is that Chris Cooper should never, ever, ever, and I do mean never, ever, ever, ever ever, rap again; that sequence stunned our multiracial audience into stark horror), it worked for me. Oh, sure, the mania and zaniness has been toned down some, and although the guy during Kermit did a great job with Kermit's voice, Miss Piggy and Fozzie were recognizably....different. Not bad, just...different, and as someone who loved loved loved Grover I must say I wish Frank Oz could come out of retirement for the Muppets. Gonzo, though, is the same puppeteer/voice. All together now...Awwwwwwwwwwwww!
But these are quibbles. Overall, this is a movie with a heart, and a few explosions, and one of the hands down best Nirvana covers ever (I admit it took me a second to recognize the song, but once I did I was rolling.)