The Happytime Murders Still Has Strings Attached

Connie Edwards and Phil Phillips on the scene of the crime. 

After Ted, Deadpool, and Sausage Party it was only a matter of time before puppets were next to get naughty. Unfortunately for The Happytime Murders, Meet the Feebles and Team America beat them to it, leaving its reliance on shock humor little to be desired.

A comedic film noir that takes a page from Who Framed Roger Rabbit on presenting a world where humans coexist with fictional characters, here being puppets. The cast of the Happytime Gang, a popular sitcom from the nineties are being killed one by one. Phil Phillips (voiced by Bill Barreta) a private eye and ex-cop puppet is assigned to the case with his former partner Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) and track down the assailant.

The sight of puppets swearing and smoking among other things is the movie's big selling point and while I had some laughs it came from jokes that were not raunchy. Most of the sight gags proved to be unsettling like stumbling across your friend's private computer files and discovering his weird fetish. The movie is competently made by Brian Henson, director of several Muppet movies and son of Jim Henson but under the new banner Henson Alternative that will be aimed for older audiences. Why bother? We already have the Muppets with their wacky and sly jokes that wouldn't be allowed on Sesame Street. Even The Muppets TV show from 2015 proved that making the Muppets too adult was a bad idea. However, being in the generation of The Hangover and Neighbors everything needs to be one with the times. I don't mind having an adult puppet movie but when it's from the same company that gave characters like Cookie Monster and Kermit it makes for a perturbing experience. Say what you want from the films I mentioned at the beginning of the review, it came from people who either specialize in such shocking humor or had no involvement from companies like Disney or Pixar.

The Happytime Gang posing with their human costar played by Elizabeth Banks 

The script was apparently in the works for a long time but from the looks of the numbers at the box-office the only signs of life will be as a cult following.

Despite being heavily advertised he only appears for about three minutes. 

There is even strange attempt at a Puppet Lives matter motif that seems to come from the line in Bright of Fairy lives matter. Not the best source of inspiration and only mentioned like two or three times; never playing an integral part of the story. 

Nice to see Stanley and Jeff working in the big leagues. 

The craftsmanship albeit vulgar is present especially when the puppets are in some sort of action scene or talking during a serious moment. The designs are charming with Baretta doing a great performance as Phil Phillips; I liked this character but could have benefited from a better script. You have comedic actors like Melissa McCarthy and Joel McHale in straight roles with not much laughs, leaving Maya Rudolph delivering the best moments than the actors and puppets combined.

Maya Rudolph as Bubbles, Phil's secretary.

As stated my thoughts of crass humor, it can funny for about a minute but when it is the entirety of the movie, it gets old really quick. The Happytime Murders has a promising concept that goes nowhere, been done in better movies, and its over-reliance on vulgar humor makes it a forgettable watch.

My old college professor told me that a movie should make you think. This movie left me thinking alright, like how can a puppet have a puppet-like liver or any type of organ when at the beginning the movie clearly establishes that their insides are nothing but cotton when they get shot or ripped to shreds?

Final Verdict: (D)