The Great Muppet Caper - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition (1981)
Muppets DVDs
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This second motion-picture outing for the adventurous Muppets finds
them in London hunting down jewel thieves while staying at the
city's most cheerfully derelict dive, the Happiness Hotel. Filled
with song and dance (and swimming!) numbers, this Jim
Henson-directed feature is worth seeing, if for nothing else than to
see the cantankerous Charles Grodin (Beethoven) swoon over
Miss Piggy. But The Great Muppet Caper has a lot more going
for it: cameos by John Cleese, Peter Falk, and Oscar the Grouch,
among others; Miss Piggy parading down a catwalk; and Kermit the
Frog on a bicycle. The Muppets are fond of breaking down that pesky
fourth wall, which gives the movie some of its cleverest moments and
will elicit the biggest laughs from the kids. (Kermit to Miss Piggy:
"You're overacting. You're hamming it up.") By the time a framed
Miss Piggy is freed and the real jewel thieves are caught, you'll
forget the occasional slow spots and remember the musical numbers
and the banter. --Kimberly Heinrichs
