THE MUPPETS – The Blu Review

“It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights… It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight!”

The Muppets are back and on another one of their zany adventures! On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, his brother Gary (Jason Segel) and Gary’s girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams), from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze Muppet Studios and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds. To stage a telethon and raise the $10 million needed to save the studio, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate.

I absolutely love this movie! Whether it be nostalgia, or just great writing, this movie makes me smile from ear to ear. From the trailers, I wasn’t sure about the new muppet Walter but that was put to ease right away! Walter fit right in with the rest of the muppet family. This is true for the rest of the cast as well. I couldn’t imagine anyone better to co-star with this crazy bunch than Jason Segel. His character Gary has a wonderful charm and innocence about him that Segel plays well. Amy Adams is adorable as Gary’s girlfriend Mary. Her and Segel have an amazingly goofy chemistry that fits right in to this film. The most important thing to me about THE MUPPETS is that they stayed true to the classic characters. They didn’t try to make them more modern or racy. Heck, they didn’t have to. There is a reason that so many people adore these fun-loving characters, and to change them would have been a catastrophe.

Sidenote: I love that they didn’t explain how Gary is a man, Walter is a muppet, but the two are brothers! It reminds me of THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER where Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog are suppose to be identical twins. It doesn’t need to make sense… just go with it!

I could go on and on about this film, but this is The Blu Review… so on to the meat and potatoes!

The WOCKA WOCKA VALUE PACK version of THE MUPPETS has a lot to offer audiences! This is the best Blu-Ray that I have seen in quite some time!

AUDIO:

Disney’s DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 is simply amazing! Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem have never sounded better. The audio is crystal clear, and every line, sound effect, and joke from Fozzie is heard without missing a beat!

VIDEO:

The 1080p/AVC-encoded video is as close to flawless as I have seen on a blu-ray! The edges are crisp, and you can see even the tiniest details of Kermit’s felt! The color is especially important since the Muppets range from Piggy’s pink to Kermit’s green, and everywhere in between. It’s like a rainbow exploded when they were created, and it is captured brilliantly! The Muppets have never looked better!

BONUS FEATURES:

I am still in awe of the muppeteers and their ability to stay in character throughout these bonus features. Not only is this a wonderful collection of features, but even those who aren’t fans of watching the bonus materials will find these entertaining.

• The Longest Blooper Reel Ever Made (In Muppet History – We Think) –A laugh out loud look at the actors’ funny gaffs and gags from behind the scenes of making Disney’s The Muppets.
• Disney Intermission – Groundbreaking Blu-ray feature. Pausing a movie will never be this much fun, as the Muppets take over the screen every time you stop the disc!
• Scratching The Surface: A Hasty Examination of the Making of Disney’s The Muppets. Hosted by unit production manager monster J.G., the cast and crew take a behind the scenes look at making Muppet and movie history.
• Explaining Evil: The Full Tex Richman Song. Rapping his way through the story of his miserable life, Tex tells audiences why he turned out to be such a rotten guy. This is the only one I am not a huge fan of… 
• A Little Screen Test on the way to the Read Through. This hilarious footage follows the Muppet gang as they go to their first table reading of the script.
• Eight Deleted Scenes: “Walter’s Nightmare,” “Life’s A Happy Song Missing Verse,” “A Hero in Hollywood,” “Credit Card Club,” “Muppets in Jail,” “Bowling for Beaker,” “The Strip Mall Awards” and “The Complete Muppet Telethon Opening & More”. These are fun to see, but it’s also apparent why they were cut from the movie.
• Audio Commentary with Jason Segel, James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller: I know some have scoffed, but I enjoyed the commentary on this film. It’s not as detailed as I would like, but it’s fun to hear about the writing process, Muppet trivia, and to just hear the three of them have fun as they record their commentary.
• Trailers: “Rise of the Muppets,” “Never” “Green with Envy,” “The Fuzzy Pack,” “Being Green,” “The Piggy with the Froggy Tattoo” and “Green with Envy, the Spoof Spoof Trailer.”
• The Complete Soundtrack: I adore this soundtrack! Who doesn’t need “Man or Muppet” or “Rainbow Connection” on their iPod! Oh, and who doesn’t want to rock out in their car to their version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”?

The Muppets prove that it is a very manly Muppet movie! The jokes are funny, the soundtrack is outstanding, and the features are fun!

OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars