In this extended homage to classic noirs of yore, The Great Muppet Caper has Kermit (Jim Henson) and Fozzie (Frank Oz) playing identical twin reporters (who are also named Kermit and Fozzie) who attempt to win back the good faith of their boss by finding out who stole some precious diamonds from famous fashion icon Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg). Such an investigation will take them directly to London and they decide to travel to this foreign European country with photographer Gonzo (Dave Goelz) in tow. The locale here may be unfamiliar to the trio but at least they can rest their heads easy at night at the financially thrifty Happiness Hotel.
While searching for Lady Holiday herself, Kermit stumbles upon Miss Piggy (also Frank Oz), who claims to be the actual Lady Holiday in an effort to impress Kermit. This is just the beginning of the level of deceit Kermit and his friends have found themselves in, as, unbeknownst to him, Lady Holiday's jewels were stolen by her treacherous brother, Nicky Holiday (Charles Grodin). Nicky's plans for more jewelry thievery, which include stealing the world-renowned Baseball Diamond, will end up entangling Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and a whole horde of Muppets in a bunch of caper-related hijinks, hence the title of the motion picture.
There are overall better Muppet movies than The Great Muppet Caper (most notably, The Muppets and The Muppets Christmas Carol) but out of all eight movies Kermit and co. have headlined, The Great Muppet Caper might just be the absolute best distillation of the type of humor that the Muppets thrive in. Right from the get-go, the features meta-centric humor is established as Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo comment on the opening credits occurring around them. The humorous exchanges here, most notably Fozzie asking if anyone reads the opening credits and Kermit responding "Oh sure, I'm sure [the people listed in the opening credits] have families", establish right off the bat that The Great Muppet Caper will be merging fourth-wall breaking gags with some sharp writing.
From there, plenty of other wonderful meta-jokes like that ensue, including Miss Piggy breaking down in the middle of a scene and having to be consoled by Kermit as well as Lady Holiday excusing her extensive monologue to Miss Piggy by noting that it's "Plot exposition, it has to go somewhere!" Both the Muppets and the human beings they encounter are fully committed to this unique sense of humor and that means the execution of such gags is full of life and energy, which only makes such jokes even funnier. There's plenty of other types of humor scattered throughout the movie too, including a running absurdist gag about Kermit and Fozzie being identical twins. That image of Kermit and Fozzie's dad is the perfect mixture of both horrifying and hilarious!
The Great Muppet Caper zings around from one gag-filled scene to the next, meaning its predominately a feature that's light as a feather on its feet. I say predominately because there are two musical numbers that slow the pacing down to a notable degree and don't add much to the overall story. The first of these is the Couldn't We Ride number, which has some impressive visual effects used to make the various Muppets ride bikes in a park but not much else to it while more egregious is Piggy's Fantasy, which just feels like it's eating up screentime without any funny jokes or memorable lyrics to justify its placement in the feature. It doesn't help that the tune too closely evokes another extraneous Miss Piggy-centric Muppet musical number, Never Before, Never Again.
It's a pity those two songs miss the mark in a notable manner since the rest of the tracks in The Great Muppet Caper are high in quality, with the opening Hey A Movie! musical number being peak Muppet musical whimsy. Like those delightful opening credits, Hey A Movie! kicks off The Great Muppet Caper in style and has a catchy melody, plenty of fun jokes and clever lyrics, the specific trifecta many great Muppet musical numbers are built on. Another early musical number, The Happiness Hotel, is also a hoot-and-a-half, especially since it allows a wide variety of Muppets (including an early version of Rizzo) to join in the musical fun.
It isn't just the music that shines in The Great Muppet Caper though as the puppeteers behind the various Muppets are also in fine form here. Having performed these specific versions of these characters for half-a-decade at this point, the likes of Jim Henson and Frank Oz (the former of whom directs this motion picture) know these characters like the back of their hand and do wonderful work in generating personality in the tiniest facets of their puppeteering. Kermit and the gang feel like real individuals in their movements and the way they converse with other people. The assuredness that comes through in these puppeteering performances really help make The Great Muppet Caper so much fun to watch, though it's by no means the only element here that's thoroughly entertaining.
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