Retro puppet master This tale precedes the events of Puppet Master III, and explores the origins of the puppets themselves. Sadly, as grand a concept as this has- a story starting in Egypt in the late 1800's where the secrets of a God's power are stolen and then moving to a young Toulon running a puppet show in Paris in the early 1900s, the whole affair is a little too drawn out to fulfil it's potential.
It's a shame because director Decoteau has previously directed two of the stronger Puppet Master entries- part 3 (perhaps my favourite) and 6- a fun return to form after a couple of really bad sequels.
This is not to say it's a film without merit- any fan of the Puppet Master series will enjoy finding out about how it all began, the cronies of the god are fairly sinister in an Agent Smith/ Matrix kind of way, and there are a couple of new puppets to keep you entertained.
The film could be described as ambitious too, considering budgetary constraints. Creating a period piece obviously creates complications in filming, so this, as with Puppet Master III, is admirable- the simplest route was not selected.
On the downside, the puppets themselves move especially badly in this entry- it's a far cry from the beautiful stop-motion animation of earlier films- we really are talking about movement like a 4 year old's Barbie. Also considering these are meant to be early versions of the puppets we know and love, some of these wooden versions really miss the mark. Blade especially. When looking at the cover I actually assumed Dr Death's skeletal appearance was an early, and quite impressive, early version of Blade, when in fact he's this bizarre troll-faced puppet, with only the hair and costume in common. Quite sad really, as the puppets are after all the stars. And the male lead, Greg Sestero as a young Andre Toulon, is perhaps more wooden than the puppets.
Still, it's worth renting perhaps rather than buying, (I'm not sure how much replay value it has) for those who have to know how it all began. Just don't expect anything super special.
