Muppets Most Wanted (Extended Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Director: James Bobin

Cast: Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey

Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray Combo Pack & DVD

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Plot Summary:

While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.

‘Muppets Most Wanted’ picks up exactly where its predecessor left off, with the ‘The End’ fireworks credit in the sky. After beginning to wrap everything up, they discover that the camera is still rolling. This can only mean one thing, the studio must have green lit a sequel, and off they go to figure out the best way to go about making said sequel. As they decide to embark on a world tour at the behest of a conman leading them on with his lies, they start selling out shows. But what the Muppets don’t realize (although it’s shocking how that is possible) Kermit has been replaced by the most dangerous frog alive and the most wanted villain around, Constantine, who has also had Kermit thrown in a Moscow prison, convincing them that he is Constantine, therefore giving the real Constantine free reign to commit his crimes under the cover of the Muppets’ World Tour. Will the Muppets realize his deception in time and save Kermit? You’ll have to watch to find out!

The follow up to 2011’s ‘The Muppets’ delivers on the laughs, fun and original songs and all (or certainly most) of your favorite Muppet characters doing what they do best. We are also treated to a number of human guests as per normal, some incredibly amusing such as Christoph Waltz as a guest on their show doing the Waltz. It also features Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell and Tina Fey in perfectly suited roles that allow each of them to really utilize their respective comedic talents to the fullest. There are plenty of other cameos from a number of famous faces such as Danny Trejo, Ray Liotta and many more, but I don’t want to ruin all of the surprises here.

‘Muppets Most Wanted’ delivers laughs, fun and adventure that the entire family is sure to enjoy. It provides plenty of fun for the older audience to still immensely enjoy it, while keeping things mostly tame (it’s a very light PG rating) so as to be appropriate for most of the younger audience as well. This would definitely be one of my top recommendations for those looking for a perfect selection for a movie night sure to please the entire family. The Blu-Ray release includes three versions of the film (technically), although it should be noted one version is more of a gag as opposed to an actual additional version of the film. ‘The Statler & Waldorf Cut’ is a lot of fun, but only clocks in at just under two minutes (that’s including their nearly 60 second introduction too) and while it’s not really another version of the film, it is pretty hilarious and still well worth checking out. The Blu-Ray also includes the theatrical cut (107 minutes) and the ‘Unnecessarily Extended Edition’ (119 minutes). I myself viewed the extended version, although having not seen the theatrical cut I cannot comment on the differences between the two.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation presented here in a 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty great as a whole, all of the colors are bright, all of the extravagant backgrounds impressively detailed, no pixilation could be found during fast moving sequences, nor were there any noticeable faults to be found within overall on my end. Everyone should be very pleased with this high definition video presentation.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD High Resolution soundtrack. While I was a bit surprised to see a High Resolution DTS-HD track as opposed to the more common DTS-HD Master Audio tracks which are far more common these days by most studios (including Disney themselves) I’m sure they have their reasons and nonetheless, this multichannel soundtrack still sounds fantastic and delivers on every level. The clarity and enjoyment of the songs and excitement are multiplied as they find their way throughout the seven channels, delivering a surprising amount of activity throughout and none of the surrounding effects ever detracting from the audibility of the dialogue occurring.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ also includes a number of fun extras including: Three versions of the film (technically, see more regarding this in the third paragraph of the main review body above) in addition to a fun blooper reel titled ‘The Longer Longest Blooper Reel In Muppets History’ (which clocks in at just under ten minutes for those wondering), a silly but fun little video called ‘Rizzo’s Biggest Fan’ and ‘I’ll Get You What You Want’ Music Video which is pretty amusing seeing the live actor and Constantine switching places in the same outfit throughout the video.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

Own ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ today on Blu-Ray Combo Pack & DVD from Walt Disney Home Entertainment.