The death of objectivity: James Bobin's The Muppets

 Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones. Dir. James Bobin, Disney, 2011

I need to say, at the start, that whether or not I'm qualified to write about Jason Segel's 2011 reboot of The Muppets, I am not remotely objective. I am fairly sure I cannot be. I was a toddler when Sesame Steet made its public television debut. I would not know about stations airing Popeye and old Looney Tunes shorts until elementary school. My earliest TV memories involve Kermit the Frog, when he starred on PBS not his syndicated TV. The syndicated show is, of course, a touchstone of my tweenhood, as are the first two feature films. We owned Sesame Street-branded merchandise - Kermit's face was a constant part of the first 14 years of my life. No, I won't be giving you objectivity - I sobbed when Kermit plucked the first notes to "Rainbow Connection."

Deduct a few points for terrible original songs, composed by Flight of the Conchords's Bret MacKenzie, and two more for giving Amy Adams nothing to do other than sparkle. After that, I've no complaints. It works. The tone remains cheerfully, even frantically, absurd, the story the traditional kitchen-sink/Vaudeville barrage of satire, self-reference, and silliness. At the same time, Segel makes some nice, uplifting comments about finding identity and strength in community that help keep The Muppets out of the realm of a merchandising cash-in.

So what went wrong? How come we didn't see Segel and Kermit and Walter and the gang every couple years after 2011, back in a new swashbuckling adventure? Why didn't The Muppets turn into yet another Disney-owned franchise-machine?

I will submit that nothing went wrong. The Muppets' basic storyline, a ragtag yet likeminded group of neglected toys team up together and take Tinseltown by storm, doesn't lend itself to an ongoing narrative the way superheroes and Star Wars do. There is no automatic, obvious sequel to a Muppets movie. Look at a Disney property like High School Musical. They made four of those, and by the fourth time the gang found reason to put on a show they'd done all with the idea they could. A Muppets franchise faces the same problem. These aren't the days of Andy Hardy - an audience wants more than yet another reason to put on a show. Segel does everything a Muppets fan could want with his reimagining, and having done that, what remains? What's the followup?

The Muppets, particularly in the context of Disney, could possibly work as some kind of continuing TV series. As fearure films, about the most to do is reboot the franchise for a new generation every decade or so, and in that case Disney can simply re-air the original pictures as nostalgic reissues via their streaming platforms rather than invest dozens of millions in a reboot with no obvious future.

It has been ten years since Segel's re-start. I've heard no word Disney plans to reinvent The Muppets soon, but there's no immediate rush. Segel's version makes a worthy addition to the canon. Between the films and the reissued show, there's plenty of Muppet material to enjoy. I'd prefer that to an ongoing new "Muppets in Space" series.