Whether you’re a die hard Muppets fan who stuck with them through their journeys to Treasure Island and into Space, or someone whose association with our furry friends extends to a nostalgic sigh, the news that Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller have a script ready to roll into production under the hand of James Bobin of Flight of the Conchords fame is surely a sign that The Muppets are ready to join us in the twenty-first century.
And now, thanks to the guys at The Playlist, there’s a title and a few more details on what we can expect from the film.
The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time is a typically understated title and the plot involves,
Gary, Mary, and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang — now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from — together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in…A villain, Tex Richman…bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers.
It’s a nice call back to the original show, that the characters exist outside of the show and time has moved on for them too,
Some of the greatest moments from the first two films happened when the Muppets were out in the real world…not necessarily being themselves putting a show together.
The script report goes to say,
it is a fresh, younger approach. Stoller and Segel have fun with the characters, are aware of what made the Muppet early years so great (winks to the audience, friendly musical numbers, single gag repetition, friendship and togetherness being the answer to everything), and hit the mark 65% of the time. We’re hoping the songs (the majority of which were missing from the script) help elevate the script from a harmless Muppet flick to a more memorable one, but there’s more work to be done first.
So, it seems that Segel and Stoller have the right attitude and know exactly what makes The Muppets unique and enjoyable, and you can bet they’ll be a few choice celebrity cameos in the mix (Russell Brand perhaps – doing a duet with Miss Piggy?).
