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6 Degrees Entertainment

'The Muppets' (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital)
(Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Steve Whitmire, et al / 3-Disc Blu ray+DVD / PG / 2012 / Walt Disney Video)

Overview: Jason Segel, Academy Award(R) nominee Amy Adams (Best Performance By An Actress In a Supporting Role, Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter) and Academy Award winner Chris Cooper (Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role, Adaptation) join everyone's favorite Muppets and an all-star celebrity cast in a comic adventure for the whole family!

DVD+Blu Ray Verdict: What I think we have to keep in mind with 'The Muppets' is looking at it in the context of its story. This is the only Muppet movie I've seen that actually explicitly acknowledges 'The Muppet Show.' To make this movie's story work in your mind, you have to imagine that the Disney-era Muppet films ('Muppet Treasure Island', 'Muppet Christmas Carol', etc.) don't exist. The story is that, sometime after 'The Muppets Take Manhattan' (1984), the Muppets stopped.

So Walter, Gary, and Mary are trying to get the 'Muppet Show' era folks back together, as if they've been away for almost 30 years. Hence why we don't see characters like Rizzo and more recent Muppet creations all that much (except in passing), and we really see characters we haven't seen in years! Beauregard, Crazy Harry, Wayne and Wanda, Dr. Strangepork, the guy who hits the talking fuzzy head things with a mallet (name escapes me), etc.

It's also told from the point of view of the fans - something that has, again, not been featured in a lot of Muppet films. Most of the films involve the Muppets dropped into a pre-existing story as characters (Kermit as a sea captain or Statler & Waldorf as the Marley Bros.). This film talks about the Muppets as "The Muppets", like a band we all used to love that we'd love to see get back together. If you walk into the movie with this in your mind, a lot of the comparisons folks have brought up won't bother you.

People have criticized the story as weak compared to the other films, but again, keep it in perspective. 'Treasure Island' and 'Christmas Carol' were classic stories in their own right with Muppets acting the roles. The earliest Muppet movies had a magical cast of characters and storytellers (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, etc.) that you just can't replicate. Don't get me wrong - the current crop of Muppeteers do a fantastic job, but if you're a diehard "Henson-era Kermit" kind of fan, it's illogical and unrealistic to think that things in this movie will be 100% the same as they were in the '70s. And who says the Muppets always have to be really deep, thought provoking, or ironic? Why can't they just be funny and goofy and make us laugh?

What the movie did for me was remind me of my childhood and watching the Muppets through my child's eye. I loved them as a kid because they were cute and funny and cuddly. I didn't realize until I was older just how clever and sly their humor was too. This movie tries to do both things - hit the cleverness of the Muppets we appreciate as adults while reminding us why we fell in love with them in the first place as children. From that perspective, this movie is a great delight for me. [DC] This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Blu ray Special Features of:

• Blu-ray Feature Film + Bonus
• DVD Feature Film + Bonus
• Digital Copy Of Feature Film
• Digital Full-Length Original Soundtrack
• Scratching The Surface: A Hasty Examination Of The Making Of The Muppets -- A Surprisingly Shallow But Profoundly Absurd Look At Muppets And Humans Working Together To Make Cinematic History
• Deleted Scenes
• A Little Screen Test On The Way To The Read-Through -- The Muppets Bring The Wocka Wocka Wocka To A Routine Camera Test
• Explaining Evil: The Full Tex Richman Song
• Unreleased Theatrical Spoof Trailers -- And More!
• Audio Commentary -- With Jason Segel, James Bobin, And Nicholas Stoller
• Disney Intermission -- Pause The Movie And See What Happens!
• The Longest Blooper Reel Ever Made (In Muppet History**) **We Think -- Includes Muppets! Stars! And One Ridiculously Long Chicken Joke! What More Do You Need?







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