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If you were nervous that Jason Segel (and co-writer Nicholas Stoller) would update the Muppets for the modern age in any sort of cynical, pop culture reference-laden way, rest easy. That is not what they've done with The Muppets. This new movie, the first Muppets film to hit the big screen since 1999's clunky Muppets from Space, is a sweetly wistful nod to some beloved old friends that doesn't seem all that interested in contemporizing this decidedly retro gang.
The basic plot of the movie involves Segel and his Muppet brother, Walter, traveling to Los Angeles (with Segel's sunshiny dope of a girlfriend, played sunshinily and dopily by Amy Adams), with a grand trip to the Muppets Studio in mind. Of course when they get there, the place is dilapidated and mostly abandoned. What happened to all our old Muppet friends? Well, we never really find out what caused the diaspora, but Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy and the rest are all scattered to the wind, performing lame gigs in dumpy Reno casinos, working as the plus-size editor for French Vogue (guess whose job that is), or wandering, Norma Desmond-esque, around a big old Bel Air mansion. Segel and Walter want to get the group back together so they can save Muppet Studios from an evil oil baron (a surprisingly game Chris Cooper) who plans to level the place, steal the Muppet name, and dig for oil. The only way to stop him? To put on a show, of course.