DISNEY MUPPETS MOST WANTED (7 out of 10) – Directed by James Bobin, written by James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller; starring Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey, and featuring the voices of Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson and Matt Vogel; rated PG; in general release; running time: 112 minutes.
As refreshingly sweet and clever as 2011’s “Disney The Muppets” was, the musical-comedy wasn’t a completely original creation. In terms of its plot, it was very reminiscent of several earlier, getting/putting-the-band-back-together movies like “The Blues Brothers” (1980) and “Ghostbusters II” (1989) – especially the former.
Keeping that in mind, that must mean that its follow-up – the less-inspired, more gag- and spoof-centric comedy “Disney Muppets Most Wanted” – was clearly inspired by caper comedies like the “Ocean’s” films and the “Pink Panther” movies, right? It certainly has a lot in common with those movies, both in terms of its plotting and its style of humor.
Luckily, it is a lot more like the “Pink Panthers” that starred Peter Sellers than the ones that followed in the wake of his death, particularly the ghastly attempts to re-create those earlier films’ magic with a less-than-inspired Steve Martin in the Sellers role.
Again, “Most Wanted” is not quite as magical as its immediate predecessor, which took home well-deserved Oscar gold for its songs (courtesy New Zealand musician Bret McKenzie, of Flight of the Conchords fame), and which had more than enough universal appeal to win over cynical old fans of Jim Henson’s beloved puppet creations, as well as introduce them to a whole new audience.
And let’s face it, they’ve already done this type of story before, with the earlier cinematic feature “The Great Muppet Caper” (1981), which rivals this movie for laughs and fun moments. Still, it’s hard to come down completely on a movie that makes you smile as this one does at times.
While “The Muppets” focused part of its attention of a pair of human character (played by Jason Segel and Amy Adams), “Most Wanted” instead returns its attentions to its title characters. And as with “The Great Muppet Caper,” there are shenanigans involving identical twins. This time it’s Kermit the Frog (voiced again by longtime Muppets performer Steve Whitmire), rather than Fozzie Bear, who has a doppelganger.
Kermit’s lookalike is Constantine (the voice of Matt Vogel), an international jewel thief who eludes capture by shifting the blame to our unwitting amphibian hero, who has joined the rest of the Muppets on a European comeback tour. (The conniving Constantine evens “removes” his tell-tale mole and slaps it on Kermit’s face.)
The horrified frog protests his innocence to the authorities, including detective Jean Pierre Napoleon (“Modern Family’s” but Ty Burrell), he’s having a hard time convincing anyone human that he’s who he claims to be. Meanwhile, Constantine is acting more than a little suspiciously and he’s having a hard time fitting in with the Muppet troupe. (Animal, in particular, isn’t buying into Constantine’s act.)
Without Segel and Adams as central characters, this film is missing that human element that gave its predecessor some needed warmth and more-relatable presences. To their credit, the “human” co-stars do have their fun with this material, though, especially Ricky Gervais, who’s clearly loving playing a bad guy (he plays Constantine’s henchman),Tina Fey (as a jailer) and Burrell, who clearly studied Sellers’ “Pink Panther” work in preparation for his role.
Co-screenwriter/director James Bobin also crams this one with cameos and bit parts, both credited and uncredited. Among the names: Tony Bennett, “Downton Abbey’s” Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hiddleston, James McAvoy, Lady Gaga, Saoirse Ronan, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Rob Corddry, Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Frank Langella, Celine Dion, Salma Hayek and Christoph Waltz (the latter two playing themselves). It’s a bit of overkill, frankly.
And the tale is more relient on corny wordplay, jokes and puns – some of which are funny, but some of them are so terrible that even Muppets funny man Fozzie Bear would probably give them a half-hearted “wocka wocka wocka” at best. Having musician-turned-actor Usher Raymond play an usher? That’s awful. Just plain awful.
Additionally, the McKenzie-written songs and musical numbers aren’t quite as memorable this time out. “We’re Doing a Sequel,” which features Bennett and Lady Gaga, is nothing special, though “Interrogation Song” (featuring Burrell and Whitmire, as Kermit) is a hoot, and McKenzie’s Conchords co-hort, Jemaine Clement, does sing Boyz II Men’s hit “End of the Road” with Liotta and Trejo.
Jeff Michael Vice can also be heard reviewing films, television programs, comics, books, music and other things as part of The Geek Show Podcast (www.thegeekshowpodcast.com), and can be seen reviewing films as part of Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off (www.facebook.com/BigMovieMouthOff).