Review: Jim Henson Idea Man

Documentaries are a dime-a-dozen nowadays. Netflix hooked me into a few last month including both Turning Point series and Baby Reindeer. Disney+ has been ramping up its game in this space by getting me with their excellent The Beach Boys documentary and now this one for another legend in the form of Jim Henson Idea Man. This one comes from director Ron Howard and features interviews and insight from friends, family, co-workers, and even archival footage of Jim and his wife Jane detailing the process that helped turn a puppet made out of a jacket into the face of a multi-million dollar operation.

If you’re going to get a documentary from Ron Howard, you aren’t going to get the standard-variety documentary with the Academy Award-winning director eschewing the run-of-the-mill Q&A format of most documentaries and instead working in slightly different angling shots, animation, and even stop-motion which makes for quite a breath of fresh air that stands apart from the pack. Moreover, the doc feels very much like it was even produced by the actual Jim Henson given all of the transitions and animated sequences that are laden throughout the almost three-hour feature-length.

I think I would have liked to have seen something a bit less serious than what was presented in Jim Henson Idea Man. Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen all of Jim’s creatures produce the feature, like having Big Bird as a camera-bird or Miss Piggy has a hard-lined producer, something that would’ve kept the feature light. That said, the content is still very good, as we get a behind-the-scenes look at the different eras in Jim’s career that includes stops with Sam & Friends, Sesame Street, The Muppets, and even his later darker efforts like Dark Crystal and Pan’s Labyrinth. Personally I would have liked to have seen some light on the OG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies and what Jim’s take was on Frank Oz (who is featured in the film) going off to do Yoda for Star Wars and being able to play in that world, but for the most part, we get a fairly comprehensive take on the greatest puppeteer of all-time.

Jim Henson Idea Man is a terrific tale of someone who just wanted it, and yes, we get to hear about the collateral effects of that wanting it by way of his wife Jane and his kids which makes for the compelling push/pull of careers vs family time that I think all of us can relate to. Personally, I’m not so sure that Ron Howard wasn’t even thinking of himself in some ways when wanting to hear from the kids quite prominently, though noticeably absent, John Henson who passed away several years ago and I guess never did any interviews of any kind? In any event, come up with the idea to watch Jim Henson Idea Man with everyone you know, and you won’t be disappointed.