Review: Jim Henson Idea Man is the fantastic portrait of a creator
Much has been said about documentary films, throughout their history, we have seen the most faithful interpretation of what could have happened in historical events, famous people, celebrities, etc., each of them has its structure and rules.
It is a way to see nostalgia from another perspective, the point of view of specialists or family members and loved ones, even co-workers, and what others think and perceive about the events that arise.
One of the very critical things that they have in recent years is the morbidity, knowing what happened or, well, knowing what their filmmakers think to sequentially narrate the trajectory of something or someone that manages to involve us as an audience, having a little more information than we possibly already have.
The genres within these documentaries are vast, from cinematography and its history to things that are intended to be dark and terrifying, the truth is that all this causes expectation among locals and strangers, each country and each culture has seen this as an opportunity to have a collection that preserves what has happened to those involved.
The decade of the 70’s and 80’s continued to explore the way of living and how the future of things is perceived to this day. Technology in cinema has played a very important role and its evolution has been documented more than once. perhaps having with this a point of comparison with what is done today.
One of the visionary people and celebrities who contributed a lot to cinema and television with his particular point of view has undoubtedly been James Maury Henson, an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who gained worldwide fame as the creator of the unmatched but widely imitated Muppets, without these characters the world of cinema would be very different.
Documentaries in particular about the lives of those who have contributed something to the world of entertainment, there are many, and a new one that adds to this list, Jim Henson’s Idea Man by director Ron Howard takes us on a journey to meet this man who changed the way of educating and watching entertainment for children and adults over several decades.
What is the documentary about?
This documentary film takes us into the mind of this creative visionary, from his early years as a puppeteer on a local television channel to the legendary program Sesame Street to The Muppets among other great successes, we have had access to unpublished images to offer us a fascinating story and introspective of a complex artist whose limitless imagination inspired the entire world.
I dare say that almost everyone knows his work, that those who saw his works as children can now revisit them with their children and grandchildren regardless of the generation gap, works so well that they have not changed or been modernized and remain unchanged. just as we remember them, however, as the years go by there are new stories and new characters that have joined this great family to continue being the entertainment of new generations.
The Muppets Show is an American family entertainment program with characters that are puppets known for their varied species and personalities defined with an absurd, surreal, burlesque, cynical, and self-referential comedy style, they were created by Jim Henson in 1955 and are until now from the most beloved and most popular franchises in film, television, theater, music and other media associated with the characters in stunning merchandise.
Originally these adorable puppets were owned by the Jim Henson Company for almost 50 years, after he died in 1990 his work and legacy were put on hold while his family decided what to do with them so that they would not be lost and continue to be exploited and that is how Finally this franchise was bought by the Walt Disney Company in 2004 who decided to give it a change and a different twist to what we already knew and were used to seeing, the humor that characterized it took a backseat to give more importance to current situations, wanting to emulate in a more modern way what was successful in previous years.
The show no longer focused on having children as its key audience but expanded the idea to create and recreate situations taken from the same show in its best years that had as guests a long list of artists and stars who interacted with these characters. in hilarious situations that took place in a theater that presented a frivolous and light vaudeville with plots based on the situation comedy that included musical numbers and variety sketches.
The main puppet cast includes Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Rizzo the Rat, Pepe the King Prawn, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Statler and Waldorf, The Swedish Chef, Sam Eagle, Walter, the music band called The Electric Mayhem includes Dr. Teeth (vocals, keyboards), Animal (drums), Floyd Pepper (bass, vocals), Janice (guitar, vocals), Zoot (saxophone), and Lips (trumpet) and among the puppeteers and voices who gave them life are Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Louise Gold, Kathy Mullen, Eren Ozker and John Lovelady.
It was not surprising that they made the transition from television to cinema. The Muppets Movie premiered in the summer of 1979 with great success and a new way of telling their adventures, the franchise was already expanding beyond just television episodes and special programs and This required more work and a new way of managing, animating, and giving life to everyone without losing their essence and personality.
This documentary shows us what was in each of Henson’s ideas to carry out a project that he never imagined would be so big and that his name would be remembered as a visionary with his contributions to the entertainment industry with his Muppets workshop, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc. and Jim Henson Productions Inc, who have worked not only on their show but on various film productions such as Star Wars and Dark Crystal, which are already a classic of fantasy cinematography.
The documentary opens in 1986, the middle of an extremely complex decade for the work and life of this artist, suggesting that what we are going to see is a fascinating journey in a compilation of unpublished images and interviews with those who worked with him at different stages. of his career, his creations are already known throughout the world by old and now new generations, Howard aims to present more revealing things and hidden truths that only serve to realize that this can be more complex than we imagine, the objective of this documentary is to know the person in parallel with his work and why he has been considered a visionary and a genius in the entertainment of an industry that is increasingly decadent.
What we are finally shown is a tribute made with great affection and love to an endearing man that lacks an unhealthy morbidity that makes it more impressive, it is simply the director’s vision of what Henson was in life and his creations. , does not take the risk of presenting complex situations or situations that are in the scandal and the eye of the viewer simply because there are none and if there were, it would not matter either, however, this documentary has the peculiarity of being for all audiences and at the same time for those fans of these puppets and their animation technique and voices.
As a documentary and entertainment work, it does not disappoint, the main theme here is Jim Henson and how he forged his legacy and the creation of characters, Howard makes a very interesting compilation work that takes us from his first days of discovery of his creativity, reflecting the first incarnations on canvas of these personalities until we know and identify their definitive versions, perhaps the most darkly luminous part of this man is the change of interests that we see from being an expressionist artist to a more ambitious businessman.
This leads to the exploration of other media, mainly cinema for The Muppets, and the intervention and creation of other exclusive characters for other films. He monetizes his ingenuity by further expanding his studio until it becomes something more competitive in the field of special effects. Even bigger and on a larger scale, the films that followed the big screen debut already planned what direction this would take, they concentrated so much on a more Hollywood success, and the television programs after this were not as careful or very celebrated.
The plausible idea of maintaining the essence and spirit of what he had done for decades and that revealed his ingenuity was in force until his sudden death in 1990 at the age of 53, it is unfortunate that being in one of his best moments many of the projects and ideas that were planned were left pending, some more were canceled and only a few have seen the light to this day, what we have left now from those good times is a captivating work that has continued and will continue to be and to be liked of several generations.
Henson never imagined the reach that this format would have and this way of telling stories that over the years became even more prominent, requiring more attention and new characters that interact with real people in even more common situations with a touch of humor, but what about the children? Sesame Street continued to air for a general audience but aimed primarily at preschoolers with changes to its shorts and sketches that put it more in the decade it occupied.
Regarding the above, the scriptwriters of the documentary Mark Mondoe and Michael Mitnick risk nothing more than showing Henson’s life and creations from the friendliest side, no allusion is made to the controversy caused by stating that the characters of Bert and Ernie (Beto and Enrique) were a homosexual couple on the program, which led to them being taken off the air temporarily while the situation was clarified, which scandalized the most moralistic ones who did not see such a relationship as correct in a program aimed at preschool audiences.
Nor does he need to risk telling the behind-the-scenes and the competitively technical problems that these studios had with Stan Winston Studio and the supposed rivalry of these 2 talented creators, little is explored about their family life, which was off-camera most of the time, and the biting showbiz. Hollywood, tells in more depth how he wanted these characters to look, and what personality he should give to each one so that together they would form a family in which each one was perfectly well defined.
Not everything that is presented is so credibly good and as interesting as that may be, many of these revelations do not have a strong impact nor is it anything beyond what we already knew, everything is very superficial, we are very clear that this documentary pays deserved tribute to a creator with an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards his protagonist that defines it as a hagiographic portrait that does not delve into Henson’s personality.
Nor does he approach his failures riskily and forcefully and no matter how personal or professional they are, Howard resorts to what is easiest demonstrating and representing only the most positive aspects based on his work, we do not doubt that what he has achieved at the pace of The years is admirable, it details and further polishes the different stages of his life, presenting itself as a reflection of his tenacity to move forward with his ideas without abandoning the new goal of wanting to be a successful businessman, such a thing ends with an insubstantial and dull narrative that honors a man who deifies in a more common and banal posture.
Although this documentary does not present very new things or break ground with a different vision regarding the investigation, it is entertaining and even moving, something that shamelessly advocates instant nostalgia for an older audience, its 108 minutes of duration knows very little for us. There is so much to tell, this was definitely to be presented in a miniseries of at least 3 parts in which everything would be addressed without haste but with the same detail plus the technical and mechanical aspects behind his puppets, the cuts to the Interviews are brief when they had the opportunity to give more time and screen space.
As all of this unfolds we have fun and moving testimonies and anecdotes from his closest friends including Fran Brill, Jennifer Connelly, Dave Goelz, Brian Henson, Jim Henson, Rita Moreno, and Frank Oz among others, We appreciate that each one shows their sensitive side and the very personal opinion they have about Henson, there is no doubt that he managed to meet with the best in a very fun job and that it gave him excellent working relationships in the short, medium and long term.
Its structure is more similar to a program made and directed for children than a documentary, it is interesting to see how from its first minutes there is the intention to highlight not only Henson’s best-known characters but also those more obscure to the general public. The montage of the interviews is in a cubist setting where a very brief segment is also included dedicated to his Oscar-nominated short film Time Piece to the participation that his characters had in advertising products.
The music composed by David Fleming is only an accompanying link to everything we see, it is not intended to stand out or have memorable pieces, it only audiovisual frames this project that speaks for itself.
In his desire to demonstrate at every minute the importance of Henson’s work, any attempt to make his life and career something more normal and common fails because it is not so risky in its content, and by risky I do not mean something morbid but something to make things clearer and more concrete and not as something fantastic, its result is a very unconvincing and too timid effort to delve deeper into the life of this man.
In conclusion, Jim Henson’s Idea Man is a documentary film that leaves us no doubt about the love and attention that exists in his work, in his characters, in his ideas, and in the testimonies of his family, friends, and collaborators, they feel honest and sincere, pay tribute to an enormously talented creative who followed the path of the hero and reached beyond the success he expected, however, despite all the good that this man represents in this particular work, he falls far short of what was expected. of itself being simpler than complex.
Jim Henson: Idea Man is now available on the Disney + platform
