If you hate smiling, laughing, giggling, singing, dancing and all around joy, then maybe you should avoid “The Muppets.” However, if you want to smile, spend some time with everyone’s favorite puppets and sing along. Jason Segel finds this joy everywhere in this new addition to the Muppet universe. A well-known Muppet super fan, Segel took great care and reverence in adapting a new Muppets movie, and it shows in every frame.

 

The film follows two brothers, Gary (Segel) and Walter (Peter Linz), who happens to be a Muppet–don’t ask questions, just go with it. Walter joins Gary and his fiancée Mary (Amy Adams) on their trip to Los Angeles, where they fulfill one of Walter’s dreams and visit the Muppet Studios in Hollywood. They soon discover that the studio is run down and all but abandoned. Even worse, Walter uncovers a plot by the evilly named oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to buy the Muppet Studios and drill for oil. Gary, Walter and Mary take it upon themselves to reunite the Muppet gang and help them raise the money to rescue the studio.

 

The fun begins as the gang slowly begins to come back together. We start to see a disillusioned Kermit, a rock-bottom Fozzie Bear and a successful-but-forlorn Miss Piggy out in the real world. Once together, they must figure out how to raise the money to stop Tex Richman from buying the studio. Fortunately, the Muppets begin performing again, and the movie comes full circle. The largest hurdle they face in trying to raise money is obsolescence–no one cares about the Muppets any more. Perhaps it is true that our society has left the Muppets behind, but with this movie about nostalgia and a respect for the entertainment that formed our personalities during childhood, the Muppets are truly back.

 

Each scene is filled with a wealth of small pleasures and delights. All of the characters are acutely aware that they are in a Muppet movie, which leads to a series of in-jokes and references that are refreshing and fun. There is also a string of cameos that are enjoyable if only to see Jack Black get kidnapped by Muppets. However, the movie’s standouts are definitely the toe-tapping songs. Equal parts catchy and playful, the slate of original songs and throwbacks to old favorites are bubbly and fun diversions that enliven each scene. Adams and Segel get sidelined to let the Muppets shine as the real stars, who perform so sincerely in each song that it’s hard not to be entirely enthralled by them.

 

While it is definitely a movie for kids, it is not a kiddie movie. “The Muppets” proves that there is room in the world for a movie with both complex themes and poignant messages, but also puppets wearing fart shoes.