Published at: http://thetooth.co.uk/review/the-muppets/

5/5

Muppet fans: let us be thankful. It’s like the Muppet God came down and blessed us with his big felt hands. This is a day to rejoice. And rejoice we shall, by watching The Muppets several times and then buying all the merchandise. Plus we all really need to be thanking Mr Jason Segel for making this whole thing happen in the first place. We should meet up and build him a marble palace. Or alternatively just throw him a party with some cake and steak sandwiches or something. I mean honestly, Muppet fans should be so incredibly happy this movie just got made in the first case and that it doesn’t suck. You know what the last film the Muppets did was? The Muppet’s Wizard of Oz in 2005. Did you see that too? Did it not feel a little like having your soul punched in the face? I can tell you now it certainly ruined Christmas for me that year.

But this, this movie, it’s so intensely wonderful. You just have to look at Segel’s expressions throughout this film, like a man about to have a breakdown from the intensity of joy he’s experiencing just being around the Muppets, to realise what thought and care and love has been put into this production. This is going to be the movie you watch every time you’re down with the flu, or its stormy outside, or that cute guy you’re really into turned out to be a huge fan of foxy boxing and you might have maybe competed and need to now regain your innocence.

It’s got everything you need from the perfect comfort film: songs that’ll put a little pep into your step, all written by Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords. ‘Me Party’ now gives my eternal loneliness a banging soundtrack. The jokes are just downright hilarious (Fozzie Bear has fart shoes, come on people, what more do you want?) and the celebrity cameos are some of the cleverest I’ve seen for a while (Walter the puppet’s human alter-ego is…just yes). And most important of all, it’s classic. Instead of fiddling around with adaptations of classic literature (or heaven forbid if they tried to “re-imagine” it…barf),  we’ve just gone back to the basics: the Muppets reuniting to save their studio. It’s a formula so good I once dreamt it. But it was a really disturbing version set in a post-Apocalyptic world where having fun was banned and I cried most of the time.

Granted, so they added a new vaguely annoying Muppet called Walter who’s just too earnest for everyone’s own good and takes up precious screen time from the other Muppets, meaning new-generation Muppets (and some of my personal favourites) Pepe the King Prawn and Rizzo the Rat are almost completely sidelined. But I’m being too picky. Again let me remind you of this whole “look how lucky we are” situation. The Muppets are back! Now let’s all cross our fingers and hope for the return of the Muppet Show. Please?

I decided it was “me time.” So I sat down with a book my daughter received as a gift for Christmas. The book appealed to me. It offered lots of white space for a quick read, and I knew it wouldn’t tax my tired brain. The book in hand was It’s Hard Out Here For A Shrimp by Pepe the King Prawn.

Let it be known, our family is crazy for Muppets, okay. During the Christmas holiday, we watched Muppets from Space, and on Christmas night, we all fell asleep watching The Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s a tradition – not to fall asleep during the movie, but to watch the Muppets. So reading Pepe the King Prawn’s book was a welcome escape, okay.

Kermit the Frog’s introduction put a smile on my face, and Pepe’s forward started me laughing. Giggles and snorts followed as I read page after page of Pepe’s thoughts and advice on life, love, and living large. This book is irreverently funny, but so on target, okay. My laughter caught the attention of my family. Perhaps they were wondering if I had finally gone off the deep end. Then I started sharing some of Pepe’s words of wisdom with them, and they knew.

Pepe’s thoughts on families:

My family embarrasses me,

makes me mad,

and drives me crazy.

That’s how I know they’re my family.

This is a great book to take your mind off the things that really don’t matter – like picking up dog poop from the yard when it’s twenty-three degrees. I suggest you put this book on your to read list for the New Year, okay.

(Just in case you didn’t know, Pepe often adds okay after he says something, okay.)

“We are just really happy to be on Hollywood Boulevard today, joining some of the greatest names in show biz,” Kermit the Frog, who actually already has an individual star, told the assembled crowd.

The Muppets are not the first fictional character or group of characters to receive a star.  They join Big Bird, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Godzilla, Mickey Mouse, the Rugrats, Shrek, the Simpsons, Snow White, Tinker Bell, Winnie-the-Pooh and Woody Woodpecker.

Joining Kermit and Missy Piggy for today’s induction ceremony were Fozzie, Gonzo, Animal, Pepe the King Prawn and Walter, the newest addition to the group. Representing for the humans were Lisa Henson, eldest daughter of Muppet creator Jim Henson, whose star is located nearby, and Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross.

We start in the Oceaneer Lab.  Here are photos of these areas on the new Disney Fantasy which will set sail on her Maiden Voyage on March 31, 2012.

Next we moved into the Oceaneer Club.

Finally we moved to It’s a Small World Nursery.  Here is where your children under three (and those who are not potty trained) will be.  There is a charge for the nursery and reservations can be made in advance.

Where will you find this room?

Because we all need a little giggle on Friday.

Muppets From Space came out in 1999, and despite being 25 I did contemplate seeing it at the cinema. If I was as obsessive then as I am now, I probably would have done. But then, the Muppets were on the way down, not bathed in the warm glow of nostalgia that surrounds them today. (That glow had surrounded them at the start of Muppets Tonight three years earlier; then people actually saw the show.) The ingredients were all there: it was co-written by Jerry Juhl, long time Muppet writer who’d worked on the show, as well as the Caper, Christmas Carol and Treasure Island films and other Muppet projects like Fraggle Rock, and was directed by Tim Hill, who’s written more episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants than anyone except the show’s creator. (He has gone onto make Alvin And The Chipmunks and Hop, which maybe explains something).

But it’s just not right. While it follows the formula, with all of the formula elements in place, and a mixture of Muppets from pretty much every era, the need to explain Gonzo’s back story, and make him an alien rather than a whatever, detracts from the character. At only one hour and eighteen minutes before the credits roll, it’s also far too short. It’s undoubtedly an acquired taste; somehow attempting to describe it doesn’t feel as if I could do it justice, so here’s eight screen shots taken from the movie itself.

Make of them what you will.

The Electric Mayhem on their way to cover a barmitzvah.

Some sort of intelligent space fish. I think.

A rat and a prawn. In a jacuzzi. Why isn't the prawn COOKED by now?!

Miss Piggy. Being REPEATEDLY PUNCHED IN THE FACE. Admittedly doesn't work well as a still frame.

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. And a rat's ass. Yes, it's the Spot The Difference competition.

Gonzo. Talking to a sandwich. Which is talking back. But of course.

The prawn from earlier, now in a tutu. Whatever.

Ray Liotta. Waving goodbye to his dignity. Again.

Next time: Not quite The Muppets. Before the film itself, I’ll be running down my favourite Muppets, from every different version of TV, film and whatever the hell this was. Then The Muppets.

For the entire Tournament of Muppets bracket, click here

Gotta love Pepe’ the King Prawn (okay).

Tikka tikka tikka,

-Shady

6.  Pepe The King Prawn.

Pepe first appeared on the show “Muppets Tonight” in 1996.  Since then, he’s been used in television, commercials, and for other promotional purposes.  Since then, he has definitely worked his way into my top 3 Muppets (everyone should have that list worked out…just in case).  Pepe works as a comedic character for several reasons:

-He’s a Muppet (funny looking)

Not a shrimp!

-He speaks with a Spanish accent (funny sounding)

-He has verrrry limited hubris (funny acting)

It’s clear that the Muppeteer that operates Pepe is a gifted improviser.  Bill Baretta’s performance is heavily influenced, apparently, by his thickly accented mother-in-law.  Most sentences are concluded with ‘OK’?  As in, “I’m going to buy this cauliflower OK?  I don’t have enough money so you give me some, OK?”  My typing really doesn’t do it justice, so you’ll have to watch some of the clips at the end of this blog entry.

Most often, Pepe is depicted as an unsuccessful Lothario.  Whether he succeeds or not in charming the girl matters very little to him as his high self-opinion will remain the same.  He’s also a highly motivated Hollywood social climber.  He’s given celebrity interviews on the red carpet and reviewed DVDs for the award winning web show “Statler and Waldorf: From The Balcony”.  I’m dying to see his interview with Jodie Foster, so if anyone knows of any good links, please share!

The first time I saw Pepe was opposite the magnificent Joan Cusack in A Very Merry Muppet Christmas.  She was playing a sadistic banker and developer, Rachel Bitterman, who Pepe, seduced by her wiles, temporarily works for.

He calls her ‘sexy banker lady’ and ‘bitter-buns’.  Anybody that can stand up (or be propped up with sticks) next to Joan Cusack and get laughs deserves some credit.  Cuz that lady, she is funny!

With Jason Segal (writer and star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall) penning the next Muppet movie, there is definitely some future Pepe potential.  I really hope that he recognizes Pepe’s value and utilizes him for some of the action.  Being a fan of the old school, I also hope to see some Lew Zealand and Swedish Chef, but Pepino Rodrigo Serrano Gonzales definitely deserves to make the cut.

The clip below is a fairly long montage of Pepe at his best, but it’s worth watching if you have the time–even just for the first few minutes to get the general gist of what I’ve really failed to describe.