The Muppets are not that well-known where i live, so I have to quote Wikipedia just to get us a proper introduction.
They are an ensemble cast of puppet characters known for their self-aware, burlesque, and meta-referential style of variety-sketch comedy.
Created in 1955, they have fueled a long-running media franchise encompassing TV, music, films, other media, and even theme park attractions.
"The Happytime Murders" is the Muppets' newest cinema outing - and the first raunchy one. Dirty jokes come hard and fast, so be warned if you thought that this would make a nice family viewing or something. The first minutes are not that crazy but it turns very "inappropriate" soon.
Puppets are controlled by real people. One may not understand the inventiveness needed to make a live action movie including puppets - they have used green screens, several people controlling one character, and other film tricks to make it all happen.
But before witnessing the making-of clips during the end-credits, most of the audience is probably not gonna be able appreciate the artistry on display.
I, for one, thought naively that they use midgets to create motion capture of (some of) the puppet characters. But first and foremost, it makes sense to judge the movie by its content anyway - not by how it was made - and I rather liked what I saw.
Basically, it's a 1988's classic "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" pastiche, a film noir which uses the genre cliches for comedic effect. Or "Toy Story" pastiche where the original story has been replaced with one out of cop drama.
I rather enjoyed the result in any case. The reviewers at Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, on the other hand, seem to despise the movie... but I call it their loss.
As mentioned above, the result is very dirty - something one would not expect from a proper film noir, or classical American crime drama from 1940s and 1950s.
Also, the authors have decided to stay true to the Muppets' original variety-show approach which means relying much less on quality storytelling and more on satirical sketches about cops or social discrimination (in this case, puppets living among but being treated worse than regular people).
But somehow it all works. Even the trivial characters are captivating enough - at least in the context of the scene they appear in - and the general storyline about private eye and cop solving a series of murders is coherent enough to get one through 91 minutes of running-time.
I also really liked both the performances of puppets and real actors interacting with them.
Melissa McCarthy is one of the stars and offers her usual OK work - I've always considered her more of supporting player than actress able to carry the whole movie, but her growing list of starring roles proves that the producers see something in her that I don't.
Still, I would rather recommend the movie for seeing Maya Rudolph and Elizabeth Banks. These sexy and colorful minor characters are nice change for the usual generic roles that they get offered all the time.
Also, Muppet veteran Bill Barretta is phenomenally good at voicing the central hero, a disgraced detective turned private eye.
The delivery of every line is so enjoyably spot-on, straight outta any cop drama worth its salt, and the puppet seems expressive too.
Steven Seagal would probably be proud to see how much can be done with pretty much one facial expression but different body positioning. I hope he will see this movie.
So, if you have a taste for raunchy comedies, "The Happytime Murders" will give you something entertaining to chew on. At least the quality is higher than in most projects McCarthy has chosen to star in.
They are an ensemble cast of puppet characters known for their self-aware, burlesque, and meta-referential style of variety-sketch comedy.
Created in 1955, they have fueled a long-running media franchise encompassing TV, music, films, other media, and even theme park attractions.
"The Happytime Murders" is the Muppets' newest cinema outing - and the first raunchy one. Dirty jokes come hard and fast, so be warned if you thought that this would make a nice family viewing or something. The first minutes are not that crazy but it turns very "inappropriate" soon.
Puppets are controlled by real people. One may not understand the inventiveness needed to make a live action movie including puppets - they have used green screens, several people controlling one character, and other film tricks to make it all happen.
But before witnessing the making-of clips during the end-credits, most of the audience is probably not gonna be able appreciate the artistry on display.
I, for one, thought naively that they use midgets to create motion capture of (some of) the puppet characters. But first and foremost, it makes sense to judge the movie by its content anyway - not by how it was made - and I rather liked what I saw.
Basically, it's a 1988's classic "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" pastiche, a film noir which uses the genre cliches for comedic effect. Or "Toy Story" pastiche where the original story has been replaced with one out of cop drama.
I rather enjoyed the result in any case. The reviewers at Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, on the other hand, seem to despise the movie... but I call it their loss.
As mentioned above, the result is very dirty - something one would not expect from a proper film noir, or classical American crime drama from 1940s and 1950s.
Also, the authors have decided to stay true to the Muppets' original variety-show approach which means relying much less on quality storytelling and more on satirical sketches about cops or social discrimination (in this case, puppets living among but being treated worse than regular people).
But somehow it all works. Even the trivial characters are captivating enough - at least in the context of the scene they appear in - and the general storyline about private eye and cop solving a series of murders is coherent enough to get one through 91 minutes of running-time.
I also really liked both the performances of puppets and real actors interacting with them.
Melissa McCarthy is one of the stars and offers her usual OK work - I've always considered her more of supporting player than actress able to carry the whole movie, but her growing list of starring roles proves that the producers see something in her that I don't.
Still, I would rather recommend the movie for seeing Maya Rudolph and Elizabeth Banks. These sexy and colorful minor characters are nice change for the usual generic roles that they get offered all the time.
Also, Muppet veteran Bill Barretta is phenomenally good at voicing the central hero, a disgraced detective turned private eye.
The delivery of every line is so enjoyably spot-on, straight outta any cop drama worth its salt, and the puppet seems expressive too.
Steven Seagal would probably be proud to see how much can be done with pretty much one facial expression but different body positioning. I hope he will see this movie.
So, if you have a taste for raunchy comedies, "The Happytime Murders" will give you something entertaining to chew on. At least the quality is higher than in most projects McCarthy has chosen to star in.