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William Kendall said on December 4th, 2011 at 4:10 pm

Jack Black appearing is reason enough for me to avoid watching the film.

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Allen Gould said on December 4th, 2011 at 4:17 pm

All those slow parts you mention? Most of that is because they’re having to run a second plotline (the whole Mary/Gary thing), which is sadly non-Muppet based and didn’t have the good sense to get out of the way once the real movie arrived.

Also, I can not fathom why they didn’t re-record the final finale – you can’t find two people to sing a wordless ditty?

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I agree that a new Muppet Show would be awesome. But then I remember the averageness of Muppets Tonight, which most people have pushed so far back in their mind, they look at you kind of funny before they actually recall what it is. At this point, I would honestly settle for whomever owns the rights to the old Muppet Show getting off their behinds and actually releasing seasons 4 and 5 on DVD, hopefully the success of this new movie will prompt that into happening.

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@Allen Gould: Oh yeah, that reminds me. Jason Siegel? Not so much a dancer. Pretty obvious that everyone was just dancing around him. Amy Allen, though, was doing pretty good.

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William Kendall what they do with Jack Black is sooooo good. Please trust me.

If you take Rawlf out you take out one of the best jokes! (“Heh: Classic.”)

The movie is a return to form. Not a reboot, not an update, it’s bringing the classic Muppets to today’s audience and that’s pretty damn special.

Seavey: you missed the signed photo of Jim Henson with Kermit on the wall front and center bigger than the rest. I teared up 🙁
I mean: my allergies acted up.

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Sebastian Howard said on December 4th, 2011 at 10:31 pm

Been watching old Muppet Shows since this.

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Carlos Futino said on December 5th, 2011 at 5:56 am

Yeah, a new Muppet Show would be nice. It would take a really (and I mean REALLY) brave set of writers to do a Muppet show without Jim Henson, but if we found one that could pull it, it would be great.

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Wait…if they broke up after Jim died, then Muppets Tonite never happened? Is yet ANOTHER part of my childhood memory completely made up?

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This is a really well-written post on why The Muppets movie wasn’t amazing.

That being said, it is still really enjoyable, and I sincerely hope that when I next give it a viewing [I plan on buying a DVD] I’ll be able to enjoy it almost as much as I did the first time around.

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I think my main complaint is that too much of it was wastd focusing on the human characters and not enough about the Muppets. There was way to much of Jason Segel. I mean this is a Muppet movie, it shouldn’t be humans singign and dancing all over the place for the majority of the film, it should be MUPPETS doing that! There was also no big super cool moment where you really got an idea of how creative the Henson team can be wit hteir puppeteering. I remember watching The Muppet Movie as a kid and being blown away by seeing Kermit ride a bike. Ther ewas no true mind-blowing puppeteering moment in this

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I’ll just say that I enjoyed the movie and feel that you’re wrong on most if not all of your criticisms (nothing new) and leave it at that.

Also, anyone avoiding the movie because of Jack Black is missing out, I dislike him a lot, and very much enjoyed the bits involving him. (he gets abused, a lot.)

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@Eric: I didn’t miss it; in fact, I’m reasonably sure that you could create a Muppets Drinking Game based on the number of photos of Henson scattered through the film. (“Henson photo, take a shot.”) But there’s a difference between mentioning Henson and actually getting at the heart of why the Muppets aren’t together anymore, and it shows in every scene. The break-up of the group was presented as arbitrary and meaningless, and as such, the reunion is also arbitrary and meaningless. Fozzie and Kermit haven’t spoken in years; why? Doesn’t matter, Kermit shows up and says, “Let’s do a show again,” and Fozzie says “Okay.” There’s no hint as to why Kermit gave up performing, why he hasn’t kept in touch with his old friends…the scenes with Miss Piggy, where the writer clearly had an idea of what happened during those years we didn’t see, stand out as infinitely better than all the other character interactions because they have an emotional center. The scene where Gonzo arbitrarily decides not to come back, then equally arbitrarily decides the opposite thirty seconds later, is just a collection of throw-away gags. It could have been more.

Or if they didn’t have anything intelligent to do with the Muppets being broken up, why not leave them together? They can be reduced to obscurity as a group just as readily as they can in individual Muppet units without it really affecting the plot, so why not have them all playing a cheesy run-down casino in Vegas? The reunion sequences feel like padding…and they are. 🙂

@JoshR: Do you have reasons? Because simply saying, “I feel you’re wrong and I’m leaving it at that,” is the kind of statement that gets dismissed pretty much out of hand by most people. Disagreeing for a reason, and giving that reason, leads to intelligent discussion. Saying, “Well, I liked it,” just tells me that you identified emotionally with the film and when I said I didn’t like it, you took it as some sort of personal attack. 🙂

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Jason Barnett said on December 5th, 2011 at 5:23 pm

the Muppets didn’t break up after Hensen died. THey did A Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island and a couple Made for TV movies.

@John Seavey- like many groups if the Muppets did end up playing run down Casinos they would split. I don’t see Miss Piggy doing that. And once a few people leave it could be as simple as job offers. A place has a spot for Electric Mayhem but not a bad comic and a lunatic whatever Gonzo is.

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Yeah, the Muppets DIDN’T break up after Henson died. In the movie they broke up because the world got more cynical and “edgy”.
90% of the plot of any Muppet movie is Kermit giving up.
And they did keep in touch, Kermit even says that the Reno show isn’t exactly what Fozzy told him.
The Gonzo thing was a metaphor for how, even if you grow up, inside you still have that child (he wore his cape and tights under his business suit)
And if they didn’t break up and scatter why would Muppet studios be closed? They’d stay there.
I will agree that too much time was spent on the humans and the “new Muppet”

Their getting together wasn’t “arbitrary and meaningless” it was about finding their place in today’s world, reminding people of the simple good, standing together no matter what, the things that the Muppets have ALWAYS been about.

It was “Field of Dreams” with the Muppets.

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Kermit has pointed out in interviews that the Muppets didn’t break up. That was the storyline for the movie, but of course, they’ve been doing stuff together for years, such as last years Bohemian Rhapsody.

As others have mentioned, since Jim Henson died, there were 3 (now 4) motion pictures and a slew of TV specials and what nots. The lack of acknowledgement (or knowledge?) of that makes me doubt the reviews final line of wanting a new Muppet Show.

And Rowlf was perfect…his largest role since Henson died…with the absolute note perfect bit in the getting the band back together scene.

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