MUPPETS MOST WANTED (C+)

Bottom Line: It’s time to face the music.  It’s time to get rewrites.  I think the Muppet crew crooned it best when, in the first musical number of this energetically unmemorable movie, they warned how ‘everybody knows that the sequel’s never quite as good’.  Truer words have never been sung by fuzzy, funny, hand-jammed icons of our childhood.  The first moments of this movie shine with spectacle and show tunes – reintroducing us to a comfort zone we’ve come to know and love.  Nothing groundbreaking, unfortunately – nothing that dazzled like 2011’s THE MUPPETS starring human actors Jason Segel and Amy Adams.  My three boys enjoyed it (not more than THE LEGO MOVIE or MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN mind you) but my wife and I felt like we deserved a more concerted effort to deliver the high brand of hilarity and entertainment that this franchise has owned for the past 35+ years…  The tone is too dark, the gags are too flat and the celebrity cameos (most of them) too unfamiliar.  As expected, there is a goofily fanciful, family friendly vibe – zippy tunes and simple laughs.  Dig a bit deeper, however, and you’ll discover a lazy and uninspired flatness to the whole shebang.  It’s an occasionally fun yet ultimately forgettable flick.  It may not be easy being green, Kermit – but earning more green on repeated trips to see your new movie will prove even tougher.  Why don’t we get things started…indeed.

 

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey

Directed by: James Bobin (THE MUPPETS)

Rated: PG

Running time: 112 minutes

Studio description: Muppets Most Wanted takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper.

 

Official site: www.muppets.disney.com