The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) - 6/10

The only reason I wanted to check out The Muppets Take Manhattan is b/c one, I had never seen it before and two, Jason Segel says it's an influence for what's he's doing in making the new Muppets movie coming out. There's a playful tone to the movie and music that made this somewhat enjoyable but I guess since I didn't grow up with these characters made it harder for me to identify and name them when they appear onscreen. The premise is simple and all revolves around Kermit trying to get the group together to perform a play on Broadway but everything goes wrong and they split up and try to get jobs to pay for their funding. Little gags like the puppets attacking the people in the studio were funny or the little songs they sing in a flashback to when they were babies, but overall I just didn't find this as hilarious as I'd hoped. The scene where Ms. Piggy chases after a man who stole her purse on rollerblades is pretty funny only when you see that a real person was dressed like her for long shots. I'm really excited to see what Jason Segel does after the Dracula musical he did in Forgetting Sarah Marshal and really hope he can bridge the gap to make the Muppets relevant again. I have complete faith in the new puppet technology and musical skills so I think that once I start getting into the mythology of this show more i'll find it funnier.