Guaranteed in every Muppets movie, television show or production ever made are three distinctive traits that multiple generations have come to love.
Gags, songs and guest cameos.
For its latest family production, Disney’s home entertainment release, "Muppets Most Wanted," doesn’t disappoint. Able to pick on itself and the genre, the writers and producers will admit that sequels are never as good as the first production. Admittedly, the crew does its level-headed best with this film that takes place as soon as "The Muppets" has ended.
I had the opportunity to review the Blu-ray as part of its national release this week.
The combo pack is impressive with the extras – and they pick on themselves again here – with the "Longer Longest Blooper Reel in Muppets in History" and "The Unnecessarily Extended Cut" that offers an extra 12 minutes of film not shown in the theater. We’ll leave it up to you if the extended cut was worth the effort or not.
However, one cut worth the effort is the Statler and Waldorf’s version of the movie. The two older gents are used to heckling what the Muppets do, and they don’t let up here at all.
Brit comic Ricky Gervais plays Dominic Badguy, and Tina Fey of "30 Rock" and "Modern Family" dad Ty Burrell round out the human cast of characters. Kids will have no clue who most of the guest stars are, but my favorite has to be Christoph Waltz dancing the waltz. Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Celine Dion and Stanley Tucci are good too.
None of the songs in the film will reach "Rainbow Connection" levels, but the sing-a-long "Frog-E-Oke" will be fun for the little ones of the household, and may offer a better family interaction than playing the movie over, and over and over again.
For those international crime caper-lovers on the go, add "The Muppets Most Wanted" to the Disney Movies Anywhere app that allows viewing on tablets, phones and other mobile devices connected to the cloud.
Media is bombarding us everywhere.
Instead of sheltering his brain from the onslaught, Steve embraces the news stories, entertainment, billboards, blogs, talk shows and everything in between.
The former writer, editor and producer in TV, radio, Web and newspapers, will be talking about what media does in our community and how it shapes who we are and what we do.