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Of course, it should come as no surprise that Kermit is able to convince everyone to rejoin for one last show. Along the way, the movie is hilariously self-conscious of its plot and characters. Almost every actor breaks from the story to address the audience. This keeps everything light and enjoyable. The Muppets were never about grand schemes and convoluted plot points. Just put them all in a room together and the laughs start to come.

The musical numbers are all well-staged and will remind viewers of the old movie musicals of Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly.

Luckily, the chemistry has not waned in the years since Kermit and his pals were last seen on the screen (1999′s forgettable "Muppets from Space"). These characters have become iconic and they instantly draw smiles from both children and adults. Piggy is still the fussy drama queen. Kermit is still the reluctant leader. Fozzie still tells bad jokes, and Animal can’t keep from drumming.

Segel and Adams, although enjoyable and definitely playing their parts to maximum hilarity, never quite fit in with the crowd. Their side storyline about Gary’s inability to pop the question is never fully developed and feels like the definition of extraneous. In any Muppet movie, I’m much more interested in the fuzzy-wuzzys than the human beings.

Unlike Sesame Street, which stresses lessons over humor, the Muppets look to have a good time and offer a few educational tidbits along the way. Their message of friendship and finding one’s strengths is still inspiring. Children experiencing this crazy gang for the first time will become new converts, while adults will rekindle those old memories when Kermit appeared on screen to welcome the TV audience to "The Muppet Show" (“It’s time to play the music / It’s time to light the lights”).

The cameos are too numerous to count. I spotted Mickey Rooney, Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis, Alan Arkin, Whoopi Goldberg, Ken Jeong and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Again, it’s great to see everyone having fun, but the main stars are the Muppets themselves. They are gloriously back in the spotlight and deserve to stay there for years to come.

John Soltes is an award-winning freelance journalist based in New Jersey. He currently serves as publisher of Hollywood Soapbox (www.HollywoodSoapbox.com). E-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

• The Muppets
• 2011
• Directed by James Bobin
• Written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller; based on characters by Jim Henson
• Starring Segel, Amy Adams, Rashida Jones and Chris Cooper
• Running time: 98 minutes
• Rated PG for some mild rude humor
• 3 out of 4

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