HappyTime Murders: Not Deadly But a Bit of a Fun Time

     Puppetry in film is practically a rarity to see in this modern age of CGI effects. When a film comes around like HappyTime Murders, it tends to be a big deal for some because it’s the first Puppet movie in quite some time, especially when it’s brought by many of the same people who helped bring the Muppets to life including Jim Henson’s own son Brian Henson. The bad news is, many are proclaiming that HappyTime Murders is one of the worst films ever produced from the year and so bad that it puts the Jim Henson name to shame. Although it is certainly not a masterpiece and does have some missed opportunities, HappyTime Murders is an entertaining little movie that has enough fun to it to be a decent watch.

     The film takes place in a world where Puppets and Humans coexist with one another, and after a couple of killings of innocent puppets take place, a detective name Phil Phillips has to solve the mystery to help bring peace and redeem his career as an ex-cop. On the surface, the film concept is pretty excellent as the original pitch behind HappyTime Murders was a puppet film noir, which sounds so unique and original that there’s a lot of potential to be had with that concept. The downside is the story isn’t really anything ridiculously special outside of it being a simple cop movie more or less. There is a social commentary to be had in this film regarding racism and prejudice; however it’s very much on the nose and just boils down to puppets being the ones mistreated over humans. While not a bad idea, it doesn’t do a very subtle job showcasing that prejudice or do a whole lot of major things that make this idea more interesting outside of it sounding good on paper. Though with the case of this film, it tries to rely more on telling jokes and being funny, but does it succeed with it? It actually does, while not every joke works as there are definitely jokes that are the typical “Hey look how adult and edgy we are type humor!” that seems to be there to get a cheap laugh. However, there are a decent amount of jokes in the film that are pretty funny and often very chuckle worthy, and most of it has to do how the film plays out as a puppet movie, because the puppets themselves thanks to some excellent work by the puppeteers is outstanding and create for a lot of fun visual gags. For what it’s worth, it’s not a game changer when it comes to comedy, even the whole adult puppet thing isn’t anything new and has been done better, but for what it’s worth, the filmmakers clearly had a lot of fun making this movie be as entertaining as it can even with some missed opportunities.

     In regards to characters in this film, there’s nothing too ridiculously deep with these characters much like the plot, but the ones shown on screen manage to be quite enjoyable.  Phil Phillips who’s played by Bill Barretta is a good protagonist while is the stereotypical down on his luck bitter cop, the character is performed quite well with him having some really funny lines and even some character depth with having a bit of some tragedy to his story even if it’s not a whole lot. What also makes this character enjoyable is how well he plays off with Melissa McCarthy. While she usually tends to be more over the top and sometimes even cringe worthy, here’s she’s not doing pratfalls 24/7 but instead interacting with these puppet characters quite well and gives some good banter with them. Outside of one minor elongated moment with McCarthy that’s pointless and unfunny, she ends up helping this movie be more entertaining. As for the rest of the cast, there’s not much to them outside of a couple of jokes that either hit or miss. Any character that do have some plot relevance don’t have a whole lot of screen time to make a huge impression and sometimes deal with some odd inconsistencies with the characters, however they get the job done of being a decent supporting role.

     The highlight of what makes HappyTime Murders sometimes a joy to watch is the world building this film creates. This is a world entirely made up of Puppets and they do everything to make this world believable. One of the biggest factors that are a real challenge is making more of the puppets full body and walk around like they’re actual creatures that coexist with these humans rather than simply being filmed from the waist up. It’s impressive to see and it’s very creative how they make these puppets feel as authentic as any other Jim Henson creation. It also helps that the designs of these puppets are varied greatly, ranging from simple Sesame Street like characters to more complex and interesting looking big characters, even when they’re not on screen for long, they leave an impression just from their design alone. The only downside to the film’s visual aesthetic is that the movie ultimately looks a little less like an actual film and looks more like a TV movie. The way the lighting and camera shots are shown in this is pretty bright and for a movie that is meant to be a more gritty film to an extent, it could have been more beneficial to make the movie more filmic and less like a movie that could easily be a Netflix’s exclusive film. It doesn’t break the experience or take away from the excellent puppeteering in this movie, but it could have made the film look a little less cheap.

     HappyTime Murders is a decently fun time at the movies. It’s far from anything too special and there does feel like some missed opportunities to be made with this film, but it also has enough laughs and enjoyment to be a very entertaining film to say the least. The fact that a puppet movie like this exists when puppet films are a rarity in of themselves is incredibly neat that many talented puppeteers and puppet related material is still coming out today, even if it’s not an outstanding work of art.