Watching The Muppets made me feel like a kid again. This fun family film isn't a reboot; it's a sequel - and a well-done one, at that. The humor in this loving tribute is quick and plentiful, plus, at its core, this movie has a heart. I loved this movie and I gladly welcome it to the Muppet canon.

It had nearly been a decade since the Muppets' last film and I truly believed the Muppets were as dead as most of their original actors. What was the point of keeping them going? It was as though the world moved on without them. However, in 2011 I saw a poster of the upcoming film and slammed my head. "Please no," I thought, "you're going to ruin them with jokes done all wrong!" Amazingly enough I was 100% wrong! This movie not only kept true to the Muppets' original characteristics, but it also resurrected them from the dead! The story is the Muppets are scattered and Walter (who for some reason looks like a Muppet rather than human) and his brother get them all back together to save the theater.I loved every second of this movie! The jokes were perfect, the acting was great, the story was flawless, the songs were memorable, and the voice actors were just like the original voice actors, though Gonzo was the only one with his actual voice actor (welcome back),. I was tempted to sing along with them, even when they had the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. There's so many ways this movie could have failed, but this movie had already been aware of those chances and skipped them or made fun of them. For instance one thing they do is kidnap Jack Black to be their guest star. How many ways could that go wrong? However, not only does Jack keep dirty jokes toned down, but seeing him tied (literally) in with characters from the 1970's is a pathway for the Muppets to adapt to the present. With all the dated comedy that goes on that has died away, it is amazing to see how Jim Henson's comedy can easily adapt to our time and be fresh. Personally, what I loved best was the audience. While in theaters I looked back and saw people who were old and young sitting altogether. The elderly were coming to see something they had grown up with and the children were watching something interesting. They were all laughing together, talking about it, and on my way out I heard two teenage girls singing "Manama". I felt like the movie had unified the young and old generation together. It was the most precious moment I will never forget from any movie.

Dull, ponderous, packed with clichés, entirely lacking the creativeness , inventiveness, zaniness and general humanity with which Henson and his original team imbued the whole Muppet story. Instead, under the dead hand of Disney, we get yet another "road/let's put on a show/anyone can be anything at all they want if they really, really try!" piece of processed movie-making which does nothing at all to salute the unique creativity of Henson and co. After about half an hour, I found the only bits I was enjoying were the appearances by Amy Adams, whom the camera likes and who has real star quality as well as being a very good singer and dancer (classically trained, I suspect?) (Her male counterpart, Jason Segal, lacked all of these qualities and came across, like the movie as a whole, as wooden and lifeless). NOT the tribute to Henson I wanted to see and I can only hope that, out of respect for his spirit, this now really is the end of attempts to revive the Muppets and people go back to the VHS recordings of the originals instead.

In spite of some initial development problems – like the distinguished Muppeteer Frank Oz turning the movie down because of his dissatisfaction with the script – 'The Muppets' managed to be, as of today, the highest grossing Muppet movie of all time. This big financial success may come off as a surprise, considering that this was the first theatrical Muppet movie in 12 years. Although Frank Oz expressed his dissatisfaction with the script, I would say that the simple, but very effective script (written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller) is the movie's best aspect and maybe the biggest reason why the movie performed so well. From what I gather, the movie's plot is very similar to other Muppet projects, which is a perfect way of not alienating the old fans while reintroducing the characters to new ones.Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) is an everyday Muppet who finds it somewhat hard living in the human world, despite of having a very supportive human brother, Gary (Jason Segel). One day his life changes dramatically – he discovers the classic Muppet show and is amazed by the Muppets performing in it. When Gary and Gary's girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) plan to celebrate their 10th anniversary in Los Angeles, they invite Walter to accompany them and in the meantime visit the Muppet studio. Walter there finds out that an evil oil tycoon, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), wants to buy the studio and raze it to the ground because, apparently, there's oil beneath it. The Muppets' only way of keeping the studio is raising 10 million dollars, and the only way to do so is to put on a show.'The Muppets' has all the charms of previous Muppet projects – the abundance of gags, the musical numbers and the cameos – and all of these elements are perfectly combined in one satisfyingly enjoyable movie. The humor in the movie is very self-referential, sometimes self deprecating, and sometimes even filled with subtle social criticism. No matter the form the humor takes, all the jokes and the gags in the movie, with the exception of a rare few, are fun and entertaining. The musical numbers are colorful, original and could easily warm the heart even of some cold bastard who doesn't like musicals (like me). And of course, there are the celebrity cameos, which were quite unforgettable and delightful.While, just a few moments ago, I hailed the effectiveness and the simplicity of the plot in regards of reintroducing the characters to the news generations of fans, I fear those newer fans (myself included) might have a somewhat harder time enjoying the movie than the old fans, since they lack the nostalgia factor. The main character in the movie, Walter, grew up with The Muppet Show, he idolizes its characters, but those of us who didn't have such an experience growing up could have a harsh time emphasizing with him as the movie's protagonist. By all means, the lack of a stronger protagonist in no way affects the movie's fun value, but occasionally you need something more from a movie than just fun value to be truly amazed.Rating: 7/10 Read more at passpopcorn.com