Are you a man or are you a Muppet? That seems to be the underlying question in the hilarious genre-crossing Muppet movie, “The Muppets,” that opened yesterday (23 November 2011).

Have you been missing the Muppets? Their last theatrical release was in 1999 with “Muppets from Space.” Since then, they’ve had TV movies such as the 2002 “It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie” and the 2005 “The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz.”

The Muppets haven’t exactly been gone. The TV show which initially introduced most people to the Muppets, “Sesame Street,” began in 1969, moved to PBS a year later and continues on PBS. Since Muppet-creator Jim Henson’s death in 1990, the Muppets have been sold separately, like a divorce where different companies gained custody of different characters. Initially sold to a German company called EM.TV, the Sesame Street Muppets were then sold to Sesame Workshop and after Henson’s children bought back the other Muppets, they were then sold to The Walt Disney Company.  The Jim Henson Studios still exists and was formerly the site of the Charlie Chaplin Studios. They still own some of Henson’s creations such as the Dark Crystal characters, but with this parceling out, Kermit the Frog, Jim Henson’s alter ego, can no longer appear on Sesame Street but as a Disney property, he can continue to star in movies.

“The Muppets” is the first Disney-produced movie since the 1996 “Muppet Treasure Island” and writers Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller borrow an old Hollywood musical comedy formula, mixing it with a on-the-road bromance and a coming of age scenario and proceed with a wild, but charmingly daft tongue-in-cheek take on life in the Muppet universe.

This is a put-on-a-show-to-save-raise-money movie, one that in the early days of Hollywood you’d expect to see Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in. Garland is gone, but Rooney isn’t and he makes a cameo as a Smalltown USA resident.

Initially set in Smalltown USA, Gary (Segel) and Walter are brothers. Walter, Gary and Gary’s mechanically-inclined schoolteacher girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) board a bus to visit the famed Muppet Theater and Studio. Walter ,who has mysteriously never grown taller since about age 7,  is a big fan of the Muppets and is disappointed to find the studio is sadly neglected. He overhears oilman Tex Richman’s plan to tear down the studio and theater  because oil has been discovered underneath.

Walter, Gary and a slightly disappointed Mary set out to tell Kermit about Tex’s plans and they begin to gather the Muppets. Some are at career lows such as Fozzie Bear and others like  Gonzo have re-invented themselves. They end up flying to Paris where Miss Piggy is now the editor for a style magazine, but Miss Piggy and Kermit did not part on good terms.

The film uses three classic Muppet songs including “The Muppet Show Theme” and “Rainbow Connection” from the 1979 “The Muppet Movie.” And there are six new musical numbers, one which required closing down Hollywood Boulevard in front of Disney’s El Capitan Theatre for two nights.

This Muppet reunion is joyous, even if Elmo couldn’t make an appearance due to legal restrictions, and as with all Muppet movies, there are human actors making cameo appearances including Jack Black as himself playing the straight man, Alan Arkin as a tour guide, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Neil Patrick Harris, Judde Hirsch, Jim Parsons (as Walter if he was human) and Sarah Silverman as a greeter.

If the cordial legal “divorce” prevents Sesame Street characters such as Ernie from appearing in the movies (and Kermit from appearing on current Sesame Street episodes), then this movie is an opportunity for parents to expand their children’s Muppet universe while indulging in a bit of nostalgia.

Segel and Adams strike just the right notes as chaste G-rated lovebirds and as friends who support Walter’s dreams. Parsons is a delightful choice as Walter’s human form. We love Parsons in his TV series, “The Big Bang Theory” and suspect that Sheldon may just be a Muppet.

There’s no doubt that Segel and Stoller love Hollywood and the Muppets. Segel and Stoller get the Muppets and director James Bobin has produced a cheeky, chirpy musical that both celebrates and parodies movie conventions while honoring the wonderful safe and sunny world that Jim Henson created. This is the feel-good movie for the family.