The Happytime Murders (2018)

Jim Henson was a man who revolutionized how puppets were portrayed in the media. He helped create programs for television and movies that were aimed at more kid-friendly and family-friendly audiences. Things like 'Sesame Street', 'The Muppet Show', and others had a specific audience in mind. Only on the rare occasions like “The Dark Crystal” and “Labyrinth” did Henson go into more older crowd with its content. That is until now. With “The Happytime Murders”, we get an R-rated feature from Jim's son Brian that gives us a more mature look at puppets. And the end result is... bad. While it's definitely not the worst, the film is just bland, uninteresting, and more importantly, boring. “The Happytime Murders” is not what Jim Henson wanted, but also not what he needed.

The story is set in a world where puppets and humans co-exist, however, puppets are mistreated and considered as objects rather than people. One puppet, Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta), is a former cop that still tries to fight for puppets' rights. This changes when a group of puppets from a popular television show from the past are getting murdered, which sparks interest in Phil. However, Phil must team up with his former partner, Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), whom the the two have had a troubled relationship. Now, Phillips and Edwards must find out what is going on, and solve the case before anything terrible happens.

“The Happytime Murders” is a movie that is just trying to prove a gimmick. That gimmick being it's an R-rated puppet movie. The problem with that is that we've seen R-rated puppet films before from the likes of “Team America: World Police” from 2004, and “Meet the Feebles” from 1989. It also doesn't help that this movie spent nearly a decade in development hell trying to get off the ground. And this is the film everyone got hyped up for?

Which leads to the biggest problem with the movie: the story.

Practically everything about the story is uninteresting, bland, and most importantly, predictable. There is a world that can be set up, but the movie clearly doesn't establish the rules that the world can follow or go along with. This can be contributed towards the screenplay by Todd Berger, who is mostly known for short animated films and television. And it clearly shows here. “The Happytime Murders” feels as if it were a sketch being performed on television, only it goes on way too long.

And that's another thing: the editing and pacing is bad.

With the editing, the film seems out of focus, quickly jumping from one set piece to another.

With the pacing, everything is moving too fast, giving the viewer not enough time to take a break on what is happening. If the movie had slowed down just a bit, then the audience would have time to be invested in what's happening.

As for everything else, the music doesn't get the viewer excited for the action unfolding, and it's not that memorable of a score. Plus, the addition of popular music selections really don't set the mood for the film laid before us.

The costumes and cinematography look fine, and modern. But the problem is with the fact the movie is modern; if the film was set during the 1950s, and taking more of a parody route, then it would have worked just fine and dandy. The acting feels rather forced, and there is not a whole lot of improvisation being delivered, which could have saved the film a lot.

Is there anything positive about the film? Well, some of the puppets are cleverly designed, and there is some dedication to the puppetry being used. Plus, the puppet performers do a good job with what they are given. That's about it.

In conclusion, “The Happytime Murders” is a nice alternative towards the family-friendly attitude that Jim Henson had envisioned, but the end result here is not worth sticking a hand up some felt.