About an hour ago here at Big Screen as the o2 there was a live link up with New York where director James Bobin and Kermit the Frog fielded questions from an expectant and excited crowd.
This was The Muppets and when they appeared on screen there was the biggest cheer from the entire event. Kermit an Bobin were on hilarious form – and you can see my liveblogging which included as much detail as possible, but it was hard to keep up with each new laugh including moments from Fozzie and Piggy.
What was particularly exciting was the new clip that was played – we had no idea this was coming and it was our first real look at the film beyond the trailers (both parody and full versions). Given the love there is for The Muppets there was a lot of expectation for this.
This is a cliche but there was not a dry eye in the house when the lights came up. It WAS The Muppets. The music, the visual invention, the obvious gags done beautifully well, the small details (the 80s robot in the trailers is now revealed to be a robotic servant in Kermit’s mansion called, of course, 80s Robot) and the song – well, that was the one that broke most of the audience.
The plot as far as is important for context is that the Muppet theatre is now run down and set to be demolished unless funds can be raised to save it. Walter, a Muppet who LOVES The Muppets, is aided by James Segel and Amy Adams in finding Kermit and, hopefully, bringing back the gang together for one last show to save the theatre. Once they make it inside Kermit’s house (over the electric fence which features in the trailer) Kermit is initially uncertain about the prospect of a new Muppets show, having not seen the old gang for a long time.
As the idea floats around his head the lights dim and his walk through his enormous, empty house fills with memories and he sings about the friends he hasn’t seen as the pictures on his wall of the glorious Muppet past begin to set off memories, then become part of the song themselves. Fozzie Bear’s painting comes to life and he throws in a typical Fozzie joke, The Swedish Chef then joins in (with subtitles of course) and so the song plays on. There are some visual moments here that were subtle and magical.
That’s the point here. This clip used nostalgia in the best possible way – there was no mawkish sentiment and no lazy reference -if this clip is truly representative of the finished film then James Bobin and his team have made a Muppet movie that is a true Muppet movie. And we are lucky indeed that they have.
