For The First Time In My Life, Puppets Let Me Down

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a big #PuppetGuy. 

Their incessant flailing will always make me laugh and when Kermit starts plucking away on his banjo and singing "The Rainbow Connection," forget it. I'm in shambles.

In fact, I once had a friend tell me they didn't like the Muppets, and I think I would have been less upset if he said that he used puppies for batting practice instead of baseballs.

(That's a bit of hyperbole, but I was still pretty upset.)

I would consider myself something of a pro-puppet activist. If they had legs and could march in parades, I'd be right there right along side Burt and Ernie as a "puppet pal," a friend to the puppet community.

Because of this, when I learned about The Happytime Murders, the new film from Jim Henson's (AKA Puppet Jesus's) son, Brian Henson, I was very excited. An adult-comedy-mystery-puppet movie. Sign me up!

I told anyone who would listen about the movie.

"Yeah, the Avengers looks alright, but have you heard of The Happytime Murders?"

I wasn't able to see the movie opening day because I had to work a promotional event for a radio station (fist bump!) so I went and saw it one week later.

Aaaaaaand...

It sucked.

It was flat out un-good.

It delivered what it promised swearing, sex-obsessed puppets, but that was all it delivered. And it kept delivering it, even after you made it clear that you had had enough and didn't order any more.

Puppets acting dirty is always funny, but when they do it constantly it loses its shock value. That's what happened in The Happytime Murders.

Plus, the story wasn't all that great.

Do I feel like I've been let down by puppets? Yes, but I'm not angry, I'm disappointed, the way you are if you're kid did something bad and you really want it to cut deep.

I'll continue to be an advocate for puppets, but it would be nice if they helped me fight the good fight every now and then.