New in Theaters
(Both playing at Durango Stadium 9)
Muppets Most Wanted.
A strange sense of doom hangs over the rebooted Muppets, and it’s not from the Swedish Chef’s cooking.
“The Muppets” (2011) may have been an earnest and largely successful relaunch for Jim Henson’s troupe, but it also had a hangdog melancholy, fretting about the obsolescence of Kermit and the gang. Pop-culture insecurity looms in “Muppets Most Wanted,” too, which begins with the same self-conscious tone as the last film in the musical number “We’re Doing a Sequel.”
Though Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (still the greatest name in show biz, sorry Sidney Poitier) notes this is technically the Muppets’ seventh sequel, they nevertheless sing: “And everyone knows the sequel’s not quite as good.”
The Muppets don’t need a sequel. They need a shrink. It seems they’ve swapped “the most inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational” show for an ongoing pity party. Where is the confident intrepidness that made Gonzo disdainful of breaking through “the easy way” (Hollywood) when you could go through Bollywood instead?
“Muppets Most Wanted,” thankfully, soon enough dispatches the previous film’s mopey nostalgia and sets things on a more madcap course: a European caper, not unlike 1981’s (alas superior) “The Great Muppet Caper.” The ingredients are here: Tina Fey as a Broadway-loving Gulag guard in Soviet chic; Ty Burrell in Inspector Clouseau mode; Ricky Gervais as the comically obvious bad guy (name: Dominic Badguy). But “Muppets Most Wanted” fails to whip up the kind of furry frenzy that makes the Muppets special.
What’s missing? Many would say Jason Segel, the star and co-writer of “The Muppets.” He’s the holdout of largely the same, solid creative team: director James Bobin, co-writer Nicholas Stoller and music supervisor Bret McKenzie.
But the bigger problem with “Muppets Most Wanted” is a failure to find the right human-to-Muppet ratio and a screwball feel for how the species interact. Most successful are Fey (who emerges as an unlikely rival to Miss Piggy for Kermit’s heart) and Burrell (an Interpol policeman paired with the CIA’s Sam the Eagle).
The Muppets instead feel upstaged by the parade of celebrity cameos (they range from Lady Gaga to Christoph Waltz), as if the movie is one big selfie for stars to be seen alongside their Muppet heroes. The plot, too, doesn’t yield much time to favorites like the lovingly harebrained Gonzo the Great, the endlessly chipper Fozzie the Bear or the mellow, melodic Rowlf the Dog.
The film picks up literally where “The Muppets” left off, as they disassemble the movie set. Unsure of their next step, the Muppets are persuaded by a slick British agent (Gervais) to embark on a theater tour in Europe. Only Kermit is suspicious, but he’s soon kidnapped by an escaped Russian criminal mastermind, Constantine.
Constantine (voiced with a playful Russian accent by Matt Vogel) happens to look precisely like Kermit (again voiced by Steve Whitmire), only with a mole on his cheek and a slightly more pinched nose. While Kermit is mistakenly sent to the Gulag in Siberia (fellow inmates are played by Ray Liotta and Danny Trejo, as himself), his evil doppelganger replaces the Muppet leader on tour. He and Badguy use the performances as a distraction for robbing banks.
Much of the humor stems from the Muppets’ failure to recognize the clearly different version of their long-legged impresario. The usually fastidious frog, with Constantine running things, doesn’t mind giving Animal an endless drum solo and absent-mindedly calls Gonzo “Zongo.”
Judging the Muppets against their own high standards is perhaps unfair, particularly when we’ve been absent of Henson’s genius for nearly 25 years. “Muppets Most Wanted” may not rise to the irreverent slapstick the gang once did, but it is still, after all, the Muppets.
Yet instead of trying to be like other globe-trotting, star-studded sequels, the Muppets ought to be happy with simply being themselves. How does the song go? Keep believing.
“Muppets Most Wanted,” a Walt Disney Studios release, is rated PG for “some mild action.” Running time: 106 minutes. HH½ out of four.
JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer
Divergent.
(Not reviewed) In a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Tris Prior is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it’s too late. Based on the mega-best-selling books by Veronica Roth. Rated PG-13.
Still Showing
Animas City Theatre
(128 E. College Drive, 799-2281, www.animascitytheatre.com)
20 Feet from Stardom. The Oscar-award winning documentary about the ladies who provided the backing vocals for some of music’s top hitmakers, from the Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen and so many more.
Gaslight Cinema
(102 Fifth St. Next to the railroad depot, 247-8133, www.allentheatresinc.com)
Stalingrad. The top grossing Russian film of 2013, Stalingrad is an epic look at the battle that turned the tide of World War II. A band of determined Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to a Russian woman who has been living there. The scale of the battle contrasts dramatically with the human drama of the Russian soldiers, the few remaining civilians and their invaders into Stalingrad. Rated R.
Son of God. The New Testament gets a larger-than life treatment. Told with the scope and scale of an action epic, the film features exotic locales, dazzling visual effects and a rich orchestral score from Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer. Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado portrays Jesus as the film spans from his birth through his teachings, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection. It marks the first motion picture about Jesus’ life since “Passion of the Christ,” released 10 years ago. Rated PG-13.
Durango Stadium 9
(Next to Durango Mall, 247-9799, www.allentheatresinc.com)
The Wait. (Wednesday only) An enigmatic phone call from a psychic, catapults a family into a state of suspended belief while waiting for their recently deceased mother to be resurrected. One sister believes the claim, and the other staunchly opposes it until she encounters a chance at love, giving her hope that anything, even resurrection, is possible. A discordant struggle between sisters plays out in a world where the virtual and real often converge. Rated R.
Need for Speed (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge). Fresh from prison, a street racer who was framed by a wealthy business associate joins a cross country race with revenge in mind. His ex-partner, learning of the plan, places a massive bounty on his head as the race begins. Rated PG-13.
300: Rise of an Empire. A bloody affair in which Themistokles takes on the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemisia, the vengeful commander of the Persian navy. Rated R.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman. (In standard format and digital 3-D with surcharge) Mr. Peabody, the most accomplished dog in the world, and his mischievous boy Sherman use their time machine, The WABAC, to go on the most outrageous adventures known to man or dog. But when Sherman takes The WABAC out for a joyride to impress his friend Penny, they accidently rip a hole in the universe, wreaking havoc on the most important events in world history. Rated PG.
Non-Stop. Liam Neeson stars in a suspense thriller played out at 40,000 feet in the air. During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes. Rated PG-13.
The Lego Movie. An ordinary LEGO minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary MasterBuilder, is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO tyrant from gluing the universe together. With the voices of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman. Rated PG.
The Monuments Men. George Clooney and Matt Damon star in what passes for a true story in Hollywood about a special unit on the hunt for Nazi art plunder during World War II. Rated PG-13.
Ted Holteen and Associated Press
