Manhattan or Muppets
With most of them having graduated college The Muppets decide to take their senior revue on the road with the plan of putting their show on Broadway. But they soon get a lesson in how difficult it is when they almost get conned by Murray Plotsky (Dabney Coleman) who tries to swindle them out of $300. But having refused to take no for an answer and one rejection after another Kermit and the Muppets find themselves with a young producer who has a vision for the show. But their troubles don't end there as the road to success is filled with mishaps and confusion.
I reckon the number of Muppet movies I like equals those which I not so much dislike but they do very little for me. Unfortunately "The Muppets Take Manhattan" is not one which does much for me and I put that down to watching it for the first time in the mid 90s when I was at an age when I was becoming bored by the movies made for a young audience. The thing is that if I sat down with the old check list of things I expected from a Muppet movie it would tick a lot of boxes as we have the familiar characters and the comedy which naturally comes from them, there is also some set piece gags surrounding celebrity cameos and there are the musical numbers as well.
The trouble for me is the whole story of the Muppets trying to put their show on Broadway with Kermit trying to make things happen when the rest of the gang have to leave just doesn't grab me. Maybe it is an 80s thing with the whole putting a show on Broadway story being more for those who were enjoying musicals back in 1984. What does amuse me about "The Muppets Take Manhattan" are the things which date it from having a bad guy producer who smokes to builders wolf whistling at Miss Piggy, both things would not be acceptable now.
What this all boils down to is that "The Muppets Take Manhattan" certainly delivers a lot of the fun and creativity which you expect from any Muppet movie, well it does features rats skating on butter on a hot plate. But for me the storyline to this one does little for me and sadly without the storyline really grabbing you it feels like this one drags on a bit, pepped up once in a while by a celebrity appearance.
