The Muppets
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: November 23, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallNov 22, 2011
Yes, Kermit does reprise The Rainbow Connection, surely one of the loveliest movie songs ever and, yes, it still brings tears to your eyes. Happy tears, realizing some marvelous things never change. Read full review
90
NPRLinda HolmesNov 23, 2011
It's hard not to be both heartened and a little wistful about the fact that The Muppets is probably as good a Muppet project as it's possible to make without Jim Henson. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzNov 22, 2011
Clever and current without being cynical, smart without being condescending, funny without being exclusionary to grown-ups or to kids. Read full review
90
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondNov 20, 2011
The holiday season just got a whole lot brighter. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovNov 23, 2011
It is with immense pleasure that I can report that Disney's Muppet reboot movie is an absolute delight. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanNov 22, 2011
The Muppets is both a delightful family film about the Muppets and a winking, self-referential satire about how lame the Muppets are. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigNov 22, 2011
More fresh than retro, The Muppets bursts with charm and cheeky humor. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisNov 22, 2011
I've never seen a movie so perfectly balanced between unabashed nerdiness and hipness. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezNov 21, 2011
The Muppets may have been born out of a desire to revive a dormant franchise that was once a cash cow, but there isn't a single beat in the film that feels crass or opportunistic. This one is from the heart. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyNov 23, 2011
You can find movies with better scripts, direction, acting, songs, and jokes than The Muppets -- but you won't find one that's nearly so much fun. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumNov 21, 2011
For kids, blessedly unironic by nature until wised up by nurture, the movie is just shiny, funny, and filled with songs. Read full review
80
EmpireOlly RichardsFeb 6, 2012
Made absolutely for grown-up fans, this is the Muppets as you fondly remember them: funny, smart and gleefully insane. Kermit, it's great to have you back. Read full review
80
SlateDana StevensNov 23, 2011
Like Statler and Waldorf, older viewers may kvetch and cavil about the details, but when that red velvet curtain goes up, we wouldn't give up our balcony seats for the world. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 22, 2011
Segel and Nicholas Stoller, who made "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" together, wrote the screenplay for The Muppets with obvious intent: to return these icons to their former glory. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 22, 2011
The rainbow connection is a smooth, unbroken arch. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaNov 23, 2011
'As long as there are Muppets," muses a little felt guy named Walter, "there is still hope." And indeed, there is something hopeful about The Muppets - Disney's rollicking reboot of the late Jim Henson's furball franchise. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 23, 2011
Sprinkled throughout, there is also a handful of wonderfully amusing song-and-dance numbers, written by Bret McKenzie. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithNov 23, 2011
There are several adorable musical numbers that make excellent use of Adams. Segel's dancing is . . . well, he reminded me of a huge star: Big Bird. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliNov 22, 2011
The Muppets is a rare family film likely to appeal more to parents than to their offspring. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliNov 22, 2011
A triumph of simplicity, innocence and goofy jokes. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertNov 22, 2011
A funny, wickedly self-aware musical that opens by acknowledging they've outlived their shelf life. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsNov 22, 2011
At its best, though, The Muppets cuts back on the '80s-flashback self-consciousness and believes in the dream. Read full review
75
MovielineAlison WillmoreNov 22, 2011
The love Segel has for the Muppets is a genuine, perceivable and positive quality that suffuses this good-hearted revitalization of the franchise, and if some wish fulfillment sneaks in there too. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsNov 22, 2011
The troupe's first film in more than a decade, is a more aggressively absurd antidote to what it calls "a hard, cynical world." Happily, it works. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreNov 21, 2011
The musical comedy whimsically and often cleverly revisits the characters, their shtick and and the TV show and movies that made them most famous. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversNov 21, 2011
The Muppets slaps a smile on your face you won't want to wipe off. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineBill WeberNov 19, 2011
The beloved gang's sweet reunion will melt nostalgic adults into laughter and tears, and maybe kids won't mind drippy new Muppet Walter so much. Read full review
70
TimeMary PolsNov 23, 2011
During the movie's best moments, I recalled exactly what my long-gone father's roars of laughter sounded like. Was it the joyous lunacy of "Mahnamahna" that used to set him off? Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesNov 23, 2011
Unfortunately, this comeback movie, a labor of love for mush-headed screenwriter and star Jason Segel, errs on the side of sweetness and nostalgia; except for a few good zingers from balcony dwellers Statler and Waldorf, there isn't much here for mom and dad. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 22, 2011
For all its sharpness, the movie has a very sweet streak. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 21, 2011
I'm being completely sincere - and entirely complimentary! - when I say that The Muppets represents a career high point for Segel, the comedian who reveals himself to be a whimsical writer, capable singer and dancer and appealing straight man. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 18, 2011
A breezy, keen-to-please attitudes prevails, and director James Bobin (The Flight of the Conchords, Da Ali G Show for TV) moves things along with good cheer. Read full review
70
VarietyJustin ChangNov 18, 2011
An unexpected treat. Bright and perky, cheeky but never mean-spirited. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsNov 22, 2011
Henson's characters maintained an essential innocence while sending up the very idea of entertainment. They put on a show with quotation marks around it, but the irony never felt cynical. When it isn't getting bogged down in unearned sentiment, The Muppets gets that right. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriDec 27, 2011
It may not entirely work as a movie, but The Muppets shines as a piece of touching pop nostalgia. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenNov 23, 2011
The Muppet charm, always more at home within the intimate frame of a TV set, is gone here. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonNov 22, 2011
Terrified of alienating those who were raised on the originals, The Muppets panders to them instead, constantly blasting or restaging Top 40 hits from the past three-plus decades, continuing the cheap strategy that worked well on YouTube two years ago with the Muppets' cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody." Read full review
More From This Movie

75 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL