Movie Corner: The Muppet Movie

Read Time:2 Minute, 13 Second

by Candace Salima, Contributor to US Daily Review

Movie: The Muppets
Starring: Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper (and a host of cameos, including an extended cameo by Jack Black)
Director: James Bobin
Rating: PG

There’s nothing like taking a trip back to childhood and an age of innocence I fear is lost in the world today. My 12-year-old niece really wanted to see this movie. As a matter of fact, so did my 31-year-old nephew. Go figure. And yes, they both enjoyed it immensely.

The movie begins with a Muppet born into a human family, and brothers forever watching each other’s backs. Jason Segel plays brother to Walter, a Muppet in Smalltown, USA. The movie begins as a Muppet movie, and stays that way through the whole thing. Once you catch on to that, you can settle in for a delightful ride down memory lane.

Three fans come to Los Angeles to see the abandoned, and famed, Muppet Theater. Walter overhears an evil plot by Tex Richman (played by Chris Cooper) to tear down the Muppet Theater and drill for oil. Gary (Jason Segel), Mary (Amy Adams) and Walter head out to find Kermit and the rest of the Muppets in the hopes of saving the theater.

The gang is found in a variety of arenas, from dead end theaters to the Vogue offices in Paris, France (yeah, you just had to know that’s where they found Miss Piggy.) They reunite for one last show, a Muppet telethon in hopes of raising the $10 million dollars needed to keep the theater out of Tex Richman’s hands.

There are a number of great, and funny, numbers. The usual suspects and the usual Muppet gags. It really comes down to a simple concept: Has the world become too jaded to enjoy the beauty and laughter of The Muppets.

We learned, in the end, that indeed the world can still love something as innocent as The Muppets, good triumphs over evil, and sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you don’t win. That is, unless you realize that family is everything, and the obstacles which come are conquered, if family sticks together. And that’s what the Muppets do, through thick and thin. Stick together until they remember, they are family.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars. It is a very sweet movie that is safe for all ages. It will be particularly enjoyable for children, and nostalgic for adults.

Candace E. Salima is a radio talk show host, author, columnist, and makes her home in the Rocky Mountains. Learn more about her at www.CandaceSalima.com.