Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

It's very hard for me to now look at Muppet Treasure Island and wonder why I didn't enjoy it so much when I first saw it. The presence of Kevin Bishop aside, who is at least much more bearable as a child actor as he is in adult form, this is a typically enjoyable Muppety adventure, based on the famous tale by Robert Louis Stevenson. The worst thing I can say about it is that it isn't The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Kevin Bishop plays young Jim Hawkins, a boy who ends up in receipt of a treasure map that he then takes on board a ship, The Hispaniola. The crew seem like a decent lot, especially that charming fellow named Long John Silver (played by Tim Curry), but there's mutiny and plundering in the air. And a small dose of cabin fever.

Brian Henson is credited as director, although there seems to have been a lot of work done by David Lane, and three writers put the script together, giving audiences the standard mix of fun characters, gags, and musical moments. The songs here may not be as memorable as some, there's only one that I can remember right now (to do with the aforementioned cabin fever), but they're serviceable enough and interspersed sparingly throughout the proceedings.

Bishop isn't as annoying as some child actors, which is a plus, and Curry adds another excellent performance to his CV with his portrayal of Silver. There are also small roles for Billy Connolly and Jennifer Saunders, both fun to watch even if they're only onscreen during the first quarter of the film. As for the Muppets, you get most of the usual suspects: Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Rizzo The Rat, Sam The Eagle, Dr Bunsen and Beaker, and the grumpy old fellas who comment on what's going on (Statler and Waldorf). Another point against the film, however, is the fact that they're not given as much screentime as they get in other films. Miss Piggy, for example, appears onscreen about 20-25 minutes before the very end, while both Kermit and Fozzie are given lead roles that still somehow leave them feeling like minor players in this tale (because the focus is always on the main human characters).

Okay, having started with such optimism, I can now remember why I didn't love this the first time around. It's all down to the fact that there's more time spent with humans than Muppets, or so it seems, and there's a distinct lack of really memorable moments. Which still doesn't make this a terrible movie. It just stops it from being one of the better Muppet movies.

6/10

The movie is available in this set here.
Americans can get the movie here.

The Happytime Murders (2018)

"No Sesame. All Street." That is the tagline for this film, directed by Brian Henson, that pairs Melissa McCarthy up with a blue-skinned puppet named Phil Philips (voiced by Bill Barretta). The two used to be partners in the police force, but that was before Philips was accused of deliberately missing a shot when he had a fellow puppet in his sights. That one incident led to Philips being kicked off the force, he now works as a detective, and a new ruling to forbid puppets from being cops. But when the puppet stars of "The Happytime Gang" start to get killed off, Philips is recruited to the local PD as a consultant, putting him right back alongside his old partner, Detective Connie Edwards (McCarthy). Hilarious conflict ensues, along with more puppet killings.

No, The Happytime Murders isn't all that original. The idea of a police story involving puppets has been done before (see The Fuzz). Mismatched buddy cop movies have been done before (see . . . every buddy cop movie ever). And you can't see any puppet debauchery without thinking of Meet The Feebles. None of which makes The Happytime Murders any less amusing, even if it's never as funny as it could be. The best gags are in the trailers, as is so often the way with middling-to-decent comedy films nowadays, but there are numerous chuckles to be had throughout every main sequence.

Brian Henson has plenty of puppet experience, of course (is there any brand more synonymous with puppetry than the Henson name?) but writer Todd Berger is the unknown quantity, as it were. I enjoyed It's A Disaster, his sophomore feature as writer-director, but am unfamiliar with any of his other work, which mainly consists of shorts. He does a decidedly okay job here, developing a story that he worked on with Dee Austin Robertson, but it's still the script that is the weakest element. Although the laughs are sprinkled throughout, this should have been sharper, funnier, and perhaps even full of more references to other onscreen puppets (although I realise that would be a hell of a tightrope to walk, in order to avoid upsetting anyone litigious).

McCarthy is a lot of fun in the lead human role, quick to rattle off insults and happy to share most of her screentime with all of the puppets. Other human stars include Joel McHale, playing an asshole FBI agent, Maya Rudolph, as the secretary to Philips, and Elizabeth Banks, playing the human star of "The Happytime Gang", and they all have fun mingling with their fabric co-stars, who come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

If you only see just one puppet-filled comedy that also throws lots of sex and drugs into the mix then you can find a better option. But the good thing is that you don't have to choose to see just one. And I, for one, am happy about that.

6/10

The Happytime Murders will be available to buy on shiny disc here.
Americans can buy it here.