It's Muppets by numbers
Arriving just over two years since Jason Segel's hip, meta modernisation of The Muppets and running for almost two solid hours, Muppets: Most Wanted is a bit like the friend who pops in too often and stays too long.
You're glad they're back but it's too soon between visits and they want to stay for dinner.
Don't get me wrong; I grew up on Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and all the gang since their awesome after-school TV series The Muppet Show. And for the most part, Muppets: Most Wanted plays as a perfectly funny, winsome and charming follow-up that reverts to the Muppets' old staples of sight gags, puns, prop comedy, pop-culture parody (The Seventh Seal gag is a howler) and, of course, singing chickens.
But with TV stars instead of movie stars, a crime caper plot cribbed from a Pink Panther movie, and a much shorter list of surprise cameos, this somewhat tamer Muppet caper plays it safe with a by-the-numbers sequel. As such, it even starts with our fuzzy friends winking at the camera, belting out, "We're Doing a Sequel" and admitting "they're never as good as the original".
Hey, at least they admit it! Yet that opening ditty becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for Muppets: Most Wanted, which is simply a solid, entertaining sequel rather than Segel's savvy refashioning of The Muppets for both old and new audiences.
In this comic caper switcheroo, which picks up right where the last film left off, promoter Dominic Badguy ("It's pronounced Bad-ghee", Ricky Gervais) convinces the Muppets to capitalise on their success and embark on a world tour. Little do they know that Kermit (voiced by Steve Whitmire) has been replaced by Badguy's Russian boss, Constantine (voiced by Matt Vogel), "the world's number one criminal".
The gullible Muppets are easily fooled despite Constantine's thick Russian accent. The real Kermit is sent to a Russian gulag run by the nasty warden Nadya (Tina Fey).
It may be tempting fate to say that the songs - again penned by Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie - are even better than those catchy romps in the original, which included the Oscar- winning Man or Muppet and the even better Life's a Happy Song. But it may just be true. Fey belts out the gulag gambol The Big House with sexy gusto. Modern family's Ty Burrell - as an Inspector Clouseau-style Frenchman - shows some serious pipes with his Interrogation Song.
Even Celine Dion pops up with Miss Piggy for the power ballad Something So Right.
Those songs are both a highlight and a laugh-riot in this less nostalgic yet far nuttier sequel, which has the zany tone of a Pink Panther comedy (which also featured funny disguises) or an Austin Powers caper (which also featured funny mole jokes).
The star-spotting cameos are just as zany but lack the "wow" factor of the original (Danny Trejo - really), while Fey, Burrell and Gervais are so good they actually steal the show from the fluffy real stars. It's a mistake Segel and Adams - sorely absent here - were careful not to make.
As said, any Muppet movie is like reuniting with an old friend. So while Muppets: Most Wanted may not be the genius comeback of the 2011 original, it's a welcome return to the shamelessly, delightfully demented fun of the Muppets of old.
Mahna mahna!
