Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.

Director:

James Bobin

Writers:

James Bobin, Nicholas Stoller

Stars:

Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ricky Gervais	...	Dominic Badguy
Ty Burrell	...	Jean Pierre Napoleon
Tina Fey	...	Nadya
Steve Whitmire	...	Kermit the Frog / Foo Foo / Statler / Beaker / Lips / Rizzo the Rat / Link Hogthrob / The Newsman (voice)
Eric Jacobson	...	Miss Piggy / Fozzie Bear / Sam Eagle / Animal (voice)
Dave Goelz	...	The Great Gonzo / Dr. Bunsen Honeydew / Zoot / Beauregard / Waldorf (voice)
Bill Barretta	...	Pepe the King Prawn / Rowlf the Dog / Dr. Teeth / The Swedish Chef / Bobo the Bear / Big Mean Carl / Baby Boss / Carlo Flamingo / Leprechaun Security Guard (voice)
David Rudman	...	Scooter / Janice / Miss Poogy / Bobby Benson / Wayne (voice)
Matt Vogel	...	Constantine / Floyd Pepper / Sweetums / Pops / Robin / Lew Zealand / Crazy Harry / 80's Robot / Camilla / Uncle Deadly (voice)
Peter Linz	...	Walter / Manolo Flamingo (voice)
Tony Bennett	...	Tony Bennett
Hugh Bonneville	...	Irish Journalist
William Brand	...	Berliner #2
Andrés Cantor	...	Announcer
Jemaine Clement	...	Prison King

Storyline

Flush with their revival's success, Kermit the Frog and his friends are approached by Dominic Badguy to go on a world tour. Unknown to them, this is all part of the sinister plan of Constantine, the world's most evil frog, to become the greatest thief of all time. After making sure that Kermit is jailed as himself, Constantine impersonates him to use the Muppets' tour as cover for his scheme. While Sam the Eagle and Inspector Jean Pierre Napoleon investigate, the Muppets find their boss seems strangely changed even as Kermit desperately attempts to escape to stop the impostor. Only when Walter, Fozzie and Animal realize the truth is there a chance to prevent Constantine from pulling off the crime of the century.

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Plot Keywords:

prison break | puppet | gulag | europe | frog | 

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Taglines:

2 Frogs 1 Pig Epic Mayhem

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Family | Musical

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild action

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

21 March 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Muppets 2

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$17,005,126 (USA) (21 March 2014)

Gross:

$51,178,893 (USA) (11 July 2014)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Mandeville Films, Babieka

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 119 min ("Unnecessarily Extended" Edition)

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Nadya is walking down the Gulag cell block saying goodnight to everyone by name (and they say it back to her) is a homage to The Waltons (1971).

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Goofs

When the train gets to Berlin, the caption says "Hauptbahnhof station". Since "Hauptbahnhof" already means central station, the caption actually says "central station station", i.e. the added "station" is totally unnecessary. "Berlin central station" would have been perfectly applicable to name the station where the Muppets arrive.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Film Crew: And cut!
Walter: Wow, that was so amazing!
Kermit: Walter, you did a wonderful job.
Walter: Thank you, Kermit. Did we get that?
Miss Piggy: We got it.
Kermit: We got it, yup.
Film Crew: [speaks into bullhorn] Movie's over, people, go home. That is a wrap.
Scooter: Okay, nice work, everyone. Make sure to fill out your I-9's, and we'll see you on the next one.
Scooter: [crew leaves the set] So uh, what do we do now?
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the middle of the credits, Fozzie says, "Check this out!" and puts his hat on the "LOS ANGELES UNiT" text.

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Connections

Featured in Pinewood: 80 Years of Movie Magic (2015)

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Soundtracks

Strauss the Younger: Blue Danube
Produced by Ed Mitchell

User Reviews

Addressing the films "CGI" and compositing.

I think it may also be possible that audiences are not able to effectively articulate their complaints about "CG use". Often any digital manipulation including compositing will be termed "CG". Full-body Muppets composited in post production are not a new realm for the Muppets, however Muppets Most Wanted marks the first time they have been used this extensively and for scenes involving such a significant range of articulation not typically seen from Muppets in any non-composited scenes. I'd argue that part of what makes the Muppets so endearing are their inherent limitations. In spite of significant efforts from a lot of talented people, many of the composited scenes, in particular the "stunt action" sequences come off as a betrayal to those endearing Muppet qualities. The Muppets have more subtly and effectively incorporated compositing effects, however the compositing work in this film was more often sub par, and not just for these full-body Muppet effects. The quality of compositing work was TV movie caliber, not of a 2014 Hollywood blockbuster. I found the compositing work in the final number so terrible that it distracted from all the good things going on there. Movie making technology is continually improving, and puppetry in cinema should certainly embrace those advancements, but perhaps with more subtle incorporation. I believe anything that distracts the viewer from the character and they story negates the effect. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should".