Blu-Ray REVIEWS: Muppets Most Wanted, Bears

MUPPETS MOST WANTED REVIEW: 

Mitchell Stein- Get ready to do it all again! Muppets Most Wanted is finally available wherever DVDs/Blu-Rays are sold, and you should be nothing but thrilled. When it was released back in March, we had no shortage of positive things to say about the film in both my own review and Ryan's review posted at our sister site, The Muppet Mindset. The film is a brilliant crime caper set which takes the Muppets on a world tour through Eurpoe only to get caught up in the nefarious plans of the World's Most Dangerous Frog and Number One Criminal, Constantine and his assistant, Dominic. It's filled with brilliant gags, incredible songs, tremendous and hilarious acting, and a really fun story. If you haven't seen the film yet, it's worth it to pick it up on Blu-Ray for the bare film on it's own.


Luckily there's even more to be offered on this home release, titled The Unnecessarily Extended Edition including nearly fifteen minutes of extra footage that was cut from the original theatrical film! All of the songs are the original extended versions that you can hear on the soundtrack but were sadly cut from the final version. There's a whole bunch more gags and cameos that also appear, and it's perfect. I'm so glad we can finally see some of these scenes, but there's still a few missing out there which I wish would get onto the Blu-Ray and you can see just a bit of it in the B-Roll footage.

Sadly, the Statler and Waldorf Cut was just a mere two-minutes and not a commentary throughout the whole film as most fans were hoping for. There's not really much in this feature and it's easily overlooked. "Rizzo's Biggest Fan" is a hilarious short video with features Rizzo the Rat writing an angry anonymous letter to the crew of Muppets Most Wanted for the lack of Rizzo. "The Longer, Longest Blooper Reel Ever in Muppet History (We Think)" is hilarious, and features nine minutes of wacky blunders and mistakes. I love seeing the Muppet performers ad-lib hilarious lines after they mess up on a scene. It's hilarious, but it doesn't add much to the Blu-Ray itself. It also has the "I'll Get You Anything You Want" music video starring songwriter Bret McKenzie.. In short, the bonus features are short and delightful but highly lacks what could have been even greater, especially after the amount of features that were on The Muppets Blu-Ray release.

Ending off, Muppets Most Wanted is a fantastic new release from Disney, but follows Disney's recent pattern of lacking bonus features. I do hope Disney gets back on track soon and delivers every one of their new releases with a larger amount of more original bonus features. Muppets Most Wanted certainly deserves your time and money, but could surely do better with some more features.

Muppets Most Wanted: The Unnecessarily Extended Edition is now available to own on Blu-Ray. 

BEARS REVIEW: 

Mitchell Stein- Disneynatures' Bears tells the incredible true-story of Skye, a brown Grizzly bear and her two-born cubs survival through weather, animals, and other obstacles that get in their way after heading back into the world after a winter of hibernating. John C. Reily is stationed as the narrator, giving over the story and hilarious content through the journey bringing so much fun comedy relief to the film. The movie manages to speak to it's audience on an emotional level and it's by far more touching than the previous Disneynature movies.

The shots and scenes in this movie are breathtaking, whether the bears are walking through a forest, an Alaskan mountain, or taking a swim, the filmmakers set up each scene from a new angle and make you wonder how they even filmed that. The end credits sequence show just a bit of the filming process but barely scratches the surface. Luckily, a feature called How Did They Film That? is included on the release and gives a great background on the process the filmmakers go through to film these scenes.

The other features are not just entertaining, but educational as well. A Guide to Living With Bears allows us a look at the team interacting with the animals and share a bit of info about them too. The Future for the Bears is a feature which reminds us the importance of protecting the wilderness to ensure the survival of the animals and humans alike. Plus, there's Welcome to Alaska which is also a feature showing the team heading to the Alaskan mountains to follow Skye and her cubs on their journey and finally a music video of Carry On by Olivia Holt.

This release is great on many levels. There's five great packed bonus features to go with this absolutely tremendous movie, and it's all fantastic, leaving the music video to be the only one easily overlooked. I highly recommend you make sure to give this release a look. It's very much worth your time as well.

Bears is now available wherever DVDs and Blu-Rays are sold. 

Disney Fan Art Spotlight: Kenny Durkin Part 2

Exactly one week ago we shared the fantastic and creative works of Kenny Durkin, and if you missed it, be sure to check it out now. Becuase there was just too much awesomeness to fit into one article, we decided to split the spotlight on Kenny's fabulous work and showcase it in a special two-part series. Without any further introduction, here is even more of Kenny's wonderful work featuring Muppets, Winnie the Pooh/Star Wars and Disney-owned ABC's LOST!

The Muppets' Latest Addition

Winnie the Hutt

Gonzilla

Daniel Faraday- ABC'S Lost sketch

Ben Linus- ABC'S Lost sketch

The Ribbit- The Hobbit Parody

Muppets- World of Friendship

Thanks once again to the wonderfully talented Kenny Durkin for sharing his artwork with us! 

Upcoming Blu-Ray Announcements: May 7th 2014

Mitchell Stein- Hi ho! I'm back with another update of upcoming Blu-Ray releases that are available to own within the next few months from all companies under the Disney umbrella in order of release date. We first reported about a whole slew of upcoming releases way back in October, but now that all of those releases are out, we're back to bring you up to date on what can soon be available on your home collection! All dates are North American based.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse- Around the Clubhouse World:

An all new adventure from Mickey and his pals taking them on a journey throughout the globe, learning about different cultures and history of various different countries proving that it's a small world after all!

Release Date: May 20th 2014

Muppets Most Wanted- 
The Muppets' latest adventure is making it's way to DVD shelves August 5th 2014! Muppets Most Wanted takes the Muppet group on a world tour across Europe, only to get caught up in the diabolical plans of Constantine, the world's most dangerous frog, and his sidekick, Dominic (Ricky Gervais). Read our review right here.

Release Date: August 5th. 

UPDATED: Just announced! 

Sofia The First- The Enchanted Feast: 
Join Sofia and her friends on an all-new adventure coming this summer! When a wicked fairy disguises herself as a powerful sorceress and tries to steal Sofia's magic amulet, Sofia must learn to trust her instincts and speak up when she suspects someone is not who or what they say they are.  The film also will feature an appearance by Snow White.

Release Date: August 5th, 2014

Hercules: 

It feels like we the fans have been asking Disney to release this one for a while now, as there's only a few Disney Animated films that haven't made their way to Blu-Ray yet. Hercules will hits Blu-Ray shelves along with Tarzan.

Release Date: August 12th 2014










Tarzan: 

Tarzan is swinging onto Blu-Ray once again in a brand-new special edition box set. Although it uses the same cover art as the DVD release from a few years back, this package will not include a DVD in the Blu-Ray combo pack. Bonus features have yet to be announced for this film as well.

Release Date: August 12th 2014

UPDATE: 

Bedknobs and Broomsticks is also coming to Blu-Ray August 12th 2014. Thanks Anthony for the update!

According to this D23 article, The Three Musketeers, starring Mickey, Donald and Goofy is coming to Blu-Ray this summer, although a public release date has not been listed online yet. We'll update this article as soon as the release date has been announced.

Thanks Anthony for the update once again!

Sleeping Beauty: Diamond Edition 

Speculated to be released coinciding with the home release of Maleficent (in theaters May 30th), Sleeping Beauty is returning to Blu-Ray once again. It is unknown as to why the release date was set for October rather than to coincide with the theater opening of Maleficent, and bonus features also have yet to be announced.

Release Date: October 7th 2014







That's all the Blu-Ray and DVDs announced for now! Looking forward to owning all of these on my shelf real soon. Which home releases are you looking forward to the most?

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

News Update: May 1st 2014

The cast has been revealed! Disney and Lucasfilm have officially unveiled the cast line-up for Star Wars VII set to hit theaters next December. The announcement brings back original cast members Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew. Newcomers to the scene include actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow and Andy Serkis (who you may be familiar as Gollum from the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit films. We speculate that Serkis’ character will follow something along that line.) 

A group photo of the cast has been released as seen above.

Disney Interactive made a giant announcement this week around Disney Infinity, and at an event in Los Angeles Wednesday morning April 30th, they revealed that Marvel’s Avengers are coming to Disney Infinity, joining a large cast of already existing characters, but until yesterday, Marvel characters were absent from the game. You can now play as any of the Avengers, consisting of Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Thor. You can play with many different devices and locations by purchasing additional power discs, one including Agent Phil Coulson’s “Lola” vehicle from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What more could you possibly ask for? 

With the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train just weeks away, Disney Parks continues to tease at the the upcoming ride, and released yet another video of almost the entire ride-through of the attraction. The construction walls recently came down around the ride, and the carts going around the track can be seen quite frequently on regular days in Magic Kingdom, so expect a release date to be announced soon. We’re suspecting of possibly an end of May opening.

Just a few weeks ago, we announced a brand new upcoming home video film starring Mickey and the rest of the gang from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The film, Around the Clubhouse World, takes the gang on a journey across the globe, learning about different cultures in various different countries. Below is a clip that became available this week. The film is available on DVD May 20th, 2014. 

Going viral in Disney circles this week is this hilarious fan-made video made by two fans of the film Frozen and filmed in Disneyland. The video features a couple singing to the hit Frozen song, “Love is an Open Door”, and it shines among many of the other Frozen parodies found on the internet. 

Love is an Open Door Fan: 

A week ago we reviewed Disneynature’s latest film, Bears, a truly wonderful film. Disneynature promised to donate part of the movie’s financial success with the National Park Foundation for every ticket sold on opening weekend. We’re super excited to hear that many people saw the film and Disney delivered the donations to the NPF, and announced that it will be expanding it’s commitment to conservation and would be donating an additional amount than the one previously promised. If you missed seeing the film opening weekend, Disney will also give a portion to the NPF if you purchase any of the following: 

•       Young fans unlocked an exclusive bear costume on Disney Club Penguin to support the National Park Foundation: www.ClubPenguin.com.
•       The Disney Music Group is contributing a portion of each iTunes download of Olivia Holt’s Friends for Change anthem “Carry On”: iTunes.com/CarryOn. 
• The Disney Store committed a portion of “Bears” plush purchases to the National Park Foundation:www.disneystore.com.
•       At Disney Parks, a special Duffy the Disney Bear benefited the National Park Foundation in April.
•          Disney Cruise Line made a contribution in celebration of the movie, which also premiered on the high seas.
•       Regal Entertainment Group introduced a gift card program in conjunction with “Bears” that resulted in a contribution to the National Park Foundation: www.regmovies.com.
•      New York jewelry designer Alex Woo designed eco-friendly pendants inspired by the film, available in Sterling Silver & 14kt Gold—a portion of each sale benefits the National Park Foundation: www.alexwoo.com.

More details have been unveiled about the It's a Small World film which is being developed at Disney. Director John Turtletaub (National Treasure, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) has been signed on to direct the film. No release date has yet been announced.

Muppets Most Wanted, Disney's latest fantastic Muppet adventure hits Blu-Ray and DVD August 5th 2014! No bonus features have been revealed yet, but the film will be available this summer to own. Muppets Most Wanted takes the Muppet gang on an adventure throughout Europe, only to get caught up with Constantine, the World's Most Dangerous Frog and get tangled up in a jewel hesit caper. The film is still playing in theaters worldwide. Read our review of the film here on The Mickey Mindset as well as our review on our other site, The Muppet Mindset. 

And in very sad news this week, legendary actor Bob Hoskins has passed away at the age of 71 on Tuesday. Hoskins was well known in the Disney circles as Eddie Valiant in Disney/Touchstone's Who Framed Roger Rabbit. We pay tribute to Hoskins for his brilliant acting in this video below, showcasing his wonderful acting talents, and what process he went through to film the Roger Rabbit movie.

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

News Update: April 11th 2014

Starting off the news this week, the first teaser trailer for Disney Channel's Upcoming show, Girl Meets World has surfaced the internet. The show is a spin-off of the Disney Channel show which ran from 1993 to 2000. Characters Cory and Topanga return to the spin-off show, this time playing the parents of the main child characters. Watch the first teaser here:

Season two of the new Mickey Mouse shorts premiere on Disney Channel today, April 11th! Make sure you keep you DVRs running at 9:00 EST to catch the new wonderful shorts! 

This week, the Disney Parks celebrated fifty years of the famous "It's a Small World' attraction with a major worldwide celebration. The folks over at Inside the Magic have the full scoop, which you can read right here. Coverage of the entire event can also be found over at The Disney Blog as well right here. 

Toughpigs.com published this great article setting the record straight: The Muppets are still puppets, and no CGI was used in Muppets Most Wanted, contrary to internet rumors of the Muppets being replaced by CGI in some scenes. You can read that great article right here.

Speaking of Muppets, our friends over at This Happy Place Blog raised an excellent idea. What if the abandoned "Wonders of Life" exhibit became "Muppet Labs?" Make sure to check out their creative and exciting new ideas of what could quite possibly be of use for the abandoned building in a new, fun and creative way. You can read the article here: 

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D is the show on TV that just keeps getting better and better. This week, ABC aired an episode leading directly off of last week's new film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The episode includes spoilers of the film, and this seems to be the new direction that the show will be taking from now on. Marvel released this all-new video where the cast and crew of the TV series talk about the new direction the show will be taking. Spoilers ahead. 

An all-new Mickey Mouse Clubhouse adventure will be hitting DVD shelves May 20th 2014! Around the Clubhouse World takes the Fab Five on a journey through France, China, Italy and more, and learn about different countries and cultures, with lots of song-filled fun, and will feature a slew of bonus episodes from the series. 

The date draws closer for the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in New Fantasyland in Walt Disney World, and today, Disney Parks released a thirty-second video taking a look at some of the impressive new Audio-Animatronics that will be featured in the attraction. 

UPDATE: Disney Parks ALSO released this 16-second CGI ride through of the attraction. Now we'r really, really excited. 

Disneynature's Bears opens next Friday, and in anticipation for the release, Disney released two more clips from the film, two of some of my favorite clips from the movie. In fact, the whole film is wonderful. We'll be reviewing the movie in it's entirety later this week. 

Speaking of Disneynature, the trailer for their next big film has been released yesterday online. The film, Monkey Kingdom will swing into theaters Earth Day 2015.

For the final bit of news this week, Disneyland Paris announced that Marvel's Spider-Man will start making meet-and-greet appearances starting April 19th in the Walt Disney Studios park! Disney also released this artwork to anticipate the upcoming appearances.

That's it for this week's short weekly news roundup! Be on the lookout for some special brand-new reviews this week, including our review for Disneynature's new film: Bears. 

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Say Hello to the American Mindset!

In honor of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it was decided we would pay tribute to the franchise by changing our website name to the American Mindset on release day in honor of our fellow Captain. But as all good success stories happen, we decided not just to change the name of our site on release day, but we'll be changing our website name permanently!

Henceforth, we will focus on our favorite American Disney characters, movies, and television shows. This is obviously a big change for all of us here at  The  Mickey American Mindset, so here to make the announcement is our favorite patriotic eagles, Sam the American Eagle, fresh off of his success of Muppets Most Wanted. 

Official Statement: 

Greetings! A glorious April morning to you all. It is on this day, the first of April, that we rededicate this weird website to the truth, justice, equality, and liberty that is AMERICA. I, Sam the American Eagle, am honored to be presenting the very first post on The American Mindset--and what better way to do it than the week my personal hero, Captain America returns! Why, he's my favorite sailor! Yes, I know some people, like Mitchell Stein will attempt to convince you that Captain America is some sort of weird superhero in spandex tights--but he is undoubtedly an American Sailor. Besides, did you know that Mitchell Stein is Canadian?! Appalling! Disgusting! Horrifying!! Thankfully, Mitchell has seen the errors of his Canadian ways and has adapted to America--just as everyone should (and will). Thankfully, there is also Ryan Dosier, a decent American person, although I've been told he has an obsession with The Muppets, so how decent can he really be?


Thank you for this most humbling and patriotic of opportunities. Enjoy, The American Mindset!

The American Mindset: For questions or comments please contact us at our former email, mickeymindset@gmail.com

News Update: March 28th 2014

Starting off out weekly news roundup is Victory Hill Exhibitions is teaming up with Marvel for an all-new exhibit, Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N, which will take an all new look at the box-office smash and will be premiering at Discovery Center Times Square on May 23rd 2014! (Source: Stitch Kingdom)


Disney Parks have released some more info on their upcoming Destination D event, named "Attraction Rewind". At this D23 event, celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964-65 Worlds Fair and debut of It's A Small World, Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and Primeval World. Also, see video concept art for these attractions and other fan-favorite attractions including If You Had Wings, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and many other beloved attractions that don't stand today. This event is not to be missed. The event will take place on November 22nd and 23rd at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Disney purchased company Maker Studios this week. Maker Studios is an online leader of Youtube video content with over 55,000 channels, 380 million subscribers, and 5.5. billion views per month. The purchase will cost $500 million, and another $450 million if the strong performance targets are met.

Muppets Most Wanted hit theaters in North America last weekend! If you still haven't decided to see the film or not yet, make sure to check out our review! Muppets Most Wanted takes the Muppets on a European World Tour only to get caught in the diabolical schemes of Constantine, the World's Most Dangerous Frog and his plan to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. There's lots of fun to be had, great gags, and the human cast is brilliant. Check out our review!

ABC'S Once Upon a Time in Wonderland airs it's series finale this upcoming Thursday on ABC at 8/7c. Once Upon a Time will remain on the air, and will probably be renewed for a fourth season, but it's Wonderland spin-off show will be airing it's final episode this week.

Going viral this week in the Disney fan circles is this brand new "Cell Phone Crashing" video, released by Mediocre Films on their Youtube Channel. The "cell phone crashes" decide to pay a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth and crash fellow visitors phone discussions, which result in very hilarious results.

Sofia the First: The Floating Palace arrives on DVD on April 8th! The film features Sofia visiting some her mermaid friends, including one you probably know from a 1989 classic Disney Animated film. See the clip below! 

Two new clips from Captain America: The Winter Soldier hit the internet this week! The first one is named "Blast from the Past" and the second listed is "Engine Room Secure". Captain America 2 hits theaters next Friday in North America. Check back next Friday for a review!

Because this was too fun not to share, Digital artist Chris Alcoran has taken photos from Disneyland's Tomorrowland and combined them with outer space visions. It's truly beautiful and awe-inspiring.

That's all for now! Have a magical week! 

Book Review: The Muppets Omnibus, Muppets Most Wanted Read-Along

The Muppets Omnibus Review:

Mitchell Stein- Back in 2009, Disney and Boom Studios released a series of Muppet Show Comic Books, written and illustrated by Roger Landridge. The books were so incredibly successful that they were all sold out on the first day, and it went back for another printing. Disney of course released follow-ups to this comic books with many more after, including The Treasure of Peg-Leg Wilson, On The Road, and The Four Seasons. 

Now, you can own all of the great Muppet Show comic books in one collection. The Muppets Omnibus features comics from the original issue, “Meet the Muppets” up until last years’ “The Four Seasons” in one big giant collection re-printed under the Marvel Comics brand.

Not only are the comics fun to read, but they also said to be the inspiration for some elements in the Disney Muppet films, including Kermit’s doppelganger Kismet the Toad and Animal’s fear of drumming and others. While not all of the Muppets translate into 2D artwork, it’s the story here that matters and not about the art. The story is wacky, fun and interesting. The various different variety sketches are funny and Muppety worthy of an episode of The Muppet Show, especially if the Muppet Show started off as a comic book.

Not only does it feature Landridge’s popular comics, but it also features Muppet comic “Pigs in Space” where Fozzie and Rizzo try to pitch a “Pigs in Space” feature film to two grumpy old Hollywood producers, played by the Muppets’ resident grumps, Statler and Waldorf. I absoloutley love this comic as the story is perfectly wacky and zany and everything a Muppet comic should be. The wonderful artwork is by Shelli Paroline, but she is only credited as an artist, so I am left to assume the story was written again by Roger Landridge. 

Of course, it features Muppet Show comic books by Amy Mebberson. Amy has had quite a history with Disney drawing not only Muppet characters, but many Disney characters for comic books and character design. I absolutely love Amy’s style of artwork. Somehow, every character always looks spot-on and translate so well into comic form. It’s really beautiful artwork, and I am a major fan of Amy Mebberson’s continuous collaborations with the Disney Company.

The Amy Mebberson issues “Family Reunion” mark the return of many famous characters, including Skeeter, Andy and Randy Pig, Robin, and Emily Bear. It’s a lot of fun and it’s great to see these characters back in some form.

Overall, if you haven’t yet picked up the copies of the comics, I suggest you pick up a copy of this collection. It’s a fantastic collection of the brilliant Muppet comics, plus the original Muppet comics that Roger Landridge wrote and drew for Disney Adventures magazine plus concept art, original sketches and various cover arts. There’s lots of fun to be had in this edition, so I highly suggest Muppet fans that like to read should check this one out.

The Muppets Omnibus is now available to own wherever comic books are sold. 

Muppets Most Wanted Read-Along Review

Mitchell Stein- I actually got this book over a month ago, but I was too afraid to open it until I saw Muppets Most Wanted, as I really abhor spoilers. But now that I read and reviewed the fantastic film, I was ready to open this to review.

Following in the Read-Along series based off of Disney films, the Muppets Most Wanted read-along features the story of the film along with a CD that your child can listen to and read-along with the book in their hands. The speaking is slower-paced so beginner readers can read along, and it also features audio from the movie when one of the characters are quoted. This book is really geared towards the younger audience of Muppet fans, and it's a great way to help your kids learn how to read.

Also, be sure to check out some other read-alongs in the series, including The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Frozen, The Lion King, Planes, and a lot more classic Disney films.

Muppets Most Wanted Read-Along is now available to own. 

Chase Beecher Reviews...Muppets Most Wanted!

This article includes minor spoilers. 

Chase Beecher- They've got another go to show. They've ordered a sequel. The studio thinks they're a viable franchise. Yes, friends, this is how the Muppets open their movie. Well, this movie. Yes, the Muppets.... again. No, that's not the name of the film.

 

"Muppets Most Wanted" is the film's title. You will want to see it. Not only is it a funny madcap caper following the Muppets on a worldwide tour of "The Muppet Show" it's a tale of a pig and a frog,and another frog.

Our beloved Kermit is frognapped and replaced by the world's number one frog and criminal, Constantine. He is a dead ringer for Kermit. Almost. He has a mole on his upper lip that he paints green and has a terrible 80's movie Russian movie villain accent. Constantine is brilliantly performed by Matt Vogel, who is the MVP of this film. Of course, The Muppets have not noticed Kermit has been replaced, all except Animal. ( no one believes or understands him.)

Kermit ends up in a Russian gulag ran by the ruthless Nadia (Tina Fey-- who can sing!) and filled with cameos. (Seriously, don't blink during this film. You will miss a big star with a one liner cameo.)

As the film paces on (at a breakneck speed) more and more crimes are being committed at the same time and place The Muppets are performing. (Berlin, Dublin, Spain) Ricky Gervais, who plays Constantine's number two, and the evil little frog are committing and stealing things galore. Gervais is hilarious as a tour manager for our fuzzy group, who secretly is trying to frame them for all this mischief. 

Ty Burrell as an Interpol agent, and Sam (the American) Eagle as a CIA agent, join forces and bump heads the entire film to find out "who did it." Burrell is great as an Inspector Clouseau-type. Sam is great as a bird.

In the mean time, Piggy gets one of her biggest dreams to come true: to sing a ballad with Celine Dion. (Which I'm sure we will hear at the Oscars next year.) Rizzo and Robin walk away with the biggest laughs in the film. (People applauded at my screening after hearing his line.)  More classic Muppet gags are found and callbacks to their other movies are had too. 

The film's climax takes place in London and is suspenseful. It's the most action I've ever seen in a Muppet movie. (Kermit dangling from a helicopter?! A wedding?! Fozzie poses as a bearskin rug?!) The film ends happily and everyone is together again.  Again. 

This film is the funniest Muppet film I have seen to date. 2011's " The Muppets" was funny and full of nostalgia to remind people of these characters while introducing them to new fans. Now that we have that out of the way, let's cut the Muppets loose and let them do what they do best: put on a show. The rip roaring, laugh out load fest is just under 2 hours, but it flies by. 

Director James Bobin knows exactly how to treat these characters as does screenwriter Nicholas Stoller. I consider "The Great Muppet Caper" to be "the crown jewel" of Muppet films. This comes very close. This film has Jim Henson's texture and feel all over it. I wouldn't be surprised to learn he came back and made it himself.

If you're having doubts about seeing this consider this: I was seated next to another blogger complaining that Muppets were too "cute" and "not very funny" and he didn't want to be there. By the film's second act he was laughing so hard he was crying and snorting. That was not "cute."

I give it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. Now, hurry up. Go see it. They've made a sequel. 

Muppets Most Wanted Film Review

Mitchell Stein- Jumping right back on the big-screen after the tremendous success of their last film, The Muppets return once again to movie theaters with an all-new absoloutley brilliant adventure. I honestly can’t contain all my positive thoughts in just one review article, but I’ll do my best to keep it short. I won’t spoil anything for you of course, so don't worry, this review is completely spoiler free. Unless you're worried about finding out if it was any good. 

Thank goodness for us, just moments after their last film, The Muppets are renewed for a sequel. The furry freaks break out into a rousing musical number about their new film, and how sequels don’t quite live up to their predecessors. This song does not just break the fourth wall, it completely demolishes it! This broken fourth wall effect remains throughout the entire film, and the Muppets are constantly making references to their older films and they even poke fun at them! This is the Muppets humor at its absolute best.

The human cast is incredibly brilliant. There was some dispute over Ricky Gervais playing the main human role, with one side in favor of Gervais and the other against, but I can assure the latter group that at no time does Ricky take over and make his own film, he’s really just there to move the story along a lot faster with a brilliant sense of humor. In fact, I was super excited when he was cast in this movie. I was a fan of Ricky Gervais a while before this film, and he plays his part so well, has a splendid singing voice, and dances! Dance monkey, dance!

Tina Fey does an excellent job at playing Nadya, a Russian gulag prison guard who kind of ends up having a thing for Kermit. She’s funny, but at no time is this movie about her, the humans really do help things speed along in these films, and Ty Burrell (well known as Phil Dunphy on ABC’S Modern Family) plays Jean-Pierre Napoleon, an Interpol agent working alongside Sam the Eagle in this crime case that the Muppets end up getting tied into. Burrell easily steals the show out of the three main human actors, delivering the most comedic slapstick moments and great one-liners. This cast is easily my favorite human cast in a Muppet movie. The celebrity cameos are fantastic in this film, but they at no time steal the stage from the Muppets. The cameos which I least expected to like were by far my favorite, and the ones I was looking most forward to wasn’t really as much as expected, and some were even cut from the film!

Not even just human cameos, but the Muppet cameos are incredible! I won’t spoil the surprises, but I will say that I was super excited to see some characters after many years off the screen. There are some characters that I was never expecting to see ever again, and some of them only appeared in one Muppet production. If you thought the last movie had fantastic obscure Muppet cameos, prepare yourself for even more obscure characters. There’s less than in the last film, but the ones that can be found are fantastic and really, really obscure. I love it. 

I can understand why some people prefer the last film over this movie. The last movie was really all about the nostalgia. It looked back at the Muppets and paid tribute to the Muppets past productions and successfully rebooted the franchise. While the last movie was about looking at the past, this movie turns around and moves towards the future of the Muppet franchise. I admit, I got a little teary eyed at the end of the last film the first time, (I’m waiting for the Muppets to induct me as a Muppet too. Lucky Walter.) and of course during the “Rainbow Connection” scene (which Muppet fan didn’t?), but if they continue to look at the past the franchise will move nowhere. They have to push ahead and come up with a lot more wackier storyplots and keep people interested. This movie won’t make you cry, and it’s really not trying to. It’s another very Muppety adventure starring the Muppets as the main stars! It’s a great adventure and there’s just so much happening in it that it requires multiple viewings.

Some people are concerned about the film’s running time. At 113 minutes, Muppets Most Wanted marks the longest Muppet movie in history, but to be honest, doesn’t feel a moment too long. At no time did I start nudging around in my seat, or at all bored. This is easily the most jam-packed Muppet movie and it all moves so quickly, it’s so much fun. 

Not only is the humor and story a lot of fun, but the cinematography in this film is by far the most advanced puppetry to ever be seen in a Muppet movie, and probably in any puppet-related production for that matter. You’re drawn into this world where you just completely forget that they’re puppets at all, and they do such incredible things which some of them you’ve probably seen in the trailers. It’s fantastic, kudos to the entire special effects crew. The only thing that kind of bugged me was a terrible green-screen effect near the end of the movie. You’ll know when you see it, it’s impossible to miss.

Other than that, this movie deserves an Oscar for Best Visual Effects in the 2015 Academy Awards. I’ll flip over a table if it’s doesn’t get a mention at the Oscars.

The soundtrack is great! I’m not going to go into detail of every song, but from the moment Kermit strums the strings to his banjo to “We’re Doing a Sequel” which is so catchy and so hilarious. The extended version of the song can be heard on the movie’s soundtrack which became available on March 18^th.  “I’m Number One” is catchy and I feel like dancing every time I hear it. “I’ll Give You Anything You Want/Cuckoo in Malibu” is perfect and sounds like an 80’s style romantic disco song, which is really what it’s set to feel like, but it’s much better than the last film’s “Me Party” scene. It’s just perfect. “Something so Right” is a beautiful slow song sung by Miss Piggy and Celine Dion, it’s so perfect that I hope this makes it into the mainstream media and becomes the next “Skyfall” for a couple of months. I hope Celine Dion has that star-power.

There’s just so much to say about this movie, there’s just so many things that Muppet fans will go crazy for. There’s so many callbacks to original films, Muppet cameos, and every Muppet is in-character and hilarious. The action is incredible and was not something I would find in a Muppet movie, especially the fact that the stars are puppets. Filming a James Bond action type sequence with the Muppets was not something I expected.

Because I’m worried that if I keep talking I’ll probably end up spoiling it for you, I’ll wrap it up here. I’ll just let it be known once more that I was not disappointed at all, I was just left wanting so much more, I didn’t want it to end, but of course, all great things must come to an end, and an ending that will make Muppet fans jump out of their seats in happiness. I did not see that coming, as I avoided all spoilers in the past few months. I was just disappointed that many scenes had to be cut due to time, and some were so heavily used in the trailers that I was looking forward to some of those. I really hope those make it to the Blu-Ray release. 

That’s all I’ll say for now. If you enjoyed the last film or are a die-hard Muppet fan like myself, you’ll be entertained throughout the entire feature. It’s a great new Muppet adventure and I hope they continue making many more movies.

If that’s not enough, the movie has a short featuring the Monsters University characters named Party Central which is really funny and sets the stage well for the feature to come. You really get a bang for your buck when you pay to see Muppets Most Wanted in theaters. 

Muppets Most Wanted opens in North America on March 21st 2014.

Our other half of The Mickey Mindset, Ryan Dosier wrote his review on our sister site, The Muppet Mindset. Read his review right here!