WORLD TOUR Day 29 - London, England
BEFORE: I'm finally taking this thing global, moving from NYC to London, with Jim Henson, Frank Oz & company carrying over. This was the second film in the Muppet franchise, and last night I watched the third, so I had to sacrifice chronology to make the geography work. Either way, these are still the films made before the franchise ran out of ideas and started co-opting things like "A Christmas Carol" and "The Wizard of Oz", which led to Disney buying the franchise to try and kill it, or at least remove some of the box-office competition. (Yes, I know the party line was that they bought the franchise to keep it alive, but I have my own theories.)
THE PLOT: Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy.
AFTER: This film just seemed really disjointed to me, there were a lot of elements that seemed to be in there for show that added nothing to the plot. For example, the opening sequence with three Muppets in a hot-air balloon. Why? It was just done to kill time during the opening credits, it had nothing to do with the story. Similarly, they upped the ante from "The Muppet Movie", which featured Kermit on a bicycle, by putting the whole Muppet cast on bicycles - so it seemed like the puppeteering technology was really driving the story, rather than the other way around.
Another thing about the credits - the characters were aware of the credit sequence, and at other times during the film, they seemed to be aware of concepts like plot exposition and voice dubbing. Breaking the fourth wall and having characters aware of being in a film is an OK technique when used sparingly, but this was overdoing it. It seemed like it was used as a substitute for actual plot points or genuine responses.
Obviously meant to riff off of classic heist films, the film couldn't even decide whether the jewel robbery should take place before the start of the film, or during the film, so it happened twice. Why would jewel thieves hit the same target twice, knowing that security would be tightened? Oh, because the villain is a villain, and that's what they do. Rubbish - professional jewel thieves are smart, and they only tackle jobs that are possible.
I know, it's a movie for kids, and kids don't care about continuity or logic, they just want to be entertained by the shouty puppets. But sometimes adults have to watch these films with their kids, so is it too much to ask for them to make some kind of sense?
I didn't really care for the songs in this one, most were too simplistic or self-referential, with titles such as, "Hey a Movie!" The sole exception could be the "Happiness Hotel" sequence, describing the finer points of the cheap London flophouse that was the only place the characters could afford to stay in.
Also starring Charles Grodin (last seen in "The Incredible Shrinking Woman"), Diana Rigg (last seen in "Evil Under the Sun"), with cameos from Jack Warden (last seen in "The Verdict"), John Cleese (last heard in "Igor"), Peter Ustinov (also last seen in "Evil Under the Sun"), Robert Morely and Peter Falk (last seen in "Next").
DISTANCE TRAVELED TODAY: 3,462 miles / 5,572 km (New York, NY to London, England)
DISTANCE TRAVELED SO FAR: 9,258 miles / 14,902 km
RATING: 3 out of 10 flashbulbs
I watched this one in the theater, and I remember being rather distraught that the story didn't continue with that of the first Muppet Movie, and that all the characters were playing "roles". The Muppet Show's back stage antics are what gave the characters their personalities, and this movie kind of threw that aspect out. That kind of dulled the appeal of the Muppet series, and then after Jim Henson passed, they started making the Muppet "Wizard of Oz" and "A Christmas Carol", which wasn't a draw for me.
ReplyDeleteI think the new film is better than a lot of what they have done in the past, but as many of the performers have passed away, it does reach the same level that the Muppets did at their peak.