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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Muppets: AKA: Childhood Revisited

There are two types of people in this world, those who like The Muppets and those who LOVE The Muppets. I've never met a person who claimed they didn't like and/or hated The Muppets. If you know one of those people, pity them, for they have no soul.

I grew up on the Muppets, not just reruns of The Muppet Show, which aired on Nickelodeon, remember when Nickelodeon had good shows?, but Sesame Street, all the Holiday specials and such. In my house, whenever a Muppet special aired, it was to be tapped, yes that's right taped, to be watched over and over again. I watched through golden years, The Muppet Show, The Muppet Movie, ect., I even watched through the not so golden years, Muppets From Space, Muppet Wizard of Oz ect. I mean, you're talking to the girl who took people down to Goodspeed Opera House two years in a row to see their productions of Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas the musical, and would have continued to do so had the theatre continued to bring the show back for a third year and beyond. Seeing the Muppets without fail brings me kind of giddy joy that is so often lacking in my day to day world.

I can not even begin to tell you the pure happiness and excitement I felt at the announcement that they were making a new Muppet movie. Excitement that only heightened when I learned that Jason Segelwas writing/starring in the film. It was no secret that Jason has a tremendous love of the Muppets.

So today, after having a riddic countdown, I dragged a friend to see The Muppets. Seriously, an awesome way to spend a rainy November afternoon. This new movie, hearkened back to what we all love about those furry little creatures, it asked the question, has the world become too cynical for The Muppets to be relevant? The answer, of course not.

Sure, the world may have become far more cynical than back in the 50's when Jim Henson created them, but maybe that is why we need them more than ever. The Muppets have always been about good, clean, wholesome fun. They are a family, able to accomplish just about everything, as long as they are together. In this newest movie, the gang, who have spent many years apart, are brought back together, by Walter (the Newest Muppet), his brother Gary (Jason Segel), and Gary's long time girlfriend; Mary (Amy Adams), in order to save the Muppet theatre from a greedy oil man, Tex Richman (Chris Cooper).

What's so amazing about this new film is that Walter doesn't start off as a Muppet, he starts off as a regular-sh guy who loves the Muppets. They save him, help him feel that despite being different, there is hope. In essence Walter is all of us. All the kids/kids at heart who love and admire the Muppets. I don't know about any of you but I would JUMP at the chance to meet any of the Muppets. In fact it has always been a life long dream of mine to appear on Sesame Street, or let's face it any type of Muppet program where I got to interact with the fuzzy little creatures of  my childhood.

I give major props to Jason Segel for all his work in bringing the Muppets front and center back into our lives. Honestly I can not wait to go back and see this movie again.

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