The Muppets

Three fans of the Muppets (Jason Segel, Amy Adams and a Muppet named Walter, performed by Peter Linz) try to help Kermit and the gang save the Muppet Studio from being sold to an oil tycoon (Chris Cooper), who wants to demolish it. Segel and Nicholas Stoller’s script oddly parallels reality: This is reportedly the Disney Co.’s last effort to sell the Muppets to kids raised on CGI and 3-D. Will it work? No telling, but in any case older folks raised on the late Jim Henson’s brainchildren will be charmed; not one of them will come out of this movie fuming, “How dare they?!” Segel, Stoller and director James Bobin catch the spirit exactly, with jokes just corny enough and catchy new songs dropped in among the fondly remembered classics. Guest stars abound; as usual, everybody wants to work with these “people.”