Another totally Muppetational Song About Rainbows

[captainsblog]

Our pilgrimage to the 11:00 church service was relocated, at rather the last minute this morning, to the Maple Ridge Cinema. All three of us, sharing a different but equally holy form of communion, with a group of characters who have meant so much to us over half the grownups' lifetimes and for all of Emily's. And so well done, compared to so many other sequels and reboots we've been tormented with in recent years.  It almost seems necessary these days for studios to trample on the existing characterizations, or catchlines, or songs- all in favor of selling more of the New Stuff in the gift shop and sexing the things up with CGI and action sequences.

Not that they couldn't have done so (see Disney's other multi-movie partnership with Jerry Bruckheimer, passim), but they chose not to. Excellent choice.  It eliminated a lot of the irony in Jim Henson Productions being victimized by their corporate takeover about as brutally as the Muppets were in this story by Richland Oil.  In a way, the loss-of-Muppet-popularity central to this script (exaggerated, I think, but still a truth) made it possible for the Muppets to save themselves from the Mouse.

Lots of fun and unexpected moments throughout, which I shall not spoil. There were just-right balancings of the old material with the new story, plenty of fourth-wall breakage, and songs that fit their moments and their legacy, whether written for this film or reprised from the previous ones.

I was surprised to see who wasn't there: Jerry Nelson, Kevin Clash and especially Frank Oz, who turned out to be essentially retired, committed to other work, or (in Frank's case, according to Emily) just not able to voice the parts anymore. Of course, I knew I wouldn't be seeing the living work of Richard Hunt, or Jerry Juhl, but, especially, of one James Maury Henson, whose wall photo with Kermie early in the film brought father and daughter to the edge of tears.

Where will this lead? Ideally, to a show much like the original. But please, Disney, not a direct-to-video Muppets II: Electric Boogaloo.

Comments

[nentikobe.livejournal.com]

I'm so hopeful.. I love the Muppets, Jim Henson is and always has been a hero of mine. Yours is the third ringing endorsement from a group of people that I know *get* the Muppets... and would be looking for the high standard required.

I hope it comes Down Under soon... this is one I will shell out the money for. ($14 a ticket here, though we usually spend $20 plus a drive to see it in a "gold class" or the IMAX screen an hour away, because the local theater *really* sucks.)