Much like the Vacation movies, the Muppets decided to take a trip to England for their sequel, The Great Muppet Caper.
The film starts with a great, true to Muppet form, 4th wall breaking bit where Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo are floating across the sky in a hot air balloon watching the opening credits, and complaining how long they are taking. Gonzo debates falling from the hot air balloon, because it looks like it would be fun, but Kermit reminds him he may only be able to do that once.
The opening musical number, “Hey, a Movie!”, tells the audience exactly what they should expect – The gang are reporters and they are investigating a jewel heist overseas. The Great Muppet Caper is much closer to a standard Old Hollywood-type musical, with large dance numbers filled with humans on a soundstage, but with the same ridiculous physical gags we expect from the Muppets, such as Gonzo getting hit by a car, Jake falling through an open manhole, and an dynamite-fueled explosion.
Fozzie and Kermit, identical twin reporters (they are mistaken for each other the entire movie, and it surprisingly did not get old), travel to London with their photographer, Gonzo, to interview Lady Holiday, a famous fashion designer whose jewels were ripped off of her in the opening number by her brother. After enjoying 9th class seating, they are chucked out of the plane mid-flight, and land in a duck pond. They ask a nearby fellow for the best recommendation for free lodging, and after deciding against a bus terminal, they head toward the Happiness Hotel, which serendipitously is housing all the other Muppets.
They decide to visit Lady Holiday at work and request an interview, and instead Kermit mistakes her new receptionist, Miss Piggy, as the lady herself, and is immediately smitten with her nice eyes and sturdy legs. Miss Piggy does not correct him after he invites her on a date, and lies about where she lives when Kermit offers to pick her up. Back at the hotel, Kermit starts to freshen himself up, while Fozzie makes the argument that he needs to accompany them on their date. Kermit tries to politely explain that Fozzie would be a 3rd wheel, as he needs to make a good impression on Lady Holiday, in this charming get-ready number “Steppin’ Out with a Star”.
I really appreciated how much care they took to emulate the musicals of the 30s and 40s, not only in subject, but in how they were shot and choreographed. Later on, there is even a synchronized swimming musical number, featuring a real goldfish, an underwater harpist, and a terrifying practical effect where air comes out of Miss Piggy’s nose. Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem are the only exception to this aesthetic, as they sing a few atmospheric-type songs that are very on-brand for them, but not necessarily in the tone of the Golden Age.
In a 7-minute gag, Miss Piggy gains entry to a boujee house in order to pretend it is hers when Kermit comes calling. While I was bored for most of this, I did love how it ended with Kermit and Miss Piggy caught in a closet receiving a restaurant recommendation by an unfazed elderly couple (half of which was John Cleese). Kermit and everyone else who is staying at the Happiness Hotel make their way to this restaurant… which is more like a supper club. After realizing the food is much more expensive than they can afford, Gonzo hustles the patrons for money while Kermit tries to distract Miss Piggy on the dance floor. Miss Piggy gets her Marilyn Monroe moment in the restaurant, being surrounded by a gaggle of adoring men in suits and top hats, which is extremely on brand for her.
We are then formally introduced to the real Lady Holiday’s brother, Nicky Holiday, the dad from Beethoven, who is doing his best Steve Martin impression. After a power outage, he nabs his sister’s diamond necklace, and later frames her assistant, the newly outed Miss Piggy, for the crime, and she is arrested. Although Miss Piggy lied about her identity, Kermit knows she did not steal the necklace, and decides to rope his friends into catching Nicky stealing a larger prize, the baseball diamond, from a nearby museum red-handed (but what color were his hands before?).
The gang stakes out the Mallory Gallery and Tom Cruises’ it though the skylight to attack Nicky while he was grabbing the diamond. Meanwhile, Miss Piggy (sorry, I mean Hamhock), strong arms her way through the metal jail cell bars, hijacks a cement truck, and drives a motorcycle through a stained glass window to karate chop Nicky’s accomplices and save her new friends. Having been proven innocent of her crimes, Miss Piggy and the gang head back to America, where they are pushed out of a plane 30,000 feet from their destination.
Honestly, I was expecting any subsequent Muppet movie to be underwhelming in comparison to the original, but this was a solid film, in concept, writing, and song. The reoccurring gags were charming (I lost my shit every time that fucking lightbulb broke); the 4th wall breaking was :chefs kiss:, especially the fight between Kermit and Miss Piggy where he chides her for overacting; and the music was lovingly referential to a time period where musicals were at their height in popularity.
Next is The Muppets Take Manhattan, which I am expecting more Old Hollywood glam.