The Playlist has an exclusive on Disney’s next Muppet Movie: An anonymous source who’s read the script for the Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller–penned, James Bobin–helmed musical, now reportedly titled The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time, has mixed (but mostly good) reviews of the script, dated October 2009, which is set to film next summer. First, a synopsis:
“The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time” is about Gary, Mary, and Walter (a man, his girlfriend, and the man’s life-long nondescript, brown puppet best friend) getting the old Muppet gang — now retired entertainers known for the same Muppet show we know them from — together to save the TV studio that the original show was shot in. A villain, Tex Richman, bent on drilling for oil underneath the studio, is due to take over the studio in weeks and the only way to stop him? Putting on a show that draws ten million viewers.”
“It’s a solid attempt at recapturing what made “The Muppet Show” and the first two Muppet movies so great, but “The Great Muppet Movie of All Time” is no “Great Muppet Caper” — ‘Caper’ being to the first Muppets film, what “The Empire Strikes Back” is to “Star Wars” — but it is a fresh, younger approach. Stoller and Segel have fun with the characters, are aware of what made the Muppet early years so great (winks to the audience, friendly musical numbers, single gag repetition, friendship and togetherness being the answer to everything), and hit the mark 65% of the time.”
It’s really important to note that the (anonymous) reader admits that the songs — presumably a large part of the movie — were not in the script s/he read. Anyone who thought Jason Segel’s “Dracula’s Lament” in Forgetting Sarah Marshall was the single funniest movie scene of 2008 knows that with the songs included, this movie could easily live up to its ambitious reported title.
Details on Jason Segels The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time [Playlist]
