Ok, lets get this out of the way right now.
Yes the Happytime Murders seems to have taken more then a fair bit of inspiration from this season 1 Family Guy joke about childhood puppet icons in a gritty crime drama. But where this was a four minute gag The Happytime Murders is at least an hour and a half long but thankfully doesn't overstay its welcome. Though given the length I still feel it honestly could have gone a little bit further in terms of the comedy. But what we have is more then serviceable as far as a high concept dirty comedy is concerned. Not bad for what's essentially Who Framed Roger Rabbit mixed with Let my Puppets Come. (Yes that is a real movie.)
The premise is that this is an alternate universe where Puppets are fully sentient but are considered second class citizens. But hey on the plus side there's apparently no human racism because it doesn't matter who you are, as long as you're not a puppet you're good. Our main character is a Puppet PI named Phil Philips (played by Bill Barretta) whose brother was a cast member on a groundbreaking puppet sitcom called the Happytime Gang that is about to be released for syndication. But the original cast members start getting killed off once by one, including Phil's brother so he's recruited by the L.A PD as a consultant to solve the case. But he has to deal with not only normal puppet discrimination but also his bitter Ex Partner Connie Edwards (Played by Melissa McCarthy) to solve the mystery before any more of his old friends die.
The initial premise has a fair bit of comedic potential and some of the gags are out there yet grounded so that we can see the parallels between the Puppets situations and how it correlates to the real world. Also the fact that these normally depressing and disgusting acts are being done by Henson quality puppets adds to the absurdity and the humor. I'm not going to go into too much detail but I will say this, after this movie you'll never look at cows the same way again. Either way this has childhood puppets doing fucked up shit, basically a Robot Chicken movie. Though not quite as hilarious as that show but then again I guess we could have just been spoiled by shows like Robot Chicken for a long time, maybe if this came out in like the early 2000's this movie might have been seen as groundbreaking but as it is it's still a Funtime regardless.
But some critics who really didn't take too kindly to this movie have even gone on to call this "The Worst Movie of all time". Now I'm not naming names but really, the worst movie of all time? Worse then Manos the Hands of Fate (Non MST3K version), worse then Gerry, worse then Cyrus, worse then the Castle of Fu Man Chu, worse then North, worse then anything produced by Happy Madison or Pure Flix? Yeah ok, no no no no no no that is 100% bullshit. This is just a dirty comedy, not every movie with the slightest hint of subversion has to be this biting gripping social commentary.
Though the critics at least have to admit that the puppetry in this movie is top tier. I haven't seen a whole lot of puppet based entertainment as the rest of my body of work would indicate but I recognize good craftsmanship when I see it. With a combination of Green screen and actual puppets this movie really convinced me that these puppets were really moving of their own accord, essentially a modern update of Bunraku, though admiringly with the green screen and CGI helping it is kind of cheating but still has the same principal from what I can tell. Especially with some of the more physical comedy bits I could hardly tell there was a puppeteer on set. Sure it's not the same with every shot with a puppet in it where you could easily guess where the puppeteer is hiding but definitely with the more complicated sequences you can see the genuine Henson talent behind the strings.
Besides I'll always take actual, physical props that the actors can interact with over unconvincing, cheap CGI any day. Also keep in mind at the time of writing this article I saw BlacKkKlansman in the same week that I saw this movie, I've got more then my fair share of social commentary for a while. From what I can tell you this is just what the Doctor ordered after watching something that close to home. When I read these main stream critic's complaints I'm reminded of something that another subversion of childhood icons said.
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| It reminds me of one summer day in the park. I was having just a delightful picnic with my good friend Orville. And I said to him, I said, 'Orville, I...I have a story.' And he said to me, 'What's the significance of the story?' And...I said to him, 'Orville, not every story has to have significance, y'know? Sometimes, a...y'know, sometimes, a story's just a story. You try to read into every little thing, and find meaning in everything anyone says, you'll just drive yourself crazy. Had a friend do it once. Wasn't pretty. We talked about it for years. And then not only that, but...you'll likely end up believing something you shouldn't believe, thinking something you shouldn't think, o-o-or assuming something you shouldn't assume. Y'know? Sometimes,' I said, 'a story is-is just a story, so just be quiet for one second of your life and eat your sandwich, okay?' |
Though the more I think about it I can't help but think that the critics who slam this movie are continuing the joke of the movie. Namely the discrimination against puppets. I mean think about it, the puppets are treated like dirt all throughout the movie, especially with Phil in regards to his backstory and now we have real life critics tearing this movie, the first mainstream R rated Puppet movie (as far as I know) to shreds because not a freaking Muppet movie or some crap like that, I honestly can't help but think that that's the case. Now like Mr Hippo said I could be reading too much into this but I can't help it; it just kind of makes sense to me. Either way with the reception this movie's gotten I wouldn't be surprised if it emerges as some sort of cult movie or something, kind of like UHF or Buckaroo Banzai.
I could honestly be wrong about all of this but again I'm just an average dude trying to tell everyone to ignore the critics and see a movie where puppets make dick jokes for god's sake. Now don't get me wrong sometimes critics are 100% right, but not every movie the critics slam is a Michal Bay Transformers movie sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and judge it for yourself. You can listen to my advice or you can flat out ignore me, either way it's all up to you as long as you've seen it and judge by your own perspective. This might not have been the intent of the Happytime Murders but that's what I got out of it. Next week we'll be finishing up my review of Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Final, look forward to it.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
The Happytime Murders is owned by Brian Henson, Black Bear Pictures, Henson Alternative, STX Entertainment H.Brothers and On the day productions.
Family Guy is owned by Seth Mcfarline, 20th century fox television, Fuzzy door Productions and Fox Television animation.
Five Nights at Freddy's is owned and created by Scott Cawthon.
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