‘Lord
of the Rings’ director’s
earlier work released on
DVD
DVD
REVIEW
By
Robert Saucedo
The Battalion
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (U-Wire) — When it was first announced that New
Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson would be directing “The Lord of the Rings” for
New Line Cinema, the world of fandom was divided between those who asked, “who” and
those who asked, “are you freaking kidding me?”
Before “The Lord of the Rings,” Jackson was primarily known for
his low budget, disturbingly gruesome, yet oh-so-entertaining horror films.
The very idea that the man who brought you such films as “Meet the Feebles” and “Dead
Alive” would be chronicling the exploits of Frodo Baggins boggled the
mind.
“Meet the Feebles,” Jackson’s second flick, is a bizarre spoof
of “The Muppet Show.” Before Matt Stone and Trey Parker were playing
with their puppets in dirty ways, Jackson was filming the antics of the “Feeble
Variety Hour.”
From an elephant facing a paternity suit by a chicken to a rabbit coping with
AIDS to a journalist fly who chases scoops between his lunchroom breaks at
the nearest toilet stall, the plot of “Meet the Feebles” reads
like a dirty joke told between the men at the local bar.
“Feebles” contains grossly exaggerated caricatures, each bursting
with undeniably human traits and flaws, stuffed inside the cutest little animals
this side of Jim Henson’s workshop.
In a world ruled by anthropomorphic animals, the cast of the “Feeble
Variety Hour” is hard at work preparing for its first live television
broadcast. In between dance rehearsals and song numbers, the menagerie of puppeted
critters blows off steam in a variety of acts including robbery, binge drinking,
drug abuse, infidelity and murder.
Heidi the Hippo suppresses the fact that her husband, Bletch the Walrus, is
unfaithful by stuffing her face with the finest of chocolate delights — one
cake at a time. Robert the Hedgehog falls in love with a beautiful poodle named
Lucy but becomes despondent when he walks in on her seemingly making love to
Trevor the Rat.
What he doesn’t know is that Trevor drugged the lovely Lucy and was testing
her out as the newest star of his homemade pornographic film. Wynyard the Frog
fought hard in Vietnam but one cowardly moment turns him to drugs. It’s
too bad he doesn’t have enough money for his next fix. It’s even
worse for the assistants in Wynyard’s knife throwing act.
The film is indeed quite foul. Yet, despite all the song and dance numbers
expressing a love for sodomy, the film’s filth never becomes distractingly
debauch. The motivations and failings of the characters are very much human.
Audiences will find themselves ignoring the fact that what they are watching
is a mixture of puppets and costumes and instead are engrossed in the stories
of these flawed performers each spiraling down their own personal paths to
a private hell.
While the puppetry is nothing to bark about, Jackson and his crew did do an
impressive job at creating faces with enough characterization to make the animals’ motivation
believable.
The songs are very lovely, in a late ’80s/early ’90s kind of way.
While this film never becomes exceedingly laugh-out-loud funny, it remains
a clever satire of the entertainment industry and an exploration into the age-old
comedic styling of “puppets doing dirty things.” |
