I am not such a curmudgeon that I would automatically reject what the Muppet movie offers: joy and laughter.  To deny that The Muppets is downright adorable would be like saying puppies and kittens are not cute.  While I was born critical, I love puppies and kittens, which means I also loved The Muppets.

Basically, it takes a simple plot — the Muppets must put on a show to raise millions of dollars to save the Muppet Studios and theatre — then adds some good old-fashioned vaudevillian musical numbers, a maniacal villain, goofy jokes, and a love story to complicate the plot, and the result is a winner of a movie that the whole family can enjoy.

First the film (yes I’m going to call this a film) introduces us to Gary (Jason Segel) and his brother Walter (a Muppet).  These two brothers do everything together until they begin to grow apart.  Hoping to revive their relationship, Gary invites Walter on a trip to Los Angeles.

The script then explodes with additional storylines.  Gary has been dating Mary, played by Amy Adams, for 10 years and Mary is ever so slightly impatient with Gary. The Muppets have their own emotional issues to hash out.  The script makes time for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy to hash out their own on again, off again relationship.  Kermit also makes amends with the now aging Fozzie Bear.  And there’s Walter and his effort at finding his own way in the Muppet world.
The only faults are in the script.  I won’t gripe about the fact that it’s so busy with competing story lines that there’s barely any time to examine how a muppet and a human being can be brothers.  Were Gary and Walter born to the same parents?  Was one adopted?   I suppose it’s useless to examine how a Muppet and human can be brothers, considering that the center of Muppets lore is a three-decades-long love affair between a frog and a pig.  I shouldn’t carp on such minor details because frankly I don’t want to be perceived as a modern-day scrooge.

Besides — The Muppets, scripted by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, offers 120 minutes of everything that’s great about great American cinema.  It’s a triumph because it gives the audience joy. From the spontaneous song-and-dance numbers to downright corny jokes,  The Muppets welcomes back its longtime fans and introduces a whole new fan base to its pleasing madcap vaudeville-style entertainment.

My favorite part of the film was when Kermit the Frog let Gray, Walter and Mary into his Bel Air mansion.  The walls of his study are plastered with photos of Kermy and the various Special Guest Stars who graced the Muppet Show during the 70’s, including Hollywood legends like George Burns and Bob Hope.  The sentimentality of that moment went straight to my heart, because so many of the stars have now passed away.

New fans and longtime devotees of Jim Henson’s Muppets will welcome this charming, clever and heartfelt creation, which proves that Kermit is one frog who isn’t ready to croak.