In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: Walter and Gary (Jason Segel) get ready for their trip to Hollywood in ‘The Muppets.’ 
  
 It should be universally acknowledged that a world with Muppets is a better place in which to live. 
  
 (If you disagree, I'm afraid there is no hope for you.) 
  
 So we owe a great debt to superfan Jason Segel, who has come as close as anyone to reviving the legacy of Jim Henson’s “Muppet Show.” 
  
 Segel and Nicholas Stoller, who made “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” together, wrote the screenplay for “The Muppets” with obvious intent: to return these icons to their former glory. 
  
 If they can’t quite attain that impossible goal, they join director James Bobin in achieving an equally worthy aim: reminding us what we’ve been missing. (The Muppets even outshine the "Toy Story" characters who appear in a cute, pre-show short film.) 
  
 Segel plays Gary, who lives in Smalltown, USA, with his brother, a puppet called Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), and his fiancé, a human named Mary (Amy Adams). When Gary and Walter learn a billionaire (Chris Cooper) plans to demolish the long-abandoned Muppet theater, they resolve to reunite the gang and raise enough money to save the site. 
  
 With Kermit’s help they track everyone down, from Miss Piggy to Gonzo. But they still have to convince a skeptical executive (Rashida Jones) to air their telethon, an extended episode of “The Muppet Show.” And where will they find a guest host in time? 
  
 There are rare visionaries who can never be replaced, and Henson was among them. While the cast and crew do their best to honor his approach — simultaneously open-hearted and edgy — they never actually reach the heights of the original show or movie. ||||| This movie has been designated a Critics' Pick by the film reviewers of The New York Times. 
  
 How do you reboot an entertainment juggernaut that began to fade before most of its young audience was born? In the case of the Muppets, you make a leap of faith and hope that the charm of these Jim Henson creations, which once flooded children’s television and movies, remains irresistible. 
  
 Realizing the potential for consumer burnout, you overlook that the later Muppet movies disappointed at the box office. (Maybe it was time for a break.) You trust that if you do it right, Generation X moviegoers, for whom the Muppets are the near-sacred equivalents of the baby boomers’ Howdy Doody troop, will welcome them back with open arms and misty eyes and take their children. 
  
 And so you have “The Muppets,” Disney’s endearing, silly, smiley-faced movie directed by James Bobin (“Flight of the Conchords,” “Da Ali G Show”) and arriving on a marketing tsunami. The happy news is that it has been done just about right, which means conceptually and technologically left alone. 
  
 These are the same old, adorable Muppets, as sweetly innocent and likable as ever. Winking at itself, the movie is casually, amusingly self-reflexive. In one joke Kermit the Frog considers telephoning President Carter. “The Muppets” makes no attempt to match the wisecracking hipness of the “Shrek” movies. If it doesn’t provoke belly laughs, it elicits many affectionate chuckles. 
  
 The score features more than a dozen songs, including the inevitable “Rainbow Connection,” done as a banjo-laced singalong. There is a rap number, and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” arranged as a barbershop quartet. New songs by the musical director, Bret McKenzie, include a ballad that asks, “Am I a man or am I a Muppet?” The answer to that rhetorical question, whether you are human or a Muppet, is, of course, both. 
  
 To resurrect the franchise, Disney enlisted Jason Segel, the star of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and that movie’s director, Nicholas Stoller, as screenwriters. Mr. Segel, an outspoken Muppet devotee, plays Gary, an overgrown child who shares a house in Smalltown, U.S.A., with his brother, Walter, a puppet so obsessed with his famous TV counterparts that he dreams of becoming one of them. 
  
 With his flailing body language, Mr. Segel’s gawky and naïve Gary recalls Pee-wee Herman. To celebrate his chaste 10-year relationship with his girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams), he decides to take the three of them to Los Angeles to visit the Muppets’ studio. 
  
 What used to be a thriving entertainment factory has fallen into such disrepair that it resembles a creepy, abandoned museum. Itching to buy the place, tear it down and drill for oil is Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), wittily played as a hissable archvillain and Muppets hater with a reptilian squint. 
  
 To save the place, Gary and Walter decide to round up the dispersed Muppets and do the old Mickey-and-Judy thing of putting on a show to raise the $10 million needed to buy the studio and save it. Kermit, whom they discover in a Bel Air mansion, leads the roundup. Fozzie Bear is found in a Reno, Nev., dive, performing with a second-rate Muppets tribute band, the Moopets. Gonzo, a plumbing magnate, and Animal, who is taking a course in anger management, follow, as do the rest. Plans are laid for a reunion telethon, but no network is interested. 
  
 “In this market you guys are no longer relevant,” declares a snippy TV executive (Rashida Jones), who voices the challenge facing Disney. She changes her tune when an emergency leaves a hole in the schedule, and the Muppets are given a short deadline to fill in the gap. 
  
 The most reluctant recruit, Miss Piggy, now the editor of French Vogue, is still miffed at Kermit’s shyness toward her. Their stalled romance parallels the courtship of Gary and Mary, which almost ends when he forgets their anniversary. 
  
 For the final telethon the Muppets kidnap Jack Black, who is not especially well used in the movie, to be their celebrity host. At the last minute the stage-shy Walter, pressured to perform, discovers his special talent as an operatic whistler and wins his place in the Muppet clan, and the movie lays on the inspirational shtick. 
  
 If the reboot achieves commercial liftoff, which seems likely, there will be a lot more to come, and the rather bland Walter may develop a more defined personality. But the flaws are minor. The rainbow connection is a smooth, unbroken arch. 
  
 “The Muppets” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has some slightly off-color humor. 
  
 THE MUPPETS 
  
 Opens on Wednesday nationwide. 
  
 Directed by James Bobin; written by Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel; director of photography, Don Burgess; edited by James Thomas; music by Christophe Beck; choreography by Michael Rooney; production design by Steve Saklad; costumes by Rahel Afiley; produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman; released by Walt Disney Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. 
  
 WITH: Jason Segel (Gary), Amy Adams (Mary), Chris Cooper (Tex Richman), Rashida Jones (Veronica), Jack Black (himself); and Walter, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, the Great Gonzo, Animal, Statler and Waldorf, Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, Sam Eagle, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band. ||||| You know times are tough when even the Muppets are facing bankruptcy, or worse, playing in a Muppet tribute band. What happened to the "rainbow connection"?That and more will be answered with nostalgic charm and big, splashy production numbers in the very warm and fuzzy musical comedy of "The Muppets." The movie stars Jason Segel Chris Cooper and pretty much every Muppet that has ever graced a screen, small or large, since the late Jim Henson first brought them to life many decades ago.This newest Muppet fable begins in an idyllic slice of '50s-era Americana, Smalltown, USA, with old home movies of best friends and brothers, Gary (Segel) and Walter (Walter, in an impressive acting debut). Though no one makes a mention of it, Gary is a human and Walter is a puppet, that blended reality one of the conceits the Muppets have exploited so well from the beginning.As you might imagine, Smalltown is a grand place to grow up: The grass is always green, kids love going to school, and universal happiness (if not healthcare) is a given. Mary (Adams) and Gary are sweethearts, getting ready to celebrate their 10th anniversary together and heading to Hollywood to do it. The romance is all very chaste, which is good because the twosome quickly becomes a threesome, with Walter tagging along.A huge Muppets fan, Walter's just dying to tour the troupe's old studio. If this were a different world, right about now Mary would issue an it's-me-or-the-puppet ultimatum, but she just sighs and makes room in the car.The villain here is oilman Tex Richman (Cooper), a tycoon who's about to take control of the famed Muppet theater, which has definitely gone to seed. While Walter's savoring a few moments in Kermit's old office, he happens to overhear the specifics of Tex's nefarious plans and knows the only way to save the day, or at least the property, is to get the frog involved.And that he does. Kermit's living large but alone in his Hollywood manse. Miss Piggy's in Paris, a plus-size fashion editor for Vogue. The others have scattered to the four winds, or Reno. But before you know it, and with a little movie magic, Kermit has rounded up the old gang, and the filmmakers have had a few laughs at Hollywood's expense.Segel, who's got lovable schlub down to a science, and Adams, not quite as enchanting as she was as the fairy tale princess in 2007's "Enchanted," but close enough, are perfectly cast. They are completely at ease in a world filled with Muppets and Muppet problems, and totally game for the huge musical numbers.Walter, a newcomer the filmmakers added, is adorably insecure and a good addition to the house that Henson built, which included so many iconic characters — the out-of-control Animal comes to mind among many favorites.One of the movie's delights is all the subversive parody slipped into its very smart script by co-writers Segel and Nicholas Stoller ( "Get Him to the Greek" ). The pair, self-professed die-hard fans, included a small Muppet homage in their collaboration on "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," but thought — why not put on a whole new movie, which is not unlike the "why don't we put on a show" idea that drives the action here.With "Flight of the Conchords" alum James Bobin directing and one of the show's creators/stars, Bret McKenzie , contributing three new songs, among other things, there is a clever edginess that helps keep the film afloat. That sensibility is very much a franchise tradition considering Henson called a 1975 TV pilot, " The Muppet Show : Sex and Violence," and took a few well-aimed shots at the controversy.You'll bump into a famous face doing a funny cameo around nearly every corner, Jack Black 's most frequently. Many of them remain uncredited for now to keep the surprise, though I'd just suggest you keep an eye out for the most fabulous one, which hits with a big bang.For all its sharpness, the movie has a very sweet streak. Its Technicolor gloss (director of photography Don Burgess, Oscar nominated for another fable, "Forrest Gump" ) and "Leave It to Beaver" fashion sense (Rahel Afiley on costumes, Steve Saklad on production design, both outstanding) do much to create the feel of a more innocent time.Still, the filmmakers are definitely playing around with the form, breaking the fourth wall and messing with movie conventions when it suits them. There are a few stumbles, but not too many, and by the time Gary and Walter get to a showstopping number that asks the burning question — "Am I a man, or a Muppet?" — you are completely hooked. |||||
A: 
Resurrecting a legendary franchise is a daunting task—but Jason Segel, Amy Adams, and the guys behind Flight of the Conchords have done it with roaring success. In the new Muppets film, the stars track down the Muppets in puppet retirement for a whole new show. (It's got a 98% positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.) “The Muppets won me over, over and over and over again,” writes Christopher Orr in the Atlantic. “Equal parts tender and hilarious, heartfelt and sly,” the movie “is an utter delight, a tidal surge of joyful nostalgia cunningly repackaged and updated.” Sure, “there are a few stumbles, but not too many,” notes Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times. Once we arrive at “a showstopping number that asks the burning question—'Am I a man, or a Muppet?'— you are completely hooked.” “It should be universally acknowledged that a world with Muppets is a better place in which to live,” writes Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News. If the film can’t bring back the early days of the Muppets, it achieves “an equally worthy aim: reminding us what we’ve been missing.” In short, “the rainbow connection is a smooth, unbroken arch,” writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times.