Review of The Great Muppet Caper (1981) by Jon T — 26 Sep 2014

The Muppets' second theatrical offering is strikingly different in tone from predecessor THE MUPPET MOVIE. Although the style of the humor and the title characters' charm is unchanged, THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER is not a road trip movie but a salute to old-fashioned musicals of the '40s.

Every five minutes in the film there are big production numbers with toe-tapping dancing and lavish, lively music. Some may find this approach off-putting and a bit cheesy, but THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER handles it all with charm that it's hard to grumble (unless you're Statler and Waldorf, those two sarcastic tycoons who find something to laugh about).

One particularly spectacular moment involves Miss Piggy imagining herself in a water ballet (yes, WATER ballet). This must have been a very difficult scene to shoot because of the camera angles and the occasional moment where we see the muppet character's full front body and not just as a puppet.

How they pulled it off I will never know, but that's what makes it so staggering. Hilarious, too, because this scene is accompanied by an operatic number sung by Charles Grodin (overdubbed), and toward the end, joined in by Kermit.

At another point in the movie, both Kermit and Miss Piggy break character and get into an argument about the latter's acting abilities ("Piggy, you're overacting. You're hamming it up.

") Such show-stopping moments can cause the momentum to literally grind to a halt, but on the other hand, they serve as pleasant ways to keep the audience involved, because the storyline is basically a predictable "mystery" heist about a diamond thievery in London and Miss Piggy framed for the crime.

Still, that in no way suggests that THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER isn't entertaining. On the contrary. It's still a highly recommended, genuinely funny, always clever entry that Muppet fans of any age or else wise will devour without hesitation.