Flight of the Muppets.

Did you know that The Muppets won an Oscar? Well it did! It was nominated for Best Original Song, and it won! Not that it had much competition, the Academy nominated just two songs for that award…

Regardless of that though I really enjoyed The Muppets, I thought it was funny, witty, and charming and I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like it!

The movie is a bit of a tribute to Jim Henson’s Muppets, produced by the main (human) star Jason Segal of How I Met Your Mother fame. It’s about a young Muppet named Walter who with his human brother Gary (Segal) grows up watching and loving the Muppets show.

While Walter stays the same size, Gary grows up and books a holiday with his long term girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams), who for the purposes of it not being totally weird is a human. This holiday just happens to be to California where the Muppets Studio is situated and Walter ends up tagging along with the lovebirds, much to the displeasure of Mary.

Whilst there the trio find out that the derelict Muppets Studio is to be sold to an oil baron named Tex Richman because it appears the studio is sat right above a massive batch of oil. In order to stop this from happening they must raise $10 million and the only way to do that is to, you’ve guessed it, put on one more show!

So Kermit, Walter, Gary and Mary must round up the rest of the Muppets one by one (with the added help of a montage of course). Fozzie has ended up working with a tribute act called the Moopets, still telling his terrible jokes and living in an alleyway; Animal is hanging out in anger management classes with Jack Black; and Miss Piggy becomes a fashion editor in Paris. Gonzo meanwhile has become a successful businessman manufacturing toilets and has amassed a multi-million dollar empire, eventually he decides to join up with the Muppets and in doing so blows up his entire business. This raises the question, why didn’t he just give Kermit $10 million, or just sell his business? Ah Gonzo, you really are a crazy… whatever you are...

Hilarity naturally ensues throughout. This really is a funny film, whether it be the gags or the brillaint songs that occur throughout. The music plays a big part in the success of this movie, it was mostly done by Bret McKenzie who most people will probably know from the Flight of the Conchords, and it shows. The music certainly has a vibe of New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk band.

The best song is probably one called “Man or a Muppet” where Gary and Walter must decide whether or not they are a man or a Muppet. Tex Richman has his own little rap midway through the movie where he basically goes on about how rich he is, like most rappers do and I defy anyone to watch this movie and not come out with “Life’s a happy song” in their head.

As I mentioned earlier Jack Black is in the movie and several other celebrities also make cameos. There’s Emily Blunt as Miss Piggy’s assistant, Kristen Schaal is Animal’s anger management therapist, Woopi Goldberg comes in to answer phones with Neil Patrick-Harris and Jim Parsons (the guy from the Big Bang Theory) plays a humanised Walter. All of these cameos are great, but Emily Blunt aside it’s hardly A-list material, and I was disappointed that Michael Caine wasn’t in it or something. I just think it’d have been nice if actors from the old Muppet films were somehow involved, but it was not to be. It's also a bit of a shame Rizo the rat is hardly ever in it.

Overall The Muppets is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. I really enjoyed it and spent at least a couple of weeks singing the songs to myself on the train…

Final Verdict: 5 Stars. Waka Waka!