Movies

There's plenty of people who remember the Muppets with fondness, but haven't thought about them much since childhood. So it's a bit like reuniting with an old friend to see them again in their first big-screen outing in years, The Muppets.

Leading man Jason Segel, who also co-wrote the screenplay, throws himself at the film with charming energy. He plays Gary, a smalltown American whose brother Walter (performed by Peter Linz), is a muppet; not one of the Muppets, though he's been obsessed with their TV show for years.

Gary and Walter travel to Los Angeles to visit the famed Muppet Theatre with Gary's girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams). She's hoping for a marriage proposal but her relationship with Gary is stuck firmly in platonic territory, thanks to his attachment to his muppet brother.

Arriving in LA, the trio discovers the Theatre has become a derelict wreck, slated for demolition by evil oil baron Tex Richman. Gary tracks down Kermit, a recluse since his separation from Miss Piggy, and convinces him to reunite the Muppets and put on one last show to save the Theatre.

This movie is really, actually funny, and it'll give you the warm and fuzzies — warm and Fozzies? — to reacquaint yourself with Kermit and Piggy and Gonzo and their comrades. The Muppets' biggest achievement is the nostalgia it arouses.

But that's maybe its biggest problem, too: this film wants to make the Muppets relevant again, but it attempts to do so by reminding us that the Muppets used to be relevant, instead of convincing new audiences why they're relevant now.

But it's not like you'll leave with the sense that they'll never regain their place in pop culture. It won't be a shock if the Muppets return to TV with a new variety series in the next couple of years, where they might really shine.