‘Muppets Most Wanted’ Review: This caper steals the spotlight away from Kermit and the Gang
The opening number in Muppets Most Wanted is “We’re Doing a Sequel” and audience will be quick to hear the line “And everyone knows the sequel’s not quite as good.” Sadly, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as Most Wanted just repeatedly comes up short.
Muppets Most Wanted picks up at “THE END” of The Muppets, literally that is the first gag before the troupe kick off their sequel song, before reliving a journey to Europe, similar to the The Great Muppet Caper.
Ricky Gervais intercepts the lovable band of Muppets as Dominic Badguy to help orchestrate the reasoning behind the trip, which results in the replacement of Kermit the Frog with the ”World’s Most Dangerous Amphibian” – Constantine.
The caper in Most Wanted serves as an adequate means to move the story along. Kermit lands in a Gulag, where we meet Tina Fey’s Broadway loving Russian guard as Ty Burrell’s Inspector teams with Sam the Eagle to solve the “caper.”
Problem number one is there is too much Constantine and discussion of the silly “caper” and lovable characters like Gonzo, Fozzie and Rowlf get lost with minimal screen time. While the film jokes about the first film was about getting back together, the newly added Walter spends too much time in the background and sweet nature isn’t relevant until late into the film.
Cameos have been a great aspect of the Muppets universe, but Most Wanted went too far. Here’s list as I have it (which includes some larger roles): Danny Trejo, Ray Liotta, Christoph Waltz, Lady Gaga, Tony Boneville, Jermaine Clement, Sean Combs, Mackenzie Crook, Celine Dion, Zach Galifianakis, Salma Hayek, Tom Hiddleston, Toby Jones, Frank Langella, James McAvoy, Hugh Bonneville, Chloe Moretz and Josh Groban.
Whew – I’m certain to have left out a few more.
It’s hard being critical of a Muppets film, because Muppets Most Wanted is indeed fun and little ones will certainly enjoy the film, but there are just too many subplots and too much time spent on the caper nonsense and not the Muppets themselves.
Muppets Most Wanted receives 2 stars out of 5.
Parents with kids can add a star for their out loud outbursts of laughter, but there just isn’t enough substance here as the first film offered.
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