"The Great Muppet Caper"

1981
-directed by Jim Henson
As the first sequel to THE MUPPET MOVIE, this is a very crucial film in understanding the sequel-avoidance intuition i experienced as a young'n (i'd never seen a single moment of it during my youth).
The good news is that...it was almost a good movie, unlike much of the awfulness that is to come. There was frequent happy laughter. To be sure, some of that laughter is nervous relief, simply because the movie is recognizable and not horrible.
Stylistically, it's slightly different, more self-referential. The characters comment on the fact that it's all just a movie ("Shut up, you didn't even sing that last song, it was DUBBED"). This character-breaking is kinda strange, but works, in a limited way. Several of the human performances were fairly funny (Charles Grodin, Jack Warden, Joan Sanderson), and two (Peter Falk, John Cleese) were almost very funny. The cameo by Jim is a little time capsule of wonderment and delight. Some of the effects are amazing, particularly the Piggy/Kermit bike scene. I couldn't figure out how they were doing it, and then, as though to rub my astonished nose in it, suddenly ALL the muppets appear on bike. The scene where they scale a building is similarly delightful, and provides us a non-disappointing, first-ever view of Janice's, um, posterior. The funniest moment of the film is actually hers. In a scene where everybody is nervously shouting at each other, Kermit finally hollers the group into silence. Oblivious, Janice keeps talking, and it's obvious she's not concerned about the plot dilemma ("And I said, but Mom, it's my life, what does it matter if I live on a beach and walk around naked?"). I was surprised at the presence of the rats, i'd always assumed they were an underwhelming product of the Post-Jim years. Rowlf doesn't have much to do, sadly. But there are few annoying moments, and it all moves along pretty well. Despite the fun though, there's an overall feeling of flatness. I wonder whether it had something to do with Jim's directing; he hadn't helmed the first one, so maybe he was "finding his feet" in terms of directing a full-length muppet feature. It was quickly obvious that the movie wasn't going to reach the magic level of the first, but it could have come close if they had fixed the single most disappointing element - the music. Oh Paul Williams, wherefore goest thou? The music is just deeply forgettable. The least-hummable song from the first film ("Never Before") is a cut above the most-hummable song from this one ("Hey, a Movie").
I'll rate all the movies in this muppet quest on a 5-star scale. The original was a 5. With music that was on par with the first, CAPER might have been a 4. As it is...
2 stars.