One of the most anticipated moments of Disney’s D23 Studio Presentation today at the Anaheim convention center was the presentation of “The Muppets,” which is nearing its November 23rd release date.
To start the ‘Muppets’ portion of today’s presentation, the curtains opened up to reveal Kermit the Frog and Jason Segel sitting in matching director’s chairs. The stage moved forward and the two wondered aloud where exactly Miss Piggy could be. Moving on, they discuss two clips brought by Segel, neither of which will be featuring Miss Piggy. If she hears about this, “she’s going to tear this place apart,” Kermit warns Segel. On cue, Miss Piggy makes a grand entrance as a sidecar passenger on a roaring Harley to Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”
Miss Piggy says that she can’t wait to see the clips featuring “moi.” Kermit and Segel try their best to appease the pork diva and roll the footage.
The first clip shows Segel and Amy Adams driving with new Muppet, Walter. They are looking for Kermit’s house and having difficulty finding it. “Maybe that’s it,” Adams points to a wrought iron gate with Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog on it. They get out and hear a familiar voice behind them. It’s Kermit, silhouetted like an angel. Turns out it’s just a truck passing behind him. Kermit introduces himself and Walter, a Muppet uber-fan, passes out. Once he’s revived inside and realizes he’s actually in Kermit’s house, he passes out again.
The second clip is the true show-stopper of the day. Segel, Adams and pretty much the entire Muppets gang (except, of course, for Miss Piggy) return to the Muppet theater, which they find in ruin. It’s abandoned, falling apart and covered in dust and cobwebs. Debating on what to do, Walter points out that they just need a musical montage. Starship’s “We Built This City” starts up and we get an entertaining musical montage of the Muppets doing their thing as they revive their beloved theater.
It’s been a long-hiatus for the Muppets, and while many fans remain understandably skeptical of a post-Henson classic, Jason Segel and co. seem to be hitting all the right notes so far on this one. Fans today seemed pretty happy with what they saw. Now let’s just hope the whole movie is up to this level. “The Muppets” opens in theaters nationwide on November 23rd, 2011. This afternoon, Disney revealed some new photos which you can see below.
