More Muppets? Excellent

Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Floyd, Walter and Scooter in a scene from "Muppets Most Wanted." Photo by: Jay Maidment. ©2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Movie franchises have a plethora of options on how to transition from one film to the next. Some jump forward in time and refer back to the events previously shown, while others, like “Halloween II,” start the action immediately after the conclusion of the first film.

“Muppets Most Wanted” follows the “Halloween” route, but does so in the most Muppet way imaginable: the beloved quasi-puppets sing a rather catchy tune explicitly stating that, yes, this is indeed a sequel. The song warns the audience it should expect keep its expectations for this sequel fairly low (then again, as Bunsen Honeydew points out, this is technically the seventh Muppets film) because the Muppets have no idea what to do next.

It's a refreshingly honest way to start a sequel, although the song is wrong on one point: “Muppets Most Wanted” does not suffer from a case of diminishing returns. Rather, it's actually a bit better than the very good “Muppets” and something of a return to form for America's felt-made friends.

“Muppets Most Wanted” starts with the Muppets’ full roster – Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Scooter, Rowlf, Swedish Chef, new member Walter, et al – figuring out how to follow up the popular TV comeback special from the previous film. A subtle suggestion from new manager Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais), leads the characters to take the show on the road and tour Western Europe.

Unfortunately for the naïve Muppets – common sense has never been their strong suit – Gervais' last name is, of course, his main character trait, and the trip is actually a cover for an elaborate series of museum heists. Gervais, aka the lemur, is not alone in committing the nefarious capers; he's technically the (unwilling) sidekick for the world’s most dangerous frog and explosives aficionado Constantine.

Because it's a plot necessity, Constantine doubles as the doppelganger for poor Kermit, who gets tossed into a Gulag in Siberia (headed by top guard Tina Fey) in a case of mistaken identity. As Kermit freezes alongside criminals like Ray Liotta and Danny Trejo, Ty Burrell's Interpol agent/French stereotype Jean Pierre Napoleon teams up with Muppet/CIA agent Sam the Eagle to track down the thieves before they commit their grand heist. Everything comes to a head in a London wedding ceremony gone wrong, including a rather poor performance of the world's worst usher, Usher.

“Muppets Most Wanted’s” plot is rather silly and befitting of a rather silly film, although that’s actually high praise for a franchise grounded in the goofy and the absurd. There's no logical reason for Usher to attend a wedding in London between a frog and a pig, nor does it make any sense for Diddy to play dice on a train with anthropomorphic puppets on the way to Dublin. And how the heck did Danny Trejo – who is indeed referred to as Danny Trejo – end up in a Russian gulag in the first place?

The reason falls back to one thing the Muppets have historically excelled at: throwing as many bizarre concepts at the wall as possible and making most of them stick effortlessly. Many of those odd ideas are very old fashion at heart. As the Muppets thrive on humor that's all sorts of cheesy and hacky – hell, Fozzy's entire persona is based on those ridiculous Borscht Belt comics from the '50s (at least he has good enough taste to stay away from those “take my wife” jokes). But while those jokes would induce multiple eye rolls in just about any other context, they work for the Muppets, and “Muppets Most Wanted” by extension.  

They succeed due to a hard-to-replicate blend of sincerity and self-deprecation rooted in meta humor. Yes, the jokes are lame, but the Muppets are just as aware of that as the audience, and they express that awareness without the traces of irony that usually accompany it.

In short, everything the Muppets do is done in good fun, and the ability to rope celebrities into their child-friendly shenanigans is the proverbial icing on the cake. Everyone, including Usher, Lady Gaga, Salma Hayek, the brilliant Tom Hiddleston and a dancing Christoph Waltz, is having a blast, and the energy zips right off the screen and infects the audience.

While “Muppets Most Wanted” does sag a bit in the middle – it about 10 minutes of tightening – the slew of well-played references (the Swedish Chef doing “The Seventh Seal” just killed me) and catchy songs by composer/Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie help compensate for the dip. What results is a film filled with cheese and absurdity that also happens to be a wicked good family film; exactly what a Muppets' movie should be.

Rating: Four out of Five Stars

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Target audience: Multiple generations of Muppet fanatics – it's stunning that this franchise is going on 60 years now – and families.

Take the whole family?: Some moderate fart humor aside, there's nothing to that would force a family to keep the kids at home. Take the young ones and have fun.

Theater or Netflix?: Hit up the theater if you want, but I'm dying to do a mega marathon with the previous films (well, at least up to “Christmas Carol”).

How do you take your Muppets?: The Muppets come in many flavors – original, “Sesame Street,” Fraggle and Otter, among others – across every medium (including the excellent 3D show at Disney World), but my favorite is “Muppet Babies.” While it does stray away from the puppetry, the show is friendly and smart and loaded with pop culture references ranging from “Star Wars” to “Indiana Jones” to “Dracula.” In hindsight, I'm certain “Muppet Babies,” “Ren & Stimpy” and “The Simpsons” combined to lay the groundwork for my sense of humor.

Watch this as well?: Aside from the previous Muppet films, this would be a good time to introduce the kids to “Labyrinth.” David Bowie plus Muppet characters plus musical numbers adds up to an awesome experience. (Chuck in a little “Princess Bride” and you have an awesome rainy-day diversion.)

Rating: PG

Run time: 112 minutes

Genre: Comedy