As a child of the ‘80s, The Muppets were pop culture royalty to me. I grew up watching Sesame Street in the mornings and The Muppet Show at night. On special days my mother took me to afternoon matinees to watch The Muppets on the silver screen.
I always took their popularity for granted but thinking about The Muppets’ unlikely road to stardom left me with many questions.
How did a stressed-out talking frog, a trash-loving Grouch, and a cookie-hoarding monster capture the imagination of generations of children? And who, in the early ‘70s, had the chutzpah to pitch a primetime Muppet variety show to major television networks?
Director Ron Howard’s latest documentary, Jim Henson: Idea Man, provides these answers, while addressing questions I never thought to ask.
The film spotlights the life and career of Muppets creator Jim Henson. Howard interviews the Muppet mastermind’s family, friends, and co-workers and uses archival footage to paint a vivid portrait of his personal and professional life.
Idea Man offers viewers a front-row seat to watch a genius at work, chronicling how a maverick puppeteer transformed some ping pong balls, leather, and felt into a multi-million dollar empire.
Henson was a puppeteer, filmmaker, and creator of programs such as The Muppet Show, The Storyteller, and Fraggle Rock. The film charts Henson’s journey from his early days as a bashful art student to a beloved entertainment industry mogul. Howard tells the story using archival interviews and behind-the-scenes footage from his commercials, TV shows and films. Howard also peppers the film with talking head segments featuring the icon’s many collaborators. Interviewees such as Frank Oz, Jennifer Connelly, Brian Henson, and Rita Moreno discuss working with Henson and what makes his career so special.
Howard delivers a thorough, polished, and charming documentary that celebrates Henson’s life. However, the film isn’t all love and rainbows. It delves into how success took a toll on his personal life, chronicling his declining health, failed projects and separation from his wife.
The film doesn’t spend much time focusing on these misfortunes, but Idea Man would benefit from digging deeper into these low points. We celebrate people for their victories, but what’s most telling is how they handle setbacks. Learning how these stumbling blocks affected Henson’s creative output would only make how we view his work more meaningful.
My main issue with the film is that 111 minutes isn’t enough time to discuss the impact of such an accomplished career. The man led a fascinating life, and Howard could have easily spent two hours covering the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding getting The Muppet Show greenlit.
This movie makes the perfect companion piece to Marilyn Agrelo’s 2021 documentary, Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. Idea Man covers plenty of ground throughout its 111-minute running time and breezes through Henson’s Sesame Street-era work. If Idea Man resonates with you or you’re looking for another hit of feel-good documentary vibes, do yourself a favour and watch Agrelo’s Street Gang.
Idea Man’s most surprising revelation deals with Henson’s relationship to puppetry. Even though he was the world’s most famous puppeteer, he didn’t start out as “a puppet guy.” Henson grew up obsessed with television and saw puppetry as a way to break into the industry. Henson excelled at puppetry and his work in the medium paid the bills, but it often wasn’t the type of art he aspired to make.
Audiences could always feel Henson’s edgier influences bubbling up in his family-friendly body of work. He yearned to tell darker, thought-provoking stories. And these impulses manifested in his signature manic characters and risqué sense of humour.
One of the original versions of The Muppet Show was a program called The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, and you can feel its fingerprints all over the relatively wholesome The Muppet Show.
There’s a subtle moment in Idea Man that stuck with me. It’s the sequence where a film crew goes to work in a swamp, shooting the opening scene in 1979’s The Muppet Movie. The scene sees Kermit perched on a log, strumming a banjo and singing Rainbow Connection.
First off, Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher’s Oscar-nominated song is a timeless treasure. It’s one of the all-time great opening songs in any movie, period. The lyrics and melody set an earnest tone that emotionally grounds the film before launching into all the over-the-top Muppet hijinks.
I can’t shake the image of Henson, performing as Kermit, going above and beyond to attain the perfect shot. Since they were shooting in the middle of a swamp, there was nowhere for him to hide from the camera. The only option was for him to spend hours crammed and contorted inside a barrel submerged in swamp water, beneath Kermit’s log.
When you watch that scene, it’s a simple-looking shot that works like gangbusters. It looks like Kermit is sitting on a log all alone. But it was hard work to make the performance look so seamless. Henson had to problem-solve, innovate, and put himself through physical agony to execute the shot. He didn’t have to be the poor guy jammed into a barrel. But that’s the price one pays to create movie magic, and Henson wouldn’t have it any other way.
Henson committed his life to putting on a spectacular show, and never left audiences wanting. He led his colleagues by example, challenging them to perform at the highest standards. And what’s remarkable is he wasn’t a ferocious taskmaster wielding his genius like a weapon in the name of perfection. Instead, he was a gentle titan who left his mark on those around him through acts of generosity and compassion.
If you’re a Muppets fan, watching Howard’s documentary is a must. It’s every bit as entertaining as it is insightful, celebrating the soul who breathed life into so many beloved characters. Jim Henson: Idea Man is a heartwarming story of a visionary dreamer who used his creativity to manifest a kinder, gentler world.
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