Mesmerisation with the Muppets continues

Muppets Most Wanted
English (U)¬¬¬
Director: James Bobin
Cast: Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey and voices of Matt Vogel, Steve Whitmire and others

The Muppets are a set of puppet characters created in 1955 by Jim Henson and which were successfully made into seven films, apart from multiple television series.

Muppets Most Wanted, which is the eighth film, is a sequel to the 2011 super hit The Muppets. The characters got a shot in the arm with Disney’s muscle and The Muppets went on to win a Grammy as well. Not surprisingly, expectations for a sequel are sky-high.

Although MMW is a funny caper which is sure to keep both young and old amused, and music that one won’t forget so easily, it fails to live up to its predecessor. In Muppets Most Wanted, the troupe plans to capitalise on their fame and teams up with a sleazy tour manager Dominic Bad Guy (Gervais) who is a henchman for Constantine (Vogel), a Russian frog that escapes from prison and who resembles Kermit (Whitmire).

Bad Guy and Constantine conspire to take the Muppets across Europe and perform roadshows and commit several high-profile robberies under cover after sending Kermit to a Siberian gulag.

The Muppets have bewitched us for five decades without the use of CGI or 3D, as we patiently watch them deliver one-liners in the midst of slow paces, interrupted by a celebrity cameo.

MMW follows the trajectory, with Salma Hayek, Celine Dion, Sean Combs, Lady Gaga and several guest stars, some who appear as themselves.

The Muppet world is distinct with strange characters and what adds to some wonderful scenes is the pairing of muppets and humans. So, we see Nadya (Fey), a gulag warden who develops a soft corner for Kermit and is keen to discover his true identity; the sinister pairing of Bad Guy and Constantine and the funniest and the
 best – Sam The Eagle, a patriotic Muppet and Napoleon (Burrell), a French Interpol agent.

Muppets Most Wanted is worth a watch if one overlooks comparing it with its predecessor.