Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Happytime Murders Blu-ray Movie Review

Sadtime Moviewatching.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 3, 2018

Jim Henson will forever be remembered as the man who introduced the world to iconic puppets like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and built the wonderful world of Fraggle Rock. He also directed two darker but very popular films that pushed the boundaries of puppeteering and animatronics in Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal. His son Brian will be remembered for following in his father's footsteps, continuing the legacy and directing family films like The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. He may not be remembered, or at least not fondly remembered, for helming The Happytime Murders, a vulgar, R-rated, and decidedly unfunny Comedy which takes place in a sleazy and violent world where humans and muppet-like puppets coexist.

Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta) is a private investigator. He is also a puppet. His brother Larry (Victor Yerrid) is a semi-washed-up celebrity who once appeared on the hit television show The Happytime Gang and, with the show hitting syndication, is expecting to live large on the pending royalties and a cut of the $10,000,000 payday being distributed amongst the primary cast. One day, a sultry puppet named Sandra (Dorien Davies) appears in Phil's office, pleading with him to investigate a ransom letter demanding $350,000 in exchange for silence. Failure to pay will result in humiliating public revelations revealing Sandra to be a nymphomaniac. Phil hesitantly takes the case. His investigation leads him to a puppet pornography shop where the proprietor and several guests, including a porn-addicted Happytime Gang cast member, are murdered. Quickly, the remaining cast members scheduled to earn a big payday, including Phil’s brother, turn up dead. Phil is paired with his ex-partner, a human named Edwards (Melissa McCarthy), and the two find themselves drawn into the seedy and violent underbelly of the puppetry world and pulled back into a dark past that may be returning to haunt them.

If nothing else, the film is a success in creating its vision of a slimy, sleazy, uncomfortable world full of puppet sex and violence. It's dark, gritty, grimy, and uncomfortable. The problem is that everything that plays out within that world fails to resonate. The movie’s plot is transparent and its surprise third act twists are not particularly shocking. Characters are flat, built only to satisfy the story’s most fundamental needs, deliver crude dialogue, and perform within the unsavory world in which the story unfolds. Dialogue rarely feels organic, particularly in those scenes when it’s clear that a scene has been extended only to cram in another off-color joke, jokes which are rarely funny and serve only too overextend the film rather than compliment it. The film is more concerned with getting the joke or crudity into the movie, not making sure it serves a purpose beyond. The film plays to, and for, effect, not purpose. It exists not to tell a story but rather to litter the screen with sex jokes and acts of puppet violence. Some of it works -- puppets are blasted with shotguns and rather than traditional bloody human viscera appearing in the aftermath it's comically soft filling materials that are splattered all over the walls -- but the vast majority of it does not.

The film does impress from a technical level. Puppets are fully realized characters and a part of the world. There’s no hiding the lower half below a barrier where human hands control movements. They walk and talk in full view, though the movie might have worked better and had more impact had the puppets actually been controlled from down below and in hiding to more closely relate the movie to classic Henson properties and perhaps heighten the shock factor with a presentation more akin to classic children’s television and film. The cast, whether voicing characters or humans playing humans, do little to improve upon the brainless script. McCarthy is wasted in the role, which does not stretch her but tasks her only with spewing vulgarities. She’s a billable name and a marketable figure, not a critical cog to the movie. Her part could have been filled by most any other shoes, and her career may have been better had someone else bit the bullet and played the part.

The Happytime Murders Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Happytime Murders was shot on digital, reportedly at a resolution of 8K but finished at 2K. There's no UHD in sight, which is a shame because there's no doubt that even a moderate uptick in detail and improved HDR color saturation would suit the image and improve upon this Blu-ray. Even at 1080p, though, the image satisfies. It's often very filmic in texture despite being shot digitally, with dense city streets, complex manmade details such as pavement and building façades appearing extremely sharp and complex, and the sleazy puppet world is filled with very impressive textural delights and nuanced details. The highlights, of course, are the puppets, revealing the dense, tactile materials with a satisfying level of visible complexity. Human characters are nicely defined as well, with close-ups and medium distance shots showcasing good, though certainly not format-pushing, levels of intricate details. Colors fare well. The palette is perhaps a little less than ideal, with black levels raised a bit, giving the image a very slightly washed out appearance. There's not a substantial amount of color density and depth apparent. Core puppet hues and human skin tones could certainly stand a little more depth and punch. Compression and source issues are relatively few; light noise is evident throughout, but no egregious examples of banding or aliasing or macroblocking are evident. This is not a reference presentation, but it's a solid effort overall.

The Happytime Murders Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Happytime Murders features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. A 5.1 presentation would have certainly suited the material well enough considering that there's very little of sonic interest on tap. The track features fair environmental fill, whether mild, but immersive, background ambience inside a diner in chapter three or light supports inside a sleazy pornography shop. The sound design is generally straightforward and doesn't do much to really engage the stage or draw the listener in beyond essentials. It's 46 minutes until there's a true explosion (literally) of sound, resulting in a decently healthy low end wallop accompanying an explosion. The effect offers stage-filling depth and quickly arriving police sirens approaching the listener help fill in some of the sonic gaps. Music is largely handled up front. Clarity and width are fine. A few gunshots are scattered throughout the film and present with fair, but not extreme, punch. Dialogue drives the film and plays with good front-center positioning and clarity. Prioritization is fine, unsurprising given the relative dearth of exciting competing elements.

The Happytime Murders Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Happytime Murders contains several supplements as outlined below. A DVD copy of the film and an iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase. The release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 14:24 total runtime): Includes Puppet Poachers, Meet Jenny, Meet Edwards, Larry's Funeral, Donovan Poisoned, and Jenny's Arrest.
• Gag Reel (1080p, 2:47): Humorous moments and outtakes from the set.
• Line-O-Rama (1080p, 2:35): Alternative takes of various lines.
• Virtual Environments (1080p, 2:15): A quick behind-the-scenes look at building the movie's locations and scenes and controlling puppets by the magic of green screen.
• Avatar Demo (1080p, 2:45): The use of motion capture human performances to help build the movie's puppet characters.
• VFX Breakdown (1080p, 4:08): Another piece focused on visual effects construction, offering a montage of scenes in various stages of completion.
• Trailers (1080p): Includes Trailer 1 (Red Band, 2:28) and Trailer 2 (Green Band, 2:06).
• Audio Commentary: With Director Brian Henson and Puppeteer Bill Barretta.

The Happytime Murders Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Happytime Murders did not perform well at the box office. The equally, if not more, crude Sausage Party performed much better (and is a better film), so this film's struggles may not entirely be an indictment of transitioning traditional kid-centric material to the adult world. Hopefully audiences rejected the movie because it stinks, because it's purposeless, and because any draw that stems from its central gag loses its luster by the end of the first act. It's plodding and pointless, a stab, it seems, to draw attention rather than craft a worthwhile film. Universal's Blu-ray is fairly good, though, delivering healthy 1080p video and multichannel lossless audio. A handful of supplements are included, but only the commentary offers any real substance; gag reels and the Line-O-Rama focus on the movie's crudity and the featurettes only explore the visual effects. For fans only.