Muppets in Space (Movie Review)

Muppets in Space (1999) [D: Tim Hill. The Muppet crew and others] The last Muppet movie, done by the numbers, but die-hard Muppet fans will enjoy it. But even they will likely not want to watch it twice.
     Turns out Gonzo is an alien. He receives strange messages from Space, which indicate that his people are searching for him. Eventually they land (they’re a bland rock band, if you can imagine such a thing), but Gonzo decides to stay with his friends on Earth. There’s a deranged security officer who’s convinced that an invasion of earth is imminent. He kidnaps Gonzo, Kermit and friends get him out, in the end Gonzo’s people invite the security man to travel the Universe with them. So that’s all right.
     The movie’s an attempt to recapture the magic of the show, with every major Muppet appearing, but the energy of the show and of earlier movies is lacking. Correction: the zaniness is missing. The movie is too slow: the writers didn’t have enough ideas to fill the 88 minutes at the speed that engages delighted suspension of disbelief, and so every scene is a few seconds too long. Besides, we’ve seen it all before, in other movies. Riffing on movie tropes and cliches is of course what the Muppet Show was about. Pity that the makers of this movie weren’t quite up the usual standards. **