Muppets Most Wanted starts out with a rousing musical number about sequels, fitting since this is a sequel to Disney’s successful relaunch of The Muppets from 2011. Hard to believe the first Muppet movie was way back in 1979 and here we are still going strong 35 years later.

This time out the gang signs up with a shady producer (Ricky Gervais) who takes them on a world tour to Berlin, Dublin and London.

Meanwhile, Kermit the Frog is mistaken for an international criminal named Constantine who looks just like him. So Kermit is imprisoned in a Russian gulag while Constantine takes over his role in the show. Yes, I realize this is a little hard to believe, but who said the plot of a Muppet movie has to be believable?

Fozzie Bear and others realize Kermit’s position and help him escape from the gulag (where Tina Fey plays the commandant). Soon everyone shows up in London where Gervais and Constantine are trying to steal the crown jewels.

The movie is lots of fun and light entertainment for kids and parents. It’s a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously for a moment and even works in funny homages to old Busby Berkely films and Apocalypse Now. There are dozens of often funny cameos with everyone from Ray Liotta and Danny Trejo to Celine Dion and Frank Langella. Nice to see those un-aging characters still have it in them to entertain another generation.

Rating: three deer out of five

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Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.