Review: 'Jim Henson: Idea Man' a loving tribute to the man, the myth, The Muppets

Disney+, 2024.

I wouldn't refer to it as "hard-hitting," but a new documentary on Disney+ (streaming as of May 31st) called "Jim Henson: Idea Man" is a loving, and long-overdue tribute to a man who was way ahead of his time, absolutely right for his time, and simultaneously, gone way too soon.

Grade: A-

For a man so influential, so beloved and such an important part of American culture, it's a bit surprising that we haven't had a Jim Henson documentary any sooner. "Jim Henson: Idea Man" is directed by none other than Ron Howard, who is among the countless in Hollywood who were no doubt inspired by Henson's genius.

With modern interviews from those who knew him best - including his now-grown children and his legendary partner Frank Oz, among many others - Howard goes back to the early days of television, where a young Jim Henson and his eventual wife, Jane, got to experiment with puppetry on live television, late at night, following news broadcasts. They were pushing the boundaries at a time when television itself was finding out what it was capable of. Dubbed "Muppets," these creations were a blend of traditional puppets as well as marionettes, and they became immensely popular, leading the Muppets to several opportunities in the advertising world.

Jane Henson is not a footnote in Jim's story...she is one of the foundations. The doc portrays Jane as a woman also ahead of her time but stuck in an era where her husband was undoubtedly going to be given the bulk of credit. But she was not only a creative partner for Jim, but the glue that held his family together as he would eventually skyrocket to fame during the 70s and early 80s.

From his time on television promoting various products, to the origin story of The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, and through his tumultuous career as a movie director (having directed "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth," two films now thought of as cult classics despite their box office failures at the time), Henson's amazing story is given the basic biography-doc treatment.

"Jim Henson: Idea Man" not only delivers Henson's story in a heartfelt way, but it never loses sight of painting Jim as a man with boundless potential. To call him "important" to children's television is correct, but also not even close to the mark. At heart, Jim Henson was an experimental filmmaker, a master communicator who just so happened to revolutionize puppetry, practical effects and even computer-generated AI, along the way. His sudden death in 1990 at just 53 cut deeply, for we all owe a portion of our upbringings to this incredible game-changing empath. In fact, I can't think of many others in the 20th century who have had quite the same influence on generations of people, and whose work still carries weight today.

My only (slight) gripe is how Ron Howard chose to leave out the importance of "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas," an HBO TV special that Henson created in 1977...the work is not mentioned at all, albeit a few behind-the-scenes shots can be located sprayed throughout various montage sequences in the film. Not only is it among Henson's best creative works he's ever done, but its success is what directly led to Hollywood movie producers feeling confident that Jim Henson could pull off "The Muppet Movie" just two years later.  The rest, as they say, is history.

It's hard to imagine what life would have been like without Jim Henson. Lucky for us all, we'll never know the alternative.

Grade: A-

Genre: Documentary.
Run Time: 1 hour 51 minutes.
Rated PG.

Directed by Ron Howard.

"Jim Henson: Idea Man" is now available to stream on Disney+.