life's a happy song

the marketing campaign for the new muppet movie was pretty clever.  the first trailer i saw made it look like a lame romantic comedy with amy adams and jason segel then the muppets suddenly showed up.  brilliant.  then they did a trailer called "the pig with the froggy tattoo" that was awesome just because.
but my interest and hope that it would actually be good slowly faded until i didn't even know it came out last weekend.

it's currently at 98% on rottentomatoes and i want to list a few reasons why i thoroughly loved it.

• while the script at times stumbles to one side or the other, the story itself is brilliantly self-aware and is fully aware that the muppet show went off the air thirty years ago.
• i really can't pick my favorite celebrity cameo, although i think it might be jim parsons.  that was awesome. although zach galifianakis as hobo joe...
• my other dilemma of which i liked more: the barbershop quartet singing "smells like teen spirit" or the camilla and the chickens performing "cluck you."
• the three greatest gifts in the world: 1. children.  2. ice cream.  3. laughter.
• "rainbow connection."
• all of the jokes about the generational disconnect: "whoopi goldberg! selina gomez! and, i'm sorry, i don't recognize you."
• the power to travel by map.
• my realization that i'm a muppety man.
• the mahna mahna credits.
• lastly, i'm pretty sure i had a huge grin on my face when they perfectly re-staged the opening song of the muppet show.

i'm not sure how well it will hold up over time it was the best time i've had in a theater in quite a while.

my dad, who is a muppet purist, and my mom also enjoyed the show.