The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

So after watching The Muppet Movie I decided that yes, I was well and truly in love with the Muppets and that I needed to watch more, more of the delightful antics of these furry not quite puppets, not quite mops. So it was with that that I came to the great Muppet Caper. It begins and all is well, Fozzy and Kermit are playing brothers that people often get confused ("is that a bear?, don't be silly, bears wear hats"). The premise of this one is that Kermit and Fozzy are hunting down a diamond thief who is targeting Lady Holiday, who initially is thought to be Miss Piggy (as Kermit falls in love with her, as you would expect). It brings them to England, which is shown through the traditional tourist shots, but with perhaps more of a knowing wink to this than we are accustomed to from American films. There are cases of mistaken identity and there are indeed capers about. Unfortunately though I felt the film fell a little flat.

It's not that it's a bad film, it really isn't, there is still much love and tenderness to be found in this film, however, it can at times feel a little excessive, as though they knew that they'd had a hit the first time 'round, and thought that to top it they needed more singing, more dancing and more guest stars. Whilst the first film had its fair share, it fit perfectly into the story and flowed smoothly, at times it can jar the film a little and stop the flow of the story that is being told.

As usual all the cast are superb, somehow the muppets nearly always seem more human, and more sympathetic than the humans in their films (a praise of the muppets rather than a criticism of the actors), and that is down to some superb puppetry from Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Come to think of it, I think one of the faults of this film is that there simply aren't enough Muppets. Whilst the other Muppets films try and incorporate as many Muppets as possible into the script, they simply aren't given enough screen time here unfortunately.

So In conclusion, this isn't a bad film, it's enjoyable, as any Muppets film will be, however it does fall a little flat at times, if this were the first Muppets film you saw you may be slightly confused as to what all the fuss was about, however, it is far from the worst Muppets movie, and still has the charm and style of the original series, which is always a winner, so go grab a copy if it's cheap, but don't expect a masterpiece and you'll have yourself a good time.