Life imitates art with Muppets Most Wanted (2 stars on 0-5 scale). In the new comedy/musical, Kermit is kidnapped and replaced by Constantine, an evil frog that looks remarkably like the leader of the Muppets. Surprisingly, virtually none of the other Muppets can tell a difference. Sure, the replacement looks like Kermit and does some of the same things he does, but he doesn’t sound or seem like him. He doesn’t have Kermit’s heart, but no one seems to notice.

The same can be said of the movie. Remarkably, it now holds a 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and is doing decent business at the box office. I guess most people have been fooled just like the Muppets in the movie were. Yes, these Muppets may look like the originals, make us chuckle and even do a lot of the same shtick in an entertaining way, but they don’t have their sound, their heart and their soul.

Sadly, these are the Muppets today’s children will remember. As I was leaving the theater, I heard one child ask another, “Who’s your favorite Muppet?” One said Fozzie, another Gonzo, and so on. I wish they had asked me. I would have mentioned a Muppet that we haven’t seen in a long time, one whom these kids will never know, and one whose subtle genius is missing from the new film: Jim Henson.