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The Muppets are making a comeback. Disney’s successfully integrated them into the parks, but now, backed by their new owner, they’re soon to make a hopefully triumphant return to the big screen.
I mentioned their upcoming film in my Muppet article back in January, but now New York Magazine has some details about the film. Tentatively titled “The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever,” (I’m sensing tongue-in-cheek humor with the title) the script sounds like a return to the classic Muppet movie formula.
It tells the story of lifelong friends Gary and Walter (the latter of whom happens to be a Muppet) and Gary’s girlfriend Mary banding together to persuade The Muppets out of retirement. Villain Tex Richman wants to demolish the old Muppet television studio to drill for oil underneath it, and The Muppets will need to perform a spectacular show netting 10 million viewers in order to save it.
This sounds a lot like a return to form for The Muppets, and based on scriptwriter Jason Segel’s work on “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” I feel safe in my cautious optimism. I’ve talked before about how the movie, which does feature content too raunchy for a family audience, stands out for its puppet Dracula musical scenes.
The playfulness of those scenes shines with Segel’s enthusiasm for The Muppets and makes me feel confident that at least one of the scriptwriters has their spirit down pat. We won’t know whether or not that can be sustained through a feature-length film until the movie’s release, still in the somewhat distant future (it’s supposed to start filming next summer).
Also worth noting is that the version of the script reported by New York Magazine is dated October 2009. Who knows what changes may have been made since then, or will be made in the future. Still, given that I haven’t heard anything about the script being completely rewritten (and usually news like that makes the rounds), I’m going to assume that the basic plot structure will stay the same.
Between that, music written by Segel (which I also have faith in based on the Dracula musical), and direction by the co-creator of the fantastically and hilariously dry “Flight of the Conchords” HBO show (replacing Nick Stoller, the previously named director), I’m feeling more on the optimistic side of my cautious optimism.
Even if the movie ends up not working out, The Muppets have cemented their comeback through their Internet success. Given that they previously conquered both television and film, it only makes sense that The Muppets would do the same with the Internet.
The Muppet Channel on YouTube periodically produces fantastic shorts, usually musical, that have even garnered them some web awards. So even if The Muppets don’t storm the box office with their latest movie, they’ve already gained a new audience and relevance to the next generation. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next, especially with the nearly unlimited resources of the Walt Disney Company behind them.
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*(This image by Garrette is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)