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The Dark Side of the Muppet

Written by Lex Walker

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Maybe it's because I secretly indulge my inner child far too much - but when I hear news of a Muppet Film Noir movie I can't help but scream "Hell Yeah" as I pump my fist in the air. Coming from none other than the legendary Jim Henson Co.'s side project JHC's Henson's Alternative Label, Happytime Murders involves puppet detectives forced to solve a series of murders surrounding the inner workings of a popular children's show: The Happytime Gang.

The Happytime Gang. Were Sesame Street just a slight bit edgier that would be the name of the first gang to begin initiation. And we all know cookie monster's blue furry ass would get capped just so some mislead puppet youth could get their shot in the alphabetically-obsessed hood.

Anyways, Happytime Murders will use the oh so traditional mixture of human characters and muppets to fill the screen. The real question for me is whether or not the traditional Muppet cast will be comprising the cast or if they'll use no-name puppets to give it a little film-noir autonomy? Either way, this will be AWESOME. The puppet device isn't used even close to enough. The fact that the Muppets were in existensial limbo after the whole Disney we-own-the-muppets-but-won't-use-them-for-anything-besides-Muppets-in-Space era just makes this return all the sweeter.

Do you remember those classic Muppet movies? The Great Muppet Caper? Legen - hope you're not lactose intolerant - dairy. The only way this could get even better is if the writers (who I'll talk about in a second) took the murders to Sesame Street. Considering this is actually aimed at adults (awesome, right?) a few scenes of snuffleupagus getting snuffed by a masked man or Ernie forced to kill Bert at gunpoint and then him rocking in emotional trauma in the corner. Granted this is all darker than they're probably going to take it...but this is a gateway drug my friends. Henson's getting some edge.

The writers make me somewhat worried. Dee Robertson and Todd Berger wrote the script but have very little of substance under their belts. Between the two of them they have a bunch of off-shoot features like Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five and a couple of Donnie Darko related side projects. Not the most promising resume for a Muppet film noir. But we'll see.

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