Is The Muppets too meta?

I know this might be a bit blasphemous. I know critics almost universally praised the film. I know my family really enjoyed it. I know I laughed all the way through it. But might The Muppets be a bit too meta?

If you saw the movie, think through it for a moment. Characters repeatedly break the fourth wall and converse directly with the audience. They regularly speak of the film as if it was a film (referring to cut scenes, traveling by map, using montages).

Even more to the point, the entire movie is about itself. The Muppets is a Muppet movie about whether or not people will still like a Muppet show. You can't help, but here the doubts expressed by Kermit and other characters in the film, as doubts of the filmmakers - will people really show up after all these years to see the Muppets?

Don't misunderstand me. It works. And it works because that is part of the Muppets' schtick. They have always utilized audience-directed comments and self-referential dialogue. However, it is a fine line that not many can balance.

Watching the film, I was not distracted by its meta nature. Thinking back of the movie, however, those things were what came to mind. The Muppets is able to manage it momentarily, in the theater, because of rare skills and an established history.

Others, who will most definitely attempt to mimic the style, will fail miserably and movie viewers will be forced to endure a stretch of movies that are self-absorbed and attempting to converse with an audience that's not there.