The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is a decent enough Muppet film, with lots of fine moments and musical numbers. The underwater number with miss piggy in particular was a highlight.It does of course feature some nice human performances, and while not all of the cameos work (John Cleese!) on the whole this is a good second big screen outing for Kermit and the gang as they try to solve the mystery of what happened to Lady Holiday's (Diana Rigg)jewels.

Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves (Diana Rigg) and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy.After more than thirty years, some of this film may be a bit dated. Not many viewers today, for example, might know who Diana Rigg is, and some might even find it hard to identify Charles Grodin. Peter Falk and John Cleese are still big names, but for a film that partially relies on cameos, this may take away its power.In general, it is pretty good, with a solid plot and plenty of musical numbers. There are some innovative ways of showing puppets swimming and riding bicycles. Maybe it is not as "edgy" as Roger Ebert would like, but it still has the charm of being something kids can watch without any adult humor creeping in.

If I gave "The Muppet Movie" 10 out of 10, I'd have to give this movie something like 15 out of 10! This is my all-time favorite Muppet movie! Not only that, but it's also one of my all-time favorite comedies! It's hilarious! Any joke these guys could possibly make shows up here, and they all work perfectly! This is the one of the best Muppet movies and comedy films you'll ever see!Synopsis: Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo work for their local newspaper, "The Daily Chronicle." After a huge robbery featuring the famous Lady Holiday takes place - literally right behind their backs! - they decide to go to England to interview Lady Holiday. Before they can see her, though, Miss Piggy comes in attempts to be a model, but becomes a receptionist instead. Kermit confuses Piggy for Lady Holiday, and they go out to dinner. What they don't know is that they'll be investigating who Lady Holiday's robbers are.There are way too many jokes for me to talk about here! They all work, and they're all funny! One of the great things the Muppets do well is break the fourth wall, and let us into their world. The fourth wall jokes are awesome! One of my favorites is after a huge musical number that takes place in Piggy's mind during Lady Holiday's fashion show. In her vision, Mickey, Lady Holiday's brother, and Kermit both sing to her. After her vision, she realizes Mickey framed her for something she didn't do. As she's being taken away she yells at him, "Y'know what? You can't even sing! Your voice was dubbed!" At the beginning of the movie, our reporters miss the big robbery story and tell the boss they'll do better next time. He asks them why they think there'll be a next time, and Kermit replies, "If there's not, it's gonna be a real short movie."The fourth wall jokes are great, but the other jokes work just as well, too! I LOVE the Happiness Hotel! After they get there, they have this exchange of dialogue:POPS: Hey, how are you boys fixin' to pay? KERMIT: What're our choices? POPS: A: Credit Card; B: Cash; C: Sneak out in the middle of the night. FOZZIE?: We'll take C. POPS: Very popular choice.CAN YOU SPELL AWESOME?!? Why would that be an option in a hotel? It's so funny! Another favorite joke of mine is when the reporters are trying to get a taxi. None of them stop for Kermit, and Gonzo takes care of it in his own weirdo fashion. He jumps in the middle of the street screaming "TAXIIII!" A taxi stops, Kermit acknowledges the effectiveness of that action, and Gonzo replies, "Yeah, it's great when it works." YOU CAN'T FIND JOKES LIKE THESE ANYWHERE ELSE!!!The songs are really good, too. Joe Raposo, one of the early songwriters of "Sesame Street," wrote these songs. These songs have a bit more of a purpose than the songs in "The Muppet Show." They set the mood and the tone of the film. They're also really memorable and fun. They're no "Rainbow Connection," but they're still pretty good.What I love about this movie is that the humor is very smart. Just like in many Muppet project or in any Jim Henson project, the entertainment is smart and thoughtful. The writers and producers put thought behind these jokes. It's not random crap thrown in front of us, insulting our intelligence. These jokes work because people thought about them and put on the screen what they knew would work.I just can't say how much I love this movie. This is one of my favorite movies ever! It's hilarious, it's musical, it's mysterious, and it's our favorite characters doing what we love! I promise you will love this movie! You'll get a headache laughing throughout this film! BOOYIKA!

All the films in the original Muppet movie trilogy, done with their late creator, Jim Henson, were made before I was born, but I first started listening to the soundtracks of the first two, "The Muppet Movie" and "The Great Muppet Caper", around the mid-nineties, and it wasn't long before I saw both films for the first time. I was within my last few years before adolescence at the time, and may have liked both movies equally when I first saw them. I've watched both of them again twice in recent years, and don't recall ever having an opinion on which one was better before those viewings. I now think the first one, from 1979, is the stronger of the two (I think most Muppets fans would agree), but this 1981 follow-up is still an impressive family movie.Kermit and Fozzie are reporters for the Daily Chronicle, and Gonzo is their photographer. One day, they are out on the street trying to get a good news story, when jewels are stolen from English fashion designer Lady Holiday! This happens when they aren't looking, so they don't notice, and instead write an article on Kermit and Fozzie as twins joining the newspaper staff, which they are fired for. The three of them then travel to London, England in the cargo hold of a plane to interview Lady Holiday. They stay at Happiness Hotel, a decaying building with free accommodation! When Kermit goes to meet Lady Holiday in her office, she isn't there, but he meets her new receptionist, Miss Piggy, instead. Trying to impress him, Miss Piggy lies and says she is Lady Holiday, and they quickly fall in love. However, she obviously can't keep her secret for long, and the jewel thieves are trying to frame her! If you ask me, the main thing that makes "The Great Muppet Caper" inferior to its predecessor is the set of songs. None of the songs can match "Rainbow Connection" and certain other memorable ones from "The Muppet Movie", and two of the songs here, "The First Time It Happens" and "Miss Piggy's Fantasy", make for two fairly lacklustre and tedious sequences. This second Muppet movie also doesn't have the same poignancy and meaningfulness as the first one. However, there's still a lot to like. The songs generally aren't bad, and of course, there are the same lovable Muppets in the movie. They also didn't forget about the humour, as the film definitely is funny, even if it's not usually hilarious. There are celebrity cameos here (though not as many as there are in "The Muppet Movie"), including one from John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. He helps make the part where Miss Piggy sneaks into 17 Highbrow Street a comic highlight. The plot also works well for a lighthearted family movie like this.Jim Henson's Muppets made an excellent silver screen debut in 1979, in a film that's still widely admired after just over thirty years. I guess it's no surprise that this 1981 follow-up is inferior, since that's often the case with franchise movies. However, overall, "The Great Muppet Caper" is a very good family comedy adventure, and is still much better than "Muppets from Space", the last theatrical movie featuring the famous puppet characters, released in 1999. I saw that one for the first time over a year ago and had never been so disappointed by anything featuring the Muppets! Anyway, kids could really enjoy this second installment in the franchise, and as usual with these films, it's not just for them. There's enough to make it worth watching for adults who still like the Muppets as well. Just because it's not as good as its predecessor doesn't mean it's not another noteworthy accomplishment.