“It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights…”

If you know how the rest of this lyric goes then you are part of the millions who grew up watching “The Muppet Show.”

And if you didn’t watch “The Muppet Show,” then you saw the films, like “The Muppet Movie” or “Muppet Treasure Island.” Or maybe you were a Sesame Street kid. Either way, the Muppets affected our generation and gave us smart and funny, yet wholesome, entertainment to grow up with.

The newly-released “The Muppets” gives Muppets fans everything they could ask for and more. Everything you loved about the Muppets before is all still there.

The scribes behind the ultra-raunchy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, penned this script and helped breathe new life into a franchise that had frankly died out since the abysmal “Muppets from Space” was released almost 12 years ago. They inject the script with humor for adults and kids without having to go over kids’ heads.

The plot centers around Jason Segel’s character Gary and his little brother Walter, who coincidentally is a Muppet. Walter is obsessed with the Muppets, because they are the only thing he feels like he can identify with.

Walter’s dreams actually meeting the Muppets come true of when Gary and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) decide to take him along with them to Los Angeles on their 10th anniversary. When they get to the Muppet Studios for a tour they find out that it’s all but fallen apart. They find the Muppets have disbanded, and an evil oil tycoon played by Chris Cooper is trying to destroy it. It’s up to Walter to bring the Muppets back together for one final show to help save the theater.

This plot may be a bit clich?© since the Muppets disband in a few other movies as well, but the movie somehow renews the idea. The old formula is still here too, like all the cheesy (in a good way) song and dance numbers and the countless celebrity cameos, such as Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis, Emily Blunt, Neil Patrick Harris and more. These alone make the movie worth seeing.

For many, seeing all the Muppets back in action will be extremely nostalgic. It hearkens back to a time of innocence; in fact, this movie celebrates innocence, which is a rare thing in movies today. You’ll love seeing Kermit sing “Rainbow Connection,” Gonzo doing silly stunts and Fozzie make stupid jokes.

This movie was made with such heartfelt affection for the Muppets and will win over a whole new generation of fans who don’t know who the Muppets are.

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