Maniacal Laugh Maniacal laugh

Last weekend wasn’t a very good weekend. A few things went wrong, I hadn’t slept, and on top of that I was verbally accosted by a crazy person who very loudly said I was a monkey and should go back in the trees (that may seem tame but when you know he had just called me the n-word, his statement was littered with f-bombs and he threatened the kick my face in it makes it a little worse) . And that all happened on Saturday night. When I got home from an aggravating but relatively lack luster evening I bunkered down for another sleepless night hoping the next day would be a bit better.

Sadly when I got out of bed it was another dreary day. The sky was overcast with only a semblance of light penetrating the clouds. Rain was falling, the wind was howling and it was only about 4 degrees. Needless to say this was not the kind of day that get oneself out of a funk. I had plans with friends that I almost canceled but I knew staying in would not do me any favours. I sucked it up, got ready and braced myself for the weather outside. I am glad I did or else I would not have had the pleasure of enjoying the absolutely delightful movie The Muppets.

I am not going to tell you what this movie is about because I think that would take away from the wonderfulness that is The Muppets. But if you want to cheat you can always look it up on IMDB or something even though I think that would spoil it.

I will say though that Jason Segal wrote a movie that pays true homage to Muppets; their intelligence, morality, and of course humour. For people who grew up with the Muppets (which was 90% of our audience) it is pure nostalgia. That rich thick sauce that gets all over you and makes you smile. For others it is the perfect introduction to the franchise that makes them beg for toys and old tapes.

The acting was perfect for this movie. It was excessive and outlandish matching perfectly with the head shaking and arm flailing of the muppets. It just worked together. Jason Segal’s goofy expressions, Amy Adam’s big eyes, even Chris Cooper with his badder than bad bad guy was just wickedly fantastic. There are also tons of cameos that include Jack Black, Fiest, Alan Arkin, Donald Glover, Rashida Jones, NPH, Ken Jeong, Jim Parsons, Dave Ghrol, and the list goes on.

And then there are the songs. They were written and composed by Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords. These songs show what a talent this guy has. They are fun, memorable and catchy. I have to share some of them with you. Don’t worry it won’t give anything away.

Life’s A Happy Song

My friend and I had this song stuck in our heads for a while after we finished watching the movie. Every time we would stop talking we would begin to hum or mumble to words.

Me Party

This song if you think about it is kind of sad but that disco beat really makes you feel like moving.

Man or Muppet

My personal favourite from the movie (and a lot of people would agree with me on this one). Just the intense drama to it and the scene in the movie is just hilarious!

Let’s talk about me

Chris Cooper in his meanness and evil scheming bursts into this song in the movie. It was so sudden, abrupt and unbelieveable I just had to include it.

And in the movie they brought back a classic and I have to say I don’t cry at movies but when Kermit starts in on “Rainbow Connection” I got all misty eyed. I started swaying to the song, so did my friends and most of the audience, even people on screen were swaying. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously AWESOME!

I walked into The Muppets not knowing the overall story but I, like most people with a television or internet connection or eyes, had been bombarded by parody trailers, short teaser clips, posters and music from the “Green Album”. All this over exposure actually diminished my want to see this film; it seemed like they were over compensating for a possibly not so great product. But I was wrong and incredibly happy that I was.

I loved this movie. It is well scripted, acted, and the final product as a whole is simply wonderful. I am not sure why more people haven’t seen this movie it is an absolute delight, even Statler and Waldorf would agree.

The Muppets made my day, no my weekend. It will make yours too.

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