"Muppets Most Wanted" 10 Years Later!

Hard to believe, but The Muppets latest theatrical feature film, Muppets Most Wanted, premiered 10 years ago today.

Below is our review from a decade ago and our thoughts 10 years later. 

 

Having seen it twice, the first a week before officially opening, and the second on a Thursday preview night, with two VERY different audiences.

The first was obvious filled with Muppet fans, and families familiar with the Muppets, the second, was a small group of your average movie goers who seem to have a passing interest with the Muppets, but not a LOVE for them. Both groups seem to enjoy the film and a heard different people laughing a different parts, which is why Muppets Most Wanted works so well, it's got something for everyone.

At first I wasn't a fan of the songs as a whole. I loved "We're Doing a Sequel" from the moment Disney released a preview and the "Interrogation Song" and "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" were standout in the film, but the others were just OK. Then I listened to the soundtrack a few times before seeing the film again and they all just come alive so much more with repeat viewings.

The movie is very funny too and I had a huge smile on my face throughout it , however, I have a few issues with the film that I think may be contributing to it's current hiccup at the box office. First off, it 's definitely a musical, and more "Broadway" then the last film, the jokes seem to more in the beginning of the movie, there's too much time spent with the gulag prisoners, Jermaine Clement, Ray Liota and Danny Trejo, and Hornswoggle may as well have gotten above then title billing they're featured so much, but my second biggest problem is the ending.

Spoiler Alert: The finale is set in the gulag while the Muppets are stuck (badly) to the wall and then pop off (badly) to sing an updated version of "Together Again." First, the produced already referenced this song twice in the previous film, and the "again" joke really only works if the movie kept it's original title "The Muppets Again." Disney marketing realized early on that it was a bad idea to market the film as a blatant attempt of doing the same things over again again. So why didn't someone at Disney stop them from doing this? Even if they sang it as a joke, and got heckled, much like Chris Copper does in the "Life's a Happy Song" encore, it could have worked, but they play it straight and it suffers accordingly. Again on the soundtrack it's fine, but in the movie it just feels very forced, and doesn't fit. They also decided to make a joke about Nadya having a solo in the song before it cut to "The End." The joke would have been funny if it were a running gag through the film. but as it stands Nadya has her own number in the pun filled "The Big House," so it doesn't really make sense, and ends the movie on a "huh?" note.

My problems with the ending don't end there, though. They producers thought it would be a good idea to showcase all the cameo performers again (BADLY) on the wall. They don't add anything and take a lot away. The awful CGI compositing overshadows all the good work done throughout the rest of the film. It may be over used during "I'm Number One", but it's used seamlessly in the roof top climax. Then after "The End" the credits appear over the London skyline (reminiscent of The Muppets take Manhattan), with CGI fireworks (like The Muppets), that turn into many of the most popular characters faces, similar to kaleidoscope ending from Muppets from Space. It's cute, but again the CGI is terrible and is very derivative. Too much "Again" not enough "Most Wanted," The end credit gags are thankfully a step in the right direction and there should have been more of that. Be sure to stay to the very end to see a tribute to Jane Henson and Jerry Nelson and a short Fozzie shout out similar to Animal's from The Muppet Movie.

If the ending is my second biggest problem, what's my first? Well, the first time I saw the film it was proceeded by The Muppets in a audience participation sing-a-long style screening. Even though I've seen The Muppets numerous times, it was during this screening that, thank to Bret McKenzie's cue cards, you could literally see how many "awww" moments there were. In Muppets Most Wanted there isn't a whole lot of them. In fact for all the funny moments, fantastic songs, and amazing production values (save for the CGI), there's very little heart. The move has a coldness that I kept hoping it would redeem at song point, but by the time "Together Again" happens it's too late and feel cheap.

Now, again most reiterate that I liked this movie. It's fun, funny, exciting, has some legit action sequences, amazing puppetry, great songs, and the Muppet performers are once at the top of their game.

If you haven't yet, go see Muppets Most Wanted if you have, go see it again. There's something for everyone, next time, more heart, less bad CGI.

Now our review - 10 years later.

Ten years later, "We're Doing a Sequel", the "Interrogation Song" and "I'll Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)" are all still standouts. 

And I still abhor the finale. The "together again, again" song, the characters on the gulag wall, and the truly terrible CGI fireworks were bad then and have not aged well.

There's still something missing (yes, that's a nod to The Muppets Take Manhattan) but the good news is it seemed like the producers/director agreed. So much so that when the film was released on home video, "The Unnecessarily Extended Edition" was included. 

While  "The Unnecessarily Extended Edition" doesn't fix the ending or terrible CGI, it does add more short moments from characters that otherwise get a little to no other screen time in the theatrical release, and scenes that add context and background to jokes. 

I much prefer the "The Unnecessarily Extended Edition" to the theatrical release. You can read about all the differences here and watch them below. 

Unfortunately, it's not available on Disney+ but you can order it from Amazon.
Note: we are an Amazon partner and funds help support the blog. 

So, if you plan to revisit the film for the anniversary, I highly recommend going the "Unnecessarily Extended" route.

Happy 10th Anniversary, Muppets Most Wanted. Hard to believe it's been 10 years already, but hopefully we won't have to wait another decade for another theatrically released Muppet film.