"We're doing a sequel, that's what we do in Hollywood, and everybody knows that the sequel's never quite as good" Flight Of The Conchords' Bret McKenzie writes in the opening track of the Muppets newest venture to the silver screen.
Despite it being true that Muppets Most Wanted feels watered down compared to the previous film, that shouldn't take anything away from this one, there's enough joy and humour to make the child and adult in you smile. The basic plot is that after the success of the first film the crew have no idea what to do now, in steps Ricky Gervais playing the superficially charming Dominic Badguy (pronounced bad-gee, it's french) and persuades the gang into doing a world tour much to the dismay of Kermit. SPOILERS though... it's all a clever ruse between Dominic and Constantine, the worlds most dangerous frog who looks exactly like Kermit apart from a villainous mole and a Borat esque accent. Together they hatch a notorious plot to rob the crown jewels which takes them all across Europe with stereotypical hi-jinks along the way.
While this is a Muppet movie it's still nice to see a human element present here, actors playing such caricatured individuals they'd be Muppets themselves if they were made from felt. A personal favourite of mine is Ty Burrel playing French Interpol inspector Jean Pierre Napoleon, a somewhat lazy and inspector Clouseau style partner to Sam Eagle who now works for the CIA. Both are hapless and on the hunt for Constantine and their back and forth is without a doubt the highlight of the movie, it's made all the more funny that Ty Burrel genuinely looks like Sam the Eagle.
Tina Fey also stars as the tough as nails Gulag prison guard Nadya. She rules the Gulag with an iron fist and constantly thwarts a certain green frogs attempts to escape after he is framed through the clever use of green paint and an extra sticky mole. It really isn't easy being green sometimes. It's within these prison scenes we also see a personal highlight of mine and that's Jermaine Clement (the other half of Flight Of The Conchords) along with Danny Trejo (Machete!) Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) and WWE's very own Hornswoggle. These high security prisoners all begin learning a routine for the annual prison talent show, apparently it's that or they riot and Kermit calls on his past experience with the Muppets to whip these cliche tough guys into shape.
We all came to see this for the Muppets however and sadly not all of them get their time to shine, of course Miss Piggy takes center stage throughout most of it in a sub-plot involving her desire to be wed to her beloved Kermie which didn't really pay off in any way. Fozzie, Animal and Walter (remember Jason Segel's little brother from the first one?) gradually crack through the arrogant Constantine's disguise and travel to find the real Kermit as for some reason he's the only frog who can stop him. Really though would it have been too much to ask for more Rowlf the Dog? He is the king of deadpan.
Bret McKenzie does another great job peppering the story with catchy songs you'll be humming to yourself for the rest of the day but none really reach levels of Life's A Happy Song or others from the previous movie, you can legitimately here a Flight Of The Conchords song in a later number however so that was a little bonus.
Slapstick laughs, witty one liners and more songs and cameo's you can shake a rubber chicken at, this one appeals to all audiences. While it's having a hard time getting out of the shadow of it's predecessor Muppets Most Wanted is a great little show to while away the hours.
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