Review of Muppets Most Wanted (2014) by Patrick L — 12 May 2014

"It isn't a great caper, but "Most Wanted" is another great edition to the Muppet franchise".

Movie Review: Muppets Most Wanted.

Date Viewed: March 22 2014.

Directed By James Bobin (The Muppets).

Written By James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller.

Starring: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Walter, The Great Gonzo, The Swedish Chef, Animal, Sam the Eagle, Ty Burrell, Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey.

The wall-to-wall gags, the musical numbers and the celebrity cameos, could it be... Yep, the Muppets are back. The latest installment named "Most Wanted" is another great edition to the Muppet franchise. Sure, it is a baby step back from the 2011 reboot starring Jason Segel, but "Muppets Most Wanted" has just enough laughs and entertaining musical numbers to keep it afloat.

"Most Wanted" begins where "The Muppets" left off as the Muppets start thinking about what to do next, how hilarious, they start singing about making a sequel and Kermit is given advice by a tour manager named Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais) who suggests that the Muppets should start a world tour. At the same time, the world's most dangerous criminal Constantine has escaped from prison. Who is Constantine? He is a green frog who looks exactly like Kermit only with a right mole on his cheek.

When the Muppets arrive in Berlin, Constantine confronts Kermit and then puts a fake mole on his right cheek to make him look like Constantine. Kermit is arrested and he gets thrown into the Russian Gulag where he has taken Constantine's place but Kermit insists that he is not Constantine. While Kermit is in prison, Constantine (disguised as Kermit) tells the Muppets to do whatever you want to do on their tour. All the Muppets believe Constantine is Kermit except for Animal. While the shows continue to do well thanks to large audiences and rave reviews, Constantine and Dominic Badguy steal several artifacts from various museums in order to find instructions to steal the crown jewels in London. Kermit tries to escape the Gulag but each attempt gets thwarted by prison guard Nadya (Tina Fey).

With the recent criminal activities going on across Europe, Sam the Eagle (now a CIA agent) works with Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon (Ty Burrell) to investigate this mysterious case and apprehend the suspect.

Walter discovers that Dominic was paying critics to write positive reviews and he and Fozzie Bear discover that Kermit is not actually Kermit. He was Constantine in disguise all along and Walter, Fozzie Bear and Animal runaway from their tour to find Kermit and stop Constantine.

All of this is pretty much what you expect in a Muppet movie but director and co-writer James Bobin (The Muppets) keeps things moving along by keeping it breezy and massively entertaining throughout. As expected, "Muppets Most Wanted" is loaded with celebrity cameos, some of them include Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Hugh Bonneville, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Frank Langella, Josh Groban, Christoph Waltz, Stanley Tucci and Celine Dion as Miss Piggy's Fairy Godmother? It may not be great but "Muppets Most Wanted" is enjoyable family fare, far better than "The Nut Job".