Muppets Most Wanted

So, I love the Muppets, always have done. I have always loved The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppet Movie grew on me as I got older. Muppets Treasure Island and Muppets Christmas Carol are amazing, although Muppets from Space was a bit of a let down for me.

And then there was The Muppets, a bold gamble relaunching the franchise for a new generation. Some didn't like it, most did; I loved it, as did Hannah. And now our daughter loves the Muppets as well - the memory of sitting on the sofa, watching Elton John being savaged by crocodiles as Arya fell asleep in my arms is one I will always treasure - so naturally we went to see the advance screening of Muppets Most Wanted on Sunday.

I had a great time. The movie has all the usual Muppet energy and fun, loads of great bad jokes and songs and dances. I do have to say that, for my money, it's not as good as The Muppets, but that's not that much of a caveat.

The film begins with the Muppets left alone at the end of the last movie - and, just FYI, you may find the revelation that that heartwarming crowd scene where the Muppets were welcomed by their devoted fans is now, in-universe, written off as peopled entirely by hired extras to be utterly devastating - and segues into the first musical number, the self-deprecating 'We're Doing a Sequel'. We then meet our antagonists, 'tour manager' Dominic and Constantine, the world's most dangerous frog, and the film swiftly carries us into a story of the Muppets' comeback world tour being used as cover for a series of audacious crimes, while Kermit is replaced by Constantine and thrown in a Siberian gulag.

The plot is mostly used to string together a series of set-pieces. It's more substantial than the 'getting the band back together' riff of The Muppets, but there are two things slightly lacking. Jason Siegel's script absolutely crackled with love for the Muppets, and the new film isn't quite willing to go all in in the same way. Also, in the unpredictable manner of musicals, this time Bret Mackenzie hasn't thrown up anything to match The Muppets. 'We're Doing a Sequel' is fun, but pales beside 'Life's a Happy Song' (or 'The Rainbow Connection', 'Hey a Movie', 'Shiver My Timbers' or 'Scrooge', making it perhaps the weakest Muppet opening number of all), and the big show number, 'Something So Right', is no 'Man or Muppet', Celine Dion or no Celine Dion.

That being said, on its own lights there's a lot to like. 'I'm Number One' is a fun villain song, the gulag chorus singing 'The Big House' is both enjoyable and a nice call back to Caper, and the 'Interrogation Song' is much better than it has a right to be, thanks to the energetic byplay between Ty Burrell and Eric Jacobsen as Sam. 'I Can Get You What You Want (Cockatoo in Malibu)' is an oddity, being the most Conchordesque of the songs in the film, and sticking out in much the same way 'I'm Not Crying' did in The Pirates.

There is also the usual parade of cameos, and just as I was too young to get a lot of the cameos in The Muppet Movie the first time around, I think I'm too old to get a lot of them this time. Still, there are plenty of faces I did recognise in between the twelve year olds, and contrary to my fears from the trailers, not everyone in Europe ends up being an American doing an accent.

So, overall, Muppets Most Wanted wasn't the Muppet sequel I wanted, but it was the one that I got and I'm okay with that.