It's time to start the music...

I grew up in a truly great era. And Hell, even then I nearly missed it. If I'd been born just a few years earlier I could have even gotten a better taste of the awesomeness that was the 80's. Jim Henson was one of the big reasons that this time period was so awesome. The man tapped into something humongous. Something we were all missing. And he did it all with puppets. Or in this case, muppets.

It's hard to put into words. The Muppets just hit a part of the zeitgeist that could be explored forever. From Henson and the Muppets we got so many great things. Labyrinth, the Dark Crystal, most of Sesame Street as we know it, Yoda, Muppet Babies (OMG - AWESOME), and of course, the Muppet Show.

You remind me of the babe...also, I move the stars for no one...

For my part, I'm barely old enough to have fond memories of the Muppet Show, and even then it's only due to reruns that I have any memory of it whatsoever. Yet, some are still there and very powerful. It was like Saturday Night Live with the Muppets we all know and love. There was something magical to it. Seeing big celebrities interact with the Muppets was something special.

In passing, it seems so redundant and ridiculous. I mean, they're puppets after all.

But then I remember flicks like the Great Muppet Caper. This is kind of the Holy Grail of Muppet movies. They've had a string of successes since this flick, but this was the ONE. Magic + Quality = BOOM. It still holds up...I would argue even better than some of the more recent Muppet movies.

Alas, Jim Henson died WAY too early and so ridiculously unnecessarily. His passing was definitely felt. But the show had to go on, and the torch was passed and carried well. Muppet movies were still made and everything was right with the world.

Or was it?

The Muppets have been around still, but has their presence been felt?

Not really. Mostly because they've now been catered solely to children. So for the last decade, they've been mostly ignored by the generation that grew up with them and the adult generation that enjoyed them in their heyday. I'm as guilty of this as anyone. Sorry, couldn't care less about Muppet Treasure Island. There was no edge there. It was a kiddie flick. The Muppets shouldn't ever be a straight kiddie feature.

Ultimately, I think this speaks volumes to the way we treat children now and how we did a couple decades ago. Simply meaning that so many things that were okay in the 80's would never fly for today's standards. Could you imagine movies like the Goonies, Gremlins, or the Monster Squad being made today...OH. MY. GOD. Never would happen. Such is the same for the Muppets. At the end of the day, they were puppets, but they were puppets that could get away with some very high-brow adult humor without the kids ever noticing. However, there was always GINORMOUS heart wherever the Muppets went. Therefore, fun for the whole family.

Years pass, and age changes you. So it took Jason Segal's brilliant Forgetting Sarah Marshall for me to realize how much I missed the Muppets. The man blended something from my youth (Muppets) with something from my adulthood (heartache) to really remember that, DAMN, I missed the Muppets. Hollywood took notice of Segal's interest and eventually they gave him the chance to write a new movie for our long lost puppet friends.

I've been a fan of Jason Segal for a while now. Everything from How I Met Your Mother to even his enormous musical talent that has been showcased in movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. The guy has got the goods and his love for the Muppets is obvious therefore I entirely trust that the Muppets movie that is coming out this Wednesday will be the best Muppet movie ever made. Yep. Seriously, if there ever was a man that could come along to make me believe in the Muppets again making them musically inclined with a sense of adult and kiddie humor in play while keying the notes of nostalgia, it's Jason effing Segal.

And this is the era we are living in now! An era where all the great things from the 80's are coming back. An era I wish Jim Henson could still be alive to see. We have a highly successful Transformers franchise. There's a great new Thundercats animated show on TV. Look at all the great superhero movies being made...that's thanks to the comics boom in the 80's and early 90's. Hell even Hollywood is trying to capitalize on our combined nostalgia by remaking every great movie from the 80's in sight. As we speak they are working on remakes of Lethal Weapon, Predator, and Robocop.

It's because the kids from the 80's are now adults and we are bringing back our love for the good old stuff from our youth into the mainstream. Hear us ROAR!

So with all this said, I am asking you to make room in your heart for the Muppets. Give this movie a chance. Let's get excited about it! Let's go out and see it and take our friends and have some fun! Let's get nostalgic and sentimental! Let's all be kid's again! Let's celebrate some Muppet DOMINATION.

Do we really want the month of November to be a wash to a goddamn Twilight movie?

The answer is: No we really don't. Let's get out there and see the Muppets. And SPREAD THE WORD!