Shadow Reviews #11: The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Instructions

My Review: ⭐⭐⭐ It was slightly difficult to find this film. My parent’s vast DVD collection did not have it, nor was it free on Prime, Tubi, etc. So, after digging through my local library’s movie section, I finally found it and promptly watched it the same night. But for all the hassle, I never found my struggles completely worth it. Don’t get me wrong, The Great Muppet Caper is definitely a Muppet classic and certainly worth a watch and the stars I give it. But the Muppet film series set a high bar to fulfill, and this movie doesn’t quite reach that point. First of all, there was a lot I still liked about The Great Muppet Caper. The humor is very self-referential, and the opening scene had a particular down-to-earth charm and wit that I will certainly remember. It was a creative and genius way to open a movie, with some of this originality being speckled across the rest of the film. It understands that as a sequel, it has a duty to be funny and original, and it exceeds in the former, with some occasional genius in the latter. There’s never a dull moment in the movie. The Muppet characters are funny as always. There’s something charming about Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo being investigative journalists that get fired in scene 2 and then somehow proceed to go to England. It’s very random and the plot pretty much makes no sense – which is indeed the appeal of the film. Miss Piggy’s role felt poorly introduced, but she still played a fantastic part in the movie (specifically her imagined “fountain dance” sequence is the pinnacle of her character). The human characters are pretty good too; Nicky Holiday (played by Charles Grodin) was definitely devoted as an obsessed villain and his “love” for Miss Piggy was both creepy (she’s a pig, he’s a human) and surprisingly zealous, as in Grodin threw himself into the act completely. And any movie with John Cleese is a good movie. In fact, the cameos did well – if not as good as the first Muppets movie – in their brief appearances. But my major problem with the film was that it lacked a real plot. There was a direction in the first act, but as the second act sagged on, it just felt like the film was tossing random events and was hoping it would qualify as “humorous”. Yes, they were humorous and watching the movie is an enjoyable experience. It is not, however, a perfect experience. It cannot make up its mind on what the characters are working towards, and it feels like their development suspends itself until late into the second act. What most disappointed me was that the actual “caper” aspect of the Great Muppet Caper was woefully underwhelming and brisk. Additionally, the self-referential aspect of the film is poorly used in the middle of the movie. In fact, it’s like the movie forgets the opening and then remembers it towards the end. Evidently, the opening was fantastic, but I never think the Great Muppet Caper lives up to its lofty expectations established in this scene. The entire runtime, I wait for the movie to actually pick up speed and start being the film it promises to be. It doesn’t do this until maybe halfway through the second act. It's still worth a watch (really, any Muppets film is worth a watch), you may even enjoy it (I had fun, at least) and its not awful, per se, but the Great Muppet Caper forgets to steal one thing: the heart of the audience. What I watched it on: DVD Other critics: Rotten Tomatoes: 78% Metacritic: 70, "generally favorable reviews"