Review of The Happytime Murders (2018) by Eli P — 28 Aug 2018

I can see why a person wouldn't like the Happytime Murders as I did - it has a very simple, almost paint by numbers plot, yet also pushes boundaries that it didn't need to push. It exists as something a bit between Roger Rabbit and Sausage Party, with a bit of action cop noir mixed in, perhaps along the lines of lethal weapon or similar films from the 1980s. Only with puppets.

But I think the puppetry and extreme comedy puts an interesting twist on a type of movie that we kind of don't make anymore - the hardboiled noir. And the puppet artistry was really good - I want to get a copy just to check out the details of the scenes in a way I never would for a live action movie. The characters were likable, and I was left wanting to know so much more about the world, but acknowledging there was no way to slip in the how of living puppets in with the story. The story was predictable, but not bad, the characters, especially the puppets were well done, and although Melissa McCarthy isn't one of my favorites, the character was interesting. They could have done a bit more with the FBI character, maybe slipped in few more clues or even random information... I would have loved to see more about the kissing cousins and their barbecue/religious joint, what the happytime gang episodes were like [or other puppet based enterprises], or just how puppet life works. Beyond the blandness of the story, I did find the swears, sex jokes, and violence a bit excessive, and I also felt the felt-prejudice was a little overdone. I get that they were pushing the envelope on the raunchiness because they could - because they're puppets - and to show puppets need not be for children only; the best that can be said in this regard is that these things were not out of bounds for the story or characters, unlike in Sausage Party where being extreme seemed to be the only point. People don't tend to be used to erring on the side of the extreme reactions, but it wasn't so bad, IMO. As for the prejudice, it felt like there should have been more sympathetic, and possibly overly sympathetic, characters... from emergency nurses to children, the puppets were near universally loathed for no apparent reason, even though, logically, kids would grow up watching puppet shows and like them. Maybe if there had been a puppet hitler or suicide bomber puppets, it could make sense, but on it's own it felt like we were missing something.

TL:DR - I enjoyed the movie; it's not the best but I was left wanting to see more.