Review: “The Muppets”

“The Muppets”

DIRECTED BY: James Bobin

STARRING: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, lots of cameos

RATINGS: PG

SHOWING: Area Theaters

In this day and age, a new Muppets movie seems dicey. Since the box office fiasco that was 1999’s “Muppets from Space,” it seemed like the once universally adored franchise had run its course. They’d become relics of a bygone era, has-been puppets too campy and outdated for a society that was becoming enthralled with Pixar’s latest creations.

But may the post-modern world be damned: The Muppets sit deep within society’s cultural conscience, and following a 12-year absence, Jim Henson’s wide-mouthed creations make their 21st century debut in the Disney-produced “The Muppets.”

Directed by Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin and co-written by Judd Apatow’s disciple Jason Segel and screenwriter Nicholas Stoller (“Get Him to the Greek,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), “The Muppets” is a worthy reboot, balancing classic Henson tropes with Age-of-Irony zaniness.

Set in present day, the Muppet Theater has just been purchased by an explicitly maniacal Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), who plans on demolishing the theater in order to drill for — yeah, you guessed it — oil. When diehard Muppet fan Walter (a fellow Muppet performed by Peter Linz) overhears Richman discussing his ulterior motives, he convinces his brother Gary (Segel) and Kermit the Frog to reunite the old crew to try and raise $10 million in order to save the theater.

While Segel is flanked by Hollywood young bloods like Amy Adams, who plays his neglected longtime girlfriend Mary, and Rashida Jones, the sly network executive who initially dismisses the Muppets as irrelevant, the film attempts to pull at the franchise’s roots with the crew scrambling to throw a live telethon at the last minute.

Rife with plenty of gratuitous nostalgia and hilariously absurd digressions, Segel and Stoller’s script captures the signature screwball humor of the Muppets while lining it with a touch of post-modern snark. The comedy also manages to run the generational gamut, bouncing between effectively cheesy to downright whacky.

Of course, even the most casual Muppet fans know no installment is complete without the musical numbers. But unlike some if its more successful predecessors, “The Muppets” delivers a few too many forgettable jingles. In a performance that ends up being wholly unremarkable, Adams flounders in her song with Ms. Piggy and there’s even a poorly timed rap verse delivered by Chris Cooper that’s, depending on the generation, likely to leave the moviegoers either uncomfortable or just bewildered.

A stellar rendition of “Rainbow Connection” boasts some redeeming value and Segel steals the show in his existential ballad with Walter entitled “Man or Muppet?” But as a whole, the film underwhelms musically.

“The Muppets” is an installment of a different breed. In place of veterans, like voice actor Frank Oz (Piggy, Fozzie) — who refused to do the film after reading the script — are a crew of young faces that most likely grew up watching Henson’s productions. But in spite of its flaws, “The Muppets” should provide plenty of early holiday relief for the young, old and almost everyone in between.

2 and a half stars out of 4