I have finally gotten "Pokémon: Shield" out of the box, and let me say,
it is way to easy to train your Pokémon. Since everybody gets experience
regardless of combat, if you are anal retentive like me, you want to
make sure the party is all equal before moving on. Dynamax powers are
not overly impressive since it did not take much to clear the first gym
leader with a non-Dynamax fire Pokémon. Regardless of these design
flaws, it is entertaining enough to take up my time to the point where I
do not have much else to write about otherwise.
Perhaps I should hold off writing this review until after I watch the
replay of the 12/4 edition of "AEW Dynamite" to see how well I fit into
the Inner Circle during the closing segment. Who needs Photoshop when
you are in the right place at the right time? What will be better:
Internet fame or an excuse to insist my sister allows her son to watch
wrestling for the sake of Uncle Russ's national television debut? Here's
hoping the David Starr T-shirt looked good.
Poor communication that made my 19-day in a row holiday work stretch a
thing may have resulted in a break from the retail job for a week. With
the "Pocket Monsters" and the chance to unwind, I may just need to take
the world a little less seriously. And when your latest DVD.com envelope
is Brian Henson's effort to subvert his father Jim's legacy, how can
you be?
Being a critic/film expert is how.
The Happytime Murders
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Former and only puppet police detective Phil Phillips is a cynical
gumshoe who is jaded by the lack of respect his kind receives. The
prejudice towards his race leaves him as the only form of justice
available to the felt kind. He has recently had a case fall in his lap
(in both figurative and literal senses). Sandra White is being
blackmailed about her sexual proclivities, and the criminal must be
found. Little does he know that his skills of deduction will lead him
into the trappings of a murder spree in which all of the victims were
cast members of the first puppet cast sitcom, "The Happytime Gang".
One of the cast members was his brother, Larry. Another member, Jenny,
was the human girl who got away. Needless to say, this case is going to
be personal, so it will be up to his ex-partner and sugar junkie
Detective Edwards and his secretary Bubbles to hold him back from the
ledge that vengeance may lead.
After seeing the red ban trailer for this film in a theater, it is great
to see that "The Happytime Murders" still had even more Muppet sex
jokes to deliver. The downside is that it may have lead to a story that
could have used more substance. Hopefully, Netflix will take note of
this, and give us a dirty "The Dark Crystal" spin-off.
Or perhaps the strategy was to see if there was a market for non-Peter
Jackson obscene puppets. If there was, then the sequel would build upon
the predecessor's universe, ala "John Wick". Unfortunately, the returns
dictate otherwise. Either reason, the lack of depth in the feature hurts
it.
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If it were a mile-a-minute action story, the pacing is done well. This
is a buddy cop flick, but with noir undertones. It does not play towards
either one enough. The two leads could make the first premise work, but
to pull off the noir, supporting characters need to be at least
two-and-a-half dimensional. To keep the movie under 90 minutes, those
chances to do so are lost.
Despite those story shortcomings, everything else works. The puppets act
like the gross out comedy characters you want them to portray, the
humans all give solid performances, and all the jokes are good. Since
"Family Guy" is still on the air, there feature still has legs
underneath it, and I hope the crew behind this will not give up after
this first effort. Universal was behind the home release, so Disney is
in no position to squelch those possibilities.
As an experimental film, "The Happytime Murders" works very well. The
raucous humor keeps you amused as it briefly passes, so only in
hindsight do you question whether or not it was good. This is the most
fun I have had with Muppets since "Treasure Island", and that was reward
enough. Since that was what parents hope for with kids entertainment,
how could I not be satisfied?
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