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YMMVs for the film The Muppets

• Acceptable Targets: During the Putting the Band Back Together montage, Sam the Eagle is an anchor for his own news segment "Everything Stinks", and on the bottom scrolling bar is a list of everything in the world that stinks, such as the French, and the non-French.
  • Sam's straitlaced behavior and appeal to patriotism was always a mild satire of conservatives—he even had to be reminded in The Muppet Christmas Carol that he was British, not American. If conservatives have any issue with him, it's probably down to him being humorless.
  • The Muppets also figure it's okay to kidnap Jack Black to host the show, because "a celebrity is not a people". Although, Lew Zealand says this, so the thought may not have been shared by all. Kermit was openly against it.
• Accidental Innuendo: The song "Me Party" could be taken to be about A Date with Rosie Palms.

No one’s gonna stop this girl from having fun I throw my hands up high and have a party for one -- I'm not gonna sit around by myself and wait for you Haven't you heard one is the new two? -- And what happens at the "me party" Stays at the "me party"

• Actor Allusion: Jason Segal has been dating a redheaded elementary school teacher for a decade. Sound familiar?
• Alternative Character Interpretation: This speaks for itself.
  • But honestly, what can you expect from FOX News?
    • They did get a mild Take That, though, in the above-referenced Sam the Eagle bit. It's possible that someone took offense.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced: MOTHER OF ZOD.
  • For starters, the film returns to the format set by the first five films.
  • The writers are huge Muppet fans, and promised (and delivered) an old-school Muppet film.
  • Rowlf is more prominent in the trailers than he's been in any other Muppet production since Jim Henson's death. He even gets his own Twilight-parody poster.
  • Scooter, Rowlf, Sweetums, and especially Uncle Deadly get more screen time in the film proper than they ever had in years now that the studio found suitable replacements for Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson.
  • Gonzo will not be from space, or at least, the story will never focus on that.
  • Several old Muppets making a return, including a few obscure ones.
  • The humans will not be the central characters, and it will mostly focus on the Muppets themselves (though the trailers may show otherwise).
    • This turned out to be subverted for the movie itself. The hierachy of character focus goes something like this: Walter -> Kermit, Piggy and Fozzie -> Gary and Mary -> all the other Muppets and human characters.
  • Hell, the film's entire existence is enough for the fans to go crazy.
  • And then the trailer was released. Even naysayers thrown off by the poster were looking forward to the film.
  • Also, Pixar helped doctor the script.
  • Well, it has 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. The wait was worth it!
• Base Breaker: Pepe's prior status as one divided fans into two camps: the "thank God Pepe didn't have more screentime in this movie" camp, and the "Pepe should have had more screentime" camp.
  • Also the fart shoes.
  • "Me Party" doesn't advance the plot, and Mary might have taken too much of it for herself, but it's dang catchy.
• Non Sequitur Scene: Oscar-winner Chris Cooper...rapping?
  • Amy Adams singing and dancing alone in a diner, surrounded by a border of LEDs? The part where she made bread can-can looked pretty crazy as well.
    • So Amy Adams does her own puppetting!
• Crazy Awesome: Gonzo. Okay, it's really no surprise coming from him, but he takes it to new heights when it's revealed that he's not only been expecting a reunion and thus had been wearing his stage outfit under his suit for years, but he also had an automatic Self-Destruct Mechanism for the big business he's been in charge of.
• Critical Dissonance: One of the most frustrating examples. The Muppets was one of the best-reviewed movies of 2011 and most who saw it did in fact praise the film. Unfortunately, most general audiences seemed to think Breaking Dawn and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked looked like the superior movies and saved their money for those, leading to a solid but not certainly great box office total.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Bret McKenzie wrote the new musical numbers for the film. They're a ton of fun and even include some very Conchords-esque lyrics.

Am I a man Or am I a muppet? If I'm a muppet Then I'm a very manly muppet.

• • "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a barbershop quartet.
  • Walter's number, The Whistling Caruso.
  • Camilla and Friends' take on "Forget You".
  • "Man or Muppet". It won an Oscar.
  • Both versions of "Life's A Happy Song", especially the Triumphant Reprise led by the Muppets themselves. The entire crowd joins in too, which is definitely what would happen in real life if the Muppets suddenly broke into song after being cheered on by their fans!
  • "Let's Talk About Me". The Corrupt Corporate Executive Big Bad breaks into rap for no good reason, to predictable (and hilarious) ends.
• Ear Worm: Life's a happy song, when there's someone by your side to sing along.
  • The ending reprise especially!
  • Mahnamanah!
  • The song from the "Pig With the Froggy Tattoo" trailer.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: '80's Robot. He only has a minor role in the movie, but fans love him for being a hilariously outdated Disco Dan who looks like Nintendo's R.O.B..
• Evil Is Cool: Uncle Deadly, although you can't help but feel that he's even more awesome after his Heel Face Turn.
• Heartwarming AND Hilarious in Hindsight: In the DVD Commentary they have an ongoing joke about "Future Movies Magazine" talking about how great the movies they are working on will be but haven't been released yet. When "Man or a Muppet?" starts, they joke about it winning an Academy Award - one even says "Yeah, in Future Movies Magazine". "Man or a Muppet?" did indeed win the Academy Award for Best Song.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In 2008, Amy Adams boasted in a Saturday Night Live "Penelope" sketch that she's "best friends with Kermit the Frog".
  • In the actual movie, during the "Am I A Man Or A Muppet?" song, Walter looks in the mirror and sees what he would look like as a human: Jim Parsons. This got funnier when Jim Parsons revealed that he is gay, considering Gary and Walter are definitely Heterosexual Life Partners.
  • Actually the two are brothers even though Walter was probably adopted
    • That they're brothers is a Call Back to a joke from The Great Muppet Caper when Fozzie and Kermit are, as well.
• Hype Aversion: A lot of people were dubious about the film because of how supersaturated the trailers and promos were.
• In the Style Of: "Man or Muppet" has a few musical similarities to Motley Crew's "Home Sweet Home", it's not the whole song, but enough to wonder a day later why "Home Sweet Home" was going through your head.
• Karma Houdini: Arguably Tex. He ends up getting the theatre by knocking out the power twice to sabotage the telethon and is never called out on it. Not even his Heel Face Turn during the credits can explain why Kermit didn't press charges for property damage.
  • As mentioned in the Fridge section, 80s Robot called the police after the sabotage efforts, and Richman had engaged in vandalism and reckless endangerment. When he said he gave the theater and name back to the Muppets for reasons not at all to do with brain damage, he may well have been telling the truth.
  • Also, the Muppets themselves never suffer any consequences from kidnapping Jack Black.
    • Fridge Horror: He's still trapped as the King of the Hobos!
• Like You Would Really Do It: Double Subverted. The Hail Mary telethon fails, the magic fix at the end falls through, and Kermit's ready to start the group again from the ground up, with whatever fans they have left, no studio and no Muppet name. If it wasn't for the fact that the fandom came in droves, and Gonzo's bowling ball makes a rather persuasive argument towards Tex Richman giving up his claim on The Muppet Show studio, this would have easily been a very subverted trope.
• Narm Charm: The Swedish Chef's gibberish during the movie's more sentimental moments, like "Pictures In My Head" and after the telethon ends and the Muppets failed to raise the $10,000,000.

Swedish Chef: (sadly, while cuddling the chickens) ...Chickee.

• • "Gary, I like you, but you have to decide: Are you a man, or a Muppet?"
• Nightmare Fuel: Bunsen and Beaker were working on the Large Hadron Collider.
• Spoiled by the Format: Lampshaded about half an hour in.

Mary: This is going to be a really short movie.

• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Walter gets more focus than any other character, even Kermit (it's debatable whether Gary and Mary get more focus than the main Muppets as well). Thankfully, the guy turned out to be an immensely popular and likeable character, preventing him from becoming the Creator's Pet he could have easily become.
• Tear Jerker: There are a few moments.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: Many people on more conservative news shows were upset that the villain was a CEO who wanted to drill for oil, saying that the Muppets were promoting class warfare for children. They Did Not Do the Research, since it later becomes clear that Tex Richman is evil not because he is a CEO, rich, or wants oil, but because he is unable to laugh and laughter, aka the third greatest gift ever, is necessary for happiness. ...though, anything concerning his back story was cut, which does not help any!
  • As well as the fact that any five-year-old would know he's a caricature just by the name and Large Ham tendencies.
  • To say nothing of the fact that Kermit is himself a CEO of The Muppets as an incorporated entity—and while not stinking rich, was still well off enough to be living in a swanky house and keeping it in good repair. So it was one corp guy against another corp ... er, frog.
    • In fact, paying more attention reveals that Gonzo was rich in the movie, but his disruptive behavior prevented him from buying out the theater—he had the money, and blew it up in his enthusiasm to return. Far from class warfare, the movie paints Gonzo as caring about the Muppets nearly as much as he cared about Camilla's feelings. Similarly, Piggy's portrayed as well-off, but never flaunts this beyond the vanity that's been part of the character since the original show.
• Win Back the Crowd: Both in-universe and in real life. It helps that the last film before this one came out over a decade before this one.
• The Woobie: Walter and Kermit, big time.
• You Bastard: It's pretty hard not to feel guilty while watching this movie if your interest in the Muppets has waned since your childhood.

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