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The Muppets

Directed by James Bobin
Cast: Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper

The Muppets are back and the makers of their new film have done them proud. Writers Jason Segel (who also stars) and Nicholas Stoller have come up with a nifty way back into the Muppet world that retains their silly humour and idealistic spirit.

The tv shows were screened from 1976 to 1981 and regularly drew 14 million viewers in Britain alone. There was a series of films, of diminishing story quality, but the last time the late Jim Henson's creations were seen was in 1999 in Muppets From Space which went straight to dvd.

The long absence has given the writers a reason to answer the question of where Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and the rest of the crew have been in the interim. They have also given the film a new Muppet character, Walter, whose search for his place in life anchors the crazy going-ons.

Walter (performed by Peter Linz) and Gary (Segel) are brothers who share a love of The Muppets. When Gary decides to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his engagement to Mary (Amy Adams) by taking a trip to Los Angeles, he invites Walter along so they can visit the rundown Muppet Studios. Once there, they discover that an evil businessman (Chris Cooper in a beautifully judged performance) plans to demolish the site and drill for oil underneath.

Walter and Gary can only prevent this by raising 10 million dollars to buy back the site and they decide to persuade Kermit and the others out of retirement to do a big telethon.

The first half of the film is nearly perfect. Walter's search and Mary's frustration at Gary's lack of interest in getting married are quickly established, while the search for The Muppet team brings such hilarious scenes as Miss Piggy as the plus-size editor of Paris Vogue and drummer Animal on an anger management course.

The film's inspirational tone lags a bit in its second half, probably because there are too many characters juggling for position. But fans will be delighted by even a glimpse of such characters as the Swedish Chef and Sam the Eagle.

Without the original voices of Henson (Kermit) and Frank Oz (Miss Piggy and Fozzie), it does take a few minutes to adjust your hearing, but the new performers are close enough to carry the characters through this delightful, charming and warm slice of nostalgia.

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