It looks like the Muppets have some kind of caper on their hands. Someone keep an eye on the baseball diamond! ("Thieves aren’t breathing down your neck!") My dated jokes aside, the criminal element involved in the plot of Muppets Most Wanted does conjure a few great Great Muppet Caper flashbacks. In the case of the upcoming Muppet film, the trailer suggests that a major case of mistaken identity may be at work here, as Kermit bears a striking resemblance to a criminal frog who discovers this similarity and figures out how to use it to his evil advantage. Enter Constantine, a frog with an accent and dark intentions. And also apparently an association to Ricky Gervais’ character Dominic Badguy, Constantine’s Number Two.
And based on the trailer, it looks as though Tina Fey’s character is the feisty prison guard who’s putting Kermit behind bars while Constantine assumes his identity. I don’t know if we’ve seen Kermit in such a major identity (related) crisis since he got amnesia while he and his Muppet pals were taking Manhattan. (Flashback: "Hmmm….") Finally, among the stars is Ty Burrell, who plays an Interpol agent named Jean Pierre Napoleon. I bet he pronounces Dominic Badguy’s name correctly. Napoleon appears to have a badge complex, and it’s one he shares with Sam the Eagle, whose badge is just a little bit bigger.
Beyond filling us in on what this new Muppet movie will be about, the trailer also happens to tease a number of celebrity cameos. Yahoo’s trailer post included Kermit’s input on some of them, including Celine Dion, one of Miss Piggy’s idols:
There's also Salma Hayek, whom I’m pretty sure we saw looking terrified briefly when Gonzo suggested the "indoor Running of the Bulls":
And here's Ray Liotta, who appeared in Muppets from Space and returns for Muppets Most Wanted:
We also got a glimpse of P. Diddy, whose favorite Muppet movie was The Muppets Take Manhattan:
And then there's Danny Trejo, who was supposed to be in The Muppets, but his scene was cut:
Everyone has their hands up.
Directed by James Bobin, Muppets Most Wanted arrives in theaters March 21, 2014. Check out the poster that released last month here.
