Muppets Most Wanted (G) ****
 
Muppets Most Wanted may not have the sheer charm of its wonderful 2012 predecessor. But if you’re looking for wacky laughs, you’ve come to the right place.
 
If Jason Segel’s The Muppets was heartfelt and funny, this one is sassy and slapstick. It’s a very different animal to the previous film, which focused on getting the gang back together. This one’s about what they get up to next.
 
Ricky Gervais is one of the movie’s two villains, a criminal named Dominic Badguy (“It’s French, it’s pronounced Badjee”, he tells the Muppets).
 
Posing as an agent, Dominic brings the Muppets on a European tour  -  including Dublin. While on tour, poor Kermie is abducted and thrown into a Russian gulag. There he’s held captive by no-nonsense prison guard Nadia (Tina Fey, hilariously over the top) who may harbour a secret crush on the frog.
 
Meanwhile, his doppelganger, the nasty Constantine, is touring with the Muppets as Kermit, using the gigs as a front while he robs numerous cities of the most priceless treasures.
 
Though there are no stand outs in the vein of Man or a Muppet, the songs and musical numbers are lively, and the persistently funny script will bring belly laughs for kids and grown ups alike.
 
It’s when movie goes full zany that it’s the most fun. Constantine’s efforts to mimic Kermit never fails to amuse, while the sight of Ray Liotta leading a gulag dance troupe with a Boyz II Men number is a highlight.
 
* Muppets Most Wanted is showing at cinemas nationwide today and St Patrick’s Day as well as next weekend, March 22nd and 23rd. It goes on general release on March 28th.
 
Under the Skin (15A) **
 
Profound existentialist view of the world through an alien eye? Or a load of arthouse mumbo jumbo? By an hour into Under the Skin, I was too bored to care.
 
This is a movie that requires its audience to dig deep and despite being widely praised, for me the payoffs just weren’t there.
 
It’s a shame, because this had the potential to be a high-concept sci-fi movie, while the unsettling score from Mica Levi (otherwise known as English singer Micachu) works beautifully well.
 
Scarlett Johansson takes on her most unusual role yet in Under the Skin as an alien who lands in Scotland.
 
Loosely based on the novel of the same name, the movie aims to show us Earth through the eyes of an alien.
 
Sent to our planet to prey on unsuspecting hitchhikers, and using her sexuality to lure them to their deaths, the film is directed by Jonathan Glazer, who brought out the best Ben Kingsley with Sexy Beast.
 
Here, we see Scarlett’s unnamed alien character land to Earth  - or more precisely, Scotland  -  where she dons a black wig and red lipstick to make her sexually attractive. Those who are seduced by her are liquidised, presumably to be reconstituted as alien grub.
 
There are a lot of lengthy shots and while the movie has style to burn, its interest in constantly alerting you to its own magnificence proves tiresome, while the deeply repetitious form the storyline took left me cold.
 
The idea that the character begins to develop human empathy, leaving her vulnerable, is an interesting one, but by the time it was developed I had mentally checked out of this painfully slow and pretentious film.