Movie Review: The Star Part 1

Movie Review: The Star Part 1                                                                                                12-8-18

I know what some of you are thinking. 'Why are you reviewing this piece of CG fodder?' Well, I decided to review The Star because it was co-produced by The Jim Henson Company. This is partially a big deal for me because I admire Jim Henson as much as Schroeder admires Beethoven.

While he was professionally known as a puppeteer, Jim Henson actually had a fascination with computer animated characters, and even had an idea of making a special about computer graphics with a brief appearance of a CGI Kermit.

In 1989, Jim Henson's dream can true with a new Muppet: Waldo C Graphic, a computer generated Muppet who was controlled in real time by a remote control glove.

After Jim's death in 1990, following the success of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Jim Henson's Creature Shop decided to start making CG characters. One of their first CG characters was a bee named Tizzy, who would appear as a regular character during the first two seasons of The Animal Show with Stinky and Jake.

During the second half of the 90s, computers threatened the future of puppets and animatronics. The Creature Shop needed to find a way to make animatronics and computer graphics live symbiotically. Not only did they make CG characters that were controlled by animatronics, but they also experimented with motion capture, including unused CGI centaurs for a proposed film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Today, The Jim Henson Company no longer does puppetry, since only Disney and Sesame Street can use the term 'Muppet'. Instead, they had created successful preschool CG animated TV shows like Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, and Splash & Bubbles.

In 2017, The Jim Henson Company teamed up with Sony Pictures Animation, Walden Media, Affirm Pictures, and Franklin Entertainment to make a low-budget animated film based upon the story of the first Christmas: The Star.

To be continued in Part 2, which will be posted tomorrrow...