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The Muppets: Wocka Wocka Value Pack
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Andy James & Noor Razzak (16th March 2012). |
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The Film
 Reruns of Jim Henson's original "The Muppet Show" (1976-1981) played a large part in my upbringing. I grew up on the madcap antics of the felt-covered puppets (in addition to "Sesame Street" (1969-Present) and "Fraggle Rock" (1983-1987)); I remember a well worn VHS tape of a great big Muppet celebration recorded off TV figuring large in my early life. Unfortunately, the Muppets have been on something of a downward spiral lately - their theatrical films petered out with the lackluster "Muppets From Space" (1999) and they haven't been on TV since the brief "Muppets Tonight" finished in 1998. Cue a cinematic rescue from one of the unlikeliest people: Judd Apatow alum Jason Segel. Impressed by Segel's love of puppetry evidenced in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008), he was given the task of re-introducing Kermit (Steve Whitmire), Miss Piggy (Eric Jacobson), Fozzie (also voiced by Eric Jacobson) and the gang to the modern world. Segel co-wrote and stars as Gary, whose brother Walter (Peter Linz) is the world's biggest Muppet fan. Walter is, in fact, a Muppet. He's someone who has found life to be difficult, what with never growing and being made out of felt, and the Muppets have offered solace, comfort and laughter. So when Segel and his fiancée Mary, the always adorable Amy Adams, head to L.A. for their ten-year anniversary Walter tags along to visit the Muppet Theatre and Muppet Studios. Of course, while on a tour of Muppet Studios Walter stumbles upon a plot by evil oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) who plans to buy up the Studios, demolish them and drill for oil. Thus Walter, Gary and a neglected Mary have to get the Muppets back together, in order to save the Muppet Theatre, Studios and very name! "The Muppets" is a Muppet film made by lifelong fans of the Muppets and it shows. But not only is it a film made with a great deal of love and attention, it's a film that explores the place of the Muppets in our digitized, cynical world. In a time where kids are running around realistic virtual war zones, capping "noobs" and computer imagery has reached never-more-realistic highs the film dares to ask if there is still a place for a rag-tag gang of lovable, sweet and cheerfully anachronistic puppets made of felt and fur. The arc of the Muppets in the world of the film parallels the arc of the Muppets in real-life, which is coupled with a few moments of self-reflexive and meta humour to really bring the point home. Oh, and I haven't mentioned it yet, but the film is also a wonderful and full-throated musical. "The Muppet Show" was a vaudeville influenced affair, with plenty of singing-and-dancing numbers in between the bad jokes and outrageous stunts. One half of New Zealand's own Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie, worked on the songs for the film and it's a fitting match of writer and material. The musical numbers range from the fun and daffy (the opening "I've Got Everything I Need" and the very Conchords-esque "Man or Muppet" which recently won the Oscar for "Best Song" this year) to the emotional and regretful (Kermit's "Pictures in my Head" and a reprise of the most famous Muppet song, "The Rainbow Connection"). There's not a bum note among them with Segel, Adams and the entire Muppety cast giving it their all and having a ball. "The Muppets" may not be as madcap and loose as "The Muppet Show" often felt, but Segel and Bobin are aiming for a more emotional arc to the story. The Muppets haven't really been with us for some time and it's important to illustrate where they are now and their journey back. The Gary and Mary arc feels somewhat underdeveloped; Gary is protective of his brother Walter to the point of making Mary feel neglected. But that underdevelopment of the human characters' story feels like the right choice: this should be a film primarily about the Muppets. And it is. It's irreverent, self-aware, musical, stacked with bad puns and surreal gags (such as Chris Cooper's "maniacal laugh"), with just about every Muppet ever featuring in some sort of appearance. The ending however (which I won't be so churlish as to spoil here) feels confused and rushed, which is an unfortunate note to close an otherwise entirely enjoyable film on. The rest of the running time has been sweet, funny, un-ironic, smart, witty, lovable and with a fair few gentle jokes and more adult-oriented ones; there's nothing quite like the Muppets. It looks like they're back and bigger than they have been for some time. And the world is better for it. I think it's also important to note that "The Muppets" had one of the smartest, funnest and funniest advertising campaigns in recent memory (which can be seen in the extras section of the Blu-ray). Beginning with a faux rom-com in the shape of "Green with Envy" announcing the first teaser trailer and with further trailers parodying everything from "The Green Lantern" (2011) to "The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo" (2011), the campaign not only succeeded in creating interest for the film but also served as reminders of the humour we loved from them in the first place. Clever advertising that is far too rare nowadays.
Video
Presented in widescreen 1.78:1 ratio mastered in HD 1080p 24/fps using AVC MPEG-4 compression codec. The overall image is beautiful, crisp, sharp and detailed. The HD image does a great job of showing off the film's colorful photography with vibrant and rich tones, black levels are deep and inky. All working to present a bright and impressive presentation. Sharpness is razor-like, details are equally stunning, right down to the felt the muppets are made from and small intricate details from the costumes and production design look great in this frame. Depth is perfectly balanced and there were no compression problems or flaws that I could detect here. Another terrific effort from Disney/Buena Vista.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/24-bit as well as French DTS-HD High Resolution 7.1 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English audio, first and foremost - this is a musical and the music takes priority here. The mix is rich with stunning surrounds and music that truly envelopes the viewer. It's so nice to finally see The Muppets back to their former glory with a series of clever and witty songs that work beautifully not only for the story but also in an audio sense as part of this track. Additionally dialogue is crisp, clean and clear, surrounds work well to offer a balance between active elements and softer more subtle moments. Environmental and directional sounds appear natural and never out of place. Overall it's a beautifully mixed and immersive audio track. Optional subtitles are featured in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
DISC ONE: BLU-RAY First up is a feature-length screen specific audio commentary with executive producer/co-writer/actor Jason Segel, executive producer/co-writer Nicholas Stoller and director James Bobin. These three clearly enjoy each other's company as they spend a lot of time cracking jokes and taking the track down a lighthearted path. They comment on the franchise, let viewers in on various production facts and reveal some nice trivia for fans, but they're not as plenty as one would like. The glimmers of gold include the trio talking about the intricacies of the production and the advancements of the puppeteering as well as challenges they faced. It would have been great to have included Bret McKenzie to comment on the music, after all the film is essentially a musical. Following that is " Scratching the Surface: A Hasty Examination of the Making of The Muppets" (1080p) a featurette runs for 15 minutes 56 seconds, is as the title suggest a rather quick look at the making of the film and features the usual interviews with key cast and crew as they comment on the production in this EPK style clip that doesn't really delve into in-depth detail. There's also a collection of 8 deleted scenes (1080p) that run a collective 10 minutes 1 second. They can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option. These scenes offer some nice additions but nothing too notable, they were omitted for a reason, usually not necessary to progress the story or for runtime reasons as some scenes are extensions to existing scenes, they include: - “Walter’s Extended Nightmare” runs for 1 minute 57 seconds. - “’Life’s a Happy Song’ (Missing Verse)” runs for 33 seconds. - “A Hero In Hollywood” runs for 1 minute 41 seconds. - “Credit Card Club” runs for 25 seconds. - “Muppets In Jail” runs for 1 minute 2 seconds. - “Bowling for Beaker” runs for 37 seconds. - “The Strip Mall Awards” runs for 2 minutes 14 seconds. - “The Complete Muppet Telethon Opening and More” runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. "Explaining Evil: The Full Tex Richman Song" (1080p) is the next featurette and runs for 2 minutes 38 seconds. This clip takes a closer look at the scene with Tex breaking out into song on why he hates the Muppets, it's nice short clip that doesn't overstay its welcome. Next is "The Longest Blooper Reel Ever. At Least In Muppet History... We Think" (1080p) bloopers that run for 8 minutes 33 seconds, usually these reels run for around 3-5 minutes, so an almost 9 minute reel is presented here. Lots of failed improv segments and goofs can be seen here, it's not your usual reel and does have some really funny moments. "A Little Screen Test on the Way to the Read-Through" (1080p) is the final featurette which runs for 3 minutes 18 seconds, Jason Segel screen tests with the Muppets in this stage clip. Short but sweet, sadly these featurettes don't really offer enough for hard-core fans to really sink their teeth into, they're just brief snippets. All six of the wonderful theatrical spoof trailers (1080p) are included here and run a collective 9 minutes, they include: - "Rise of the Muppets" - "Never" "Green with Envy" - "The Fuzzy Pack" - "Being Green" - "The Piggy with the Froggy Tattoo" - "Green with Envy, the Spoof Spoof Trailer" Rounding off the supplements are a series of bonus trailers (1080p) are included for: - "Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3" - "Brave" - "Secret of the Wings" - "ANT Farm" - "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" - "The Aristocats" - "Planes" DISC TWO: DVD This is a DVD version of the film. DISC THREE: DVD This disc is the digital copy version of the film, there's also the full-length original soundtrack included via a digital download code.
Packaging
This 3-disc set is packaged in a deluxe keep case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
The film review was originally published on the blog Rockets and Robots are Go! by Andy James. The A/V and supplements were reviewed by Noor Razzak.
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