THE MUPPETS (2011)

Nice -- been meaning to catch it.

i m going to watch the segal film tomorrow with mk2 as he really wants to see the new one during the easter holidays.

genuinely excited, when the muppet film was out neither of the boys wanted to see it, so i got voted out.

cant wait.

Eh, new movie has its moments. Like, two or three, in passing, plus the occasion meta joke. It's mostly passable, and Gervais and Fey are better-fit humans than Chris Cooper in the last one. My 6.5 year old turned to me halfway through and said she liked the other one better.

As some critic put it, it's remarkable how the same team behind the last one, minus Segal, could make a movie so tonally different.

Thinking back, I really have no fond movies of the 2011 one. This one has, at the very very least, "Good-night, Danny Trejo."

My fave joke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci9gPZnqiGY#t=70

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci9gPZnqiGY#t=70

I tried to get through the first (Segel) one the other day but no dice. I guess just nostalgia, old, etc. and I couldn't get with the changes. Plus Segel and Adams annoyed me.

I saw this last night. There was a park movie screening and I thought it was going to be the old Muppets movie but we decided to stay and watch this anyways. It was enjoyable! I can see how the emo muppet and that whole plot thread could get grating, but the muppets themselves were a RIOT and there were many LOL parts. Great uyse of Jack Black. Amy Adams is adorable and awesome. Jason Segel is ok, some emo dude, whatever. But that "Am I A Muppet Or a Man?" song was hilarious and rightfully poked fun at that whole thread. Oh, and barbershop "Teen Spirit" definitely the only Nirvana-related thing in 20 years Kurt should've seen.

Watched Muppets Most Wanted the other night, highly amusing beyond my expectations. Some really really good jokes.

Also easily the most I've enjoyed Gervais since The Office.

did that bomb or what? I feel like no one had anything to say about it

Yeah I wasn't even aware of its existence till my flatmate suggested watching it.

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm

Its $50M seemed respectable until I noticed a) its production budget was $50M, and b) it ranks below God's Not Dead, Son of God and Heaven is For Real.

with small kids I would've thought some other parents would have mentioned it to me but it's never come up once

I'll probably still watch it though.

I saw it three times in the cinema fwiw

I think Muppets Most Wanted is easily the best Muppet flick since the first one. All the kids round here love it too.

that's some p high Muppets praise. iirc around here people's favorite muppet movie is actually (rather inexplicably imo) the third one

Second one's where it's at. Third...meh.

1st, 2nd, 3rd are all fine. As is this newest one.

Forced to choose, I think Caper is the best tho.

So funny, so entertaining. It might be the Muppets at their peak, imo.

And it has the best songs, too.

my memory is caper is best but i haven't seen it since it was in theaters.

i have to admit to liking muppets take manhattan

my fave

Muppets Most Wanted > The Muppets

v solid, tons of great gags, good songs, good villains, cameos funny and not in the way

Muppets Most Wanted > The Muppets

Yup. I can't even fathom not feeling this way.

I get why the studio felt they had to lean so heavily on Segel (and good on him for even pushing to get the movie made) but it felt better to have the Muppets actually be the center of everything in the film instead of Segel and his Muppet stand-in and his girlfriend etc. Humans should always be incidental/secondary.

baffled that Muppets Most Wanted is considered a flop - I liked it more than the Segel one and seemed like a bunch of kids saw it

I see I am repeating myself

Yeah, it made money and was an incredibly better film ... but the cool kids shrugged it off so what are you gonna do.

I was just reading a thing yesterday about how Disney considers Age of Ultron (the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time) a relative flop. So who even knows what 'flop' means anymore.

most wanted is really good - totally absurd in the best way

really hope they can successfully carry that into the upcoming new tv show

lolwut disney are you insane xp

I would guess that at least part of the rationale is that three of the six highest-grossing movies of all time were released this summer, and the other two outperformed AoU. You all have enormous dicks, there's no need to fret over a centimeter.

NYC subway ads for Muppet TV show are all salaciously adult-aimed, kinda depressing tbqh

they always treaded a fine line, but yeah disappointing when they don't do it well

Yeah, I don't have a lot of time for post-Henson Muppet stuff. Something always feels off.

there was some piece about this new show pointing out how damaged the brand got over the years with the aggressive marketing exclusively to small children, shitty cheaply made low-concept "Muppets do ____" projects, etc. and now they're swinging the other way to try and be hip/adult... yeah idk. I'll give this show a try but I'm a little skeptical. Without Henson at the helm it really is just another property at the mercy of corporate perogatives and poorly thought out one-offs.

I get why they continue using the tried-and-true characters, but in a way they aren't as much characters as they are extensions of their original performers. I'd honestly prefer to see the newer performers develop their own characters and bring them to the fore.

but presold is where the biggest bucks come in. that's why Disney grabbed Star Wars too, just as the old stars were ready to hobble back into action.

^^^

I'd honestly prefer to see the newer performers develop their own characters and bring them to the fore.

Segel's muppet analogue was such a non-entity

Yeah, that thing was stupid. Pepe is probably the best character of the post-Henson era, though, and I think that's precisely because he was built from the ground up rather than being stuck on someone else's arm after thirty years. Gonzo is the only one of the old crew that still has any life in him because Dave Goelz is still doing the work. And don't get me started on the increasingly-sleek designs that continually chisel away the visual quirks of the characters.

Like I said, though, I get it. Recognizable IP = $$$. But still.

it is weird/sad to me that Oz is no longer involved

I don't know if he's ever made a public statement about his disengagement, but he's getting up there in years and I know it takes a physical toll, so I get it.

iirc they tried to get him for the reboot and he refused/had issues (I know he objected to Fozzie doing a fart joke)

but he was involved as recently as Muppets in Space, and he still did fucking Yoda so...

Oz just did the voice for Yoda this time around, and Muppets From Space was made >15 years ago. It probably would also suck to return to a thing you used to do with friends who are pretty much all dead now.

Look, at the end of the day Muppets Most Wanted proved that they could still do right by old school Muppets style.