Meet the Feebles (1995)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Purely Joyful Movie!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

You know what, Peter Jackson was best in his earlier career. Sure, I love LOTR, and those films are certainly much better from a general cinematic perspective than something like 'Meet the Feebles' or 'Bad Taste', but these early films are just flat out incredible and hilarious. While a good chunk of this film had me feeling, while not underwhelmed, compelled to say that Jackson didn't go "far enough" w/his perverted twisting of a Muppets-like family program (which comes to work as a general satire of the entertainment industry, particularly the delusions of grandeur brought upon by fame and the over-the-top gossipy media), but, in the final half hour or so, he makes up for all of that. 'Meet the Feebles' remains rather entertaining throughout, largely b/c of its odd, uncomfortable atmosphere and black sense of humour, but once it gets to the grand finale it really starts to shine and becomes a mind blowing extravaganza of gore and drugs and sex and ridiculous, heavy violence. It's laugh out loud hilarious, but also kind of disturbing and is much more unsettling than a vast majority of films more commonly labeled as horror. Anyone w/the right sense of dark humour and love of weird special effects, puppetry, and costume design, will likely loved this as much as I did.

After his bad taste début, er, Bad Taste (1987), the young Peter Jackson made the decision to take his filth-laden sense of humour to a new level and direct Meet the Feebles, the kind of film you would expect Jim Henson to make if his life had gone in an entirely different direction and had formed a psychedelic drug habit. He still had little budget to work with, as well as the (understandable) concerns from his funders, but this was the first time he would work with his future wife Fran Walsh, who would work with him on every film after this. Maybe it is her influence that makes Feebles a noticeable step up from his début, or maybe it's not, but the film works thanks to a director seemingly more comfortable in his role, but still renegade enough to inject his guerilla sensibilities into it.The basic 'plot' revolves around The Feebles variety show, of which the main attraction is singer Heidi the Hippo (voiced by Mark Hadlow, Dori in The Hobbit (2012)), a former big star who has formed an uncontrollable attraction to cakes. Amongst the various characters is newcomer Robert, a softly-spoken and naive hedgehog who goes to great lengths to attract a seductive poodle he has fallen for. It is mainly through his eyes that we witness the mayhem of the show, which is ran by Bletch the Walrus (Peter Vere-Jones). Bletch is involved with Heidi, but is secretly having sex with a slutty feline, and is always making money on the side through Trevor the Rat's (Brian Sergent) pornography films. The show comes under threat when sex-addicted Harry the Rabbit contracts an STD and is given a few hours to live, but is busted by the Fly, a pesky journalist.What Meet the Feebles lacks in taste and any sense of actual purpose, it makes up for in sheer invention and entertainment. It moves along furiously, never stopping to consider something as unnecessary as plot, drifting from one scene of complete debauchery to the next. If you would be offended by the sight of animal ejaculating through his elongated snout onto the the pierced udders of a dominatrix cow, then I would recommending passing on this one. The humour is almost akin to that of South Park, but doesn't bogged down with satire or observational gags, and instead seems to seek to disgust. It is juvenile, certainly, but it's undeniably funny, and is simply too twisted and disturbing to go about unnoticed. It is the anti-Muppets, representing depravity where Henson's creations were driven by naive optimism (although the puppets here are quite wonderfully designed).After the proceeding Braindead (1992), which employed a lawnmower as the answer to a house overrun by horny zombies, Jackson seemed to grow up and film the astonishingly dream-like Beautiful Creatures (1994). It is simply mind-boggling how the director of this, a film that has a contortionist get his head stuck up his own a**e, would go on to be the biggest director in Hollywood and create one of the finest achievements of modern mainstream film-making, The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003). Although he never won any Oscars for them, there is plenty to enjoy in early Jackson. You could even say that some of the hideous creations in Feebles were a pretext to some of the monsters seen in Rings and The Hobbit. Although I don't remember seeing Gollum eating s**t out of a toilet with a spoon.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Peter Jackson's 1989 puppet extravaganza "Meet The Feebles" is a film which defies classification. Is it black comedy, or some kind of sick film created by sick men with 'bad taste'? I think I know what the film is going for watching it and I assure you, it works. It's unlike any movie I've ever seen before, but it does work. Let me alert you though, if your viewing history with Peter Jackson doesn't go past "Lord Of The Rings" and "King Kong" then you may want to think twice before watching Jackson's earlier films, because I'll say it loud it clear: "Meet The Feebles" may very well be the most repulsing movie I've ever seen. It may not be as gory as "Braindead", Jackson's own zombie gore-fest masterpiece, but it is more sickening. It's hard to describe it because it defies every convention ever created, but it is gross. However, if you can tolerate the gross and obscene and find humor in black comedies, then "Meet The Feebles" is sure to amaze you. The film follows a troupe of performing puppets called The Feebles who present a variety show of sorts. Throughout the film we experience a whole abundance of problems with the cast. I don't want to spoil anything about the movie because I feel it is the most effective if the viewer has no clue but they're getting into, but I recommend to go into the movie naively, making everything you see all the more shocking, and in effect, all the more hilarious. And yet again without spoiling, the film's final scene is a force to be reckoned with. It manages to be one of the most striking closing sequences in any movie, capping off the unique movie. Peter Jackson like few other filmmakers has a knack for creating films that are unique and original in their own respect every time. From the splatter fest of "Braindead" to the epic proportions of "Lord Of The Rings" to the haunting, sickening and hilarious tones of "Meet The Feebles", Jackson is the real deal in film making. But take this as your final warning folks, "Meet The Feebles" is not for the weak of stomach.

Hollywood executives must have lobotomized Peter Jackson when he started the "Lord of the Rings" franchise, because his earlier New Zealand productions were so much better.Just look at this sickly cracking showbiz satire, complete with an array of mostly disgusting Muppets from hell, acting as a walking compendium of the seven deadly sins (and some more). The sheer audaciousness of this nightmare folly is to be applauded, but the astounding fact remains that behind all the cold misanthropic viewpoints on display there's still a beating heart pumping warm blood into this creatures.Certainly not to everyone's taste and riddled with too many drawn-out plot excesses, this one-of-a-kind pic still deserves a huge cult following.7 out of 10 panty-sniffing anteaters