(PG) ★★★★
Director: Ron Howard.
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| "I love you, man." "I love you, frog." |
I love The Muppets. When people ask me my favourite movie of all time, which they often do, I give them three: Raiders Of The Lost Ark, The Wizard Of Oz, and The Muppet Movie. The Muppets was my favourite TV show as a kid. Hell, Animal was my imaginary friend when I was a kid. We went to the Noorat Show together.
I watched every episode of The Muppets Show when I was young, and I love the first two Muppet films - The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper (and deeply respect The Muppets Take Manhattan). But I'm not a completist. I've seen the 2011 reboot and its sequel, but I still haven't watched The Muppet Christmas Carol or Muppets From Space, nor have I gotten around to watching Muppets Now or Muppets Mayhem. It's almost as if a significant part of The Muppets died for me when Jim Henson did.
Watching Ron Howard's touching but honest portrait of Muppets' creator Jim Henson takes me back to that childlike wonder I had for those ridiculous marionettes/puppets and their oddball antics. They were bizarre creations, even back in the '70s and '80s, and continue to be. And at the heart of the weirdness and heartfelt insanity - at least in the glory days - was Henson.
So much of Henson was imbued into everything he did, not just in The Muppet Show. Kermit was his alter-ego, but his aspirations for a better world shone through in his work on Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock. His boundless artistry, his passion for classic storytelling, and his desire to push the limits of a long-ignored artform are part of what made The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth so great.
These are the things that Howard brings to the fore in the documentary. Early on, we see a clip of Orson Welles calling Henson "a genius" and it's hard to disagree. Through Henson's experimental early work and formative years honing his craft in advertisements and late night TV, we get a picture of a driven and immensely talented young man.
That drive had its downside, and Idea Man doesn't back away from that. His children had to work on his creative projects in order to spend time with him, and his wife rarely saw him or got her dues or got to contribute, despite her obvious skills. Everything gets sidelined - even his health - to make way for his artistry.
It's part of the tragedy buried in this beautiful documentary, along with his early untimely death. Henson crammed more in to one life than most people would into three, but it came at a cost. He burned bright and fast.
Unfortunately Idea Man is also too bright and fast. An ideal beginners guide, it will frustrate fans who have heard much of this before. Howard has access to some previously unseen material, which still makes it worthwhile, but the bulk of the content is familiar territory. The best bits are the recollections of his co-workers - for more of that, check out the doco Muppet Guys Talking.
But it's hard to go wrong with such great talent discussing such a great talent. It's an oddly heartwarming and heartbreaking tale, told beautifully. Howard has enough sense to let much of Henson's own art tell the story, along with the voices of those who knew him well, including Henson himself, and some excellent behind the scenes footage. Henson was gone too soon, and this doco is a great gateway into his incredible legacy.
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