Drum Solo!

I love the Muppets. Everything about them is usually completely awesome. I wasn't a huge fan of their 2011 Jason Segal outing, but I was very pleased with watching Muppets Most Wanted on Saturday.

I don't actually have too much to say about the movie, though. It was funny and cute and sweet and silly while I was watching it but now, after a remove of only a couple of days, I can't remember too much about the film. I do remember that Ricky Gervais (playing a character with the best shady name and worst super-villain alter-ego ever) was less obnoxious than he usually is. I remember that Tina Fey was wonderful and adorable and the entire Siberian prison was more charming and funny than any depiction of a Siberian prison has a right to be. I remember some great, hilarious, cameos (the best of which are in the same oddly charming prison).

There was maybe a little more emphasis on European stereotypes than I expected, and this was really only funny in respect to Ty Burrell's Jean Pierre Napoleon character - and overall was not as funny as the dick-measuring contest between Jean Pierre and Sam Eagle.

I did enjoy the hell out of the musical numbers, and there were a LOT of them - I actually clapped in delight when the first one started up less than a minute into the film. I'm not usually a fan of musicals because they're so unrealistic and jarring - but when you're in a world of walking and talking Muppets, having them sing and dance doesn't seem odd it seems awesome.

I did NOT, however, like the babies. The babies were creepy as fuck and they were a problem for me and let's please never speak of them again.

Other than the songs, the stereotypes, and the cameos, a lot of time was spent dissecting the dynamics of the motley Muppet crew. We see a lot of Kermit and Miss Piggy and how their relationship looks from the inside, there's a fair amount of exploration into how the Muppet Show manages to function in spite of the sheer insanity that goes into it (the answer, btw, is Kermit - Kermit is the only thing that keeps these fluffy lunatics in any kind of order). We don't see anywhere near enough of The Great Gonzo, though there is much talk of his Indoor Running of the Bulls act throughout the film. There isn't enough of Animal either, but that's made up for by the fact that what we do get of Animal is high quality fuzziness and lots of noise.

DRUM SOLO!
     - Alli