''Meet the Feebles'' (also known as ''Frogs of War'' in New Zealand as the film's English fake working title) is a 1989 New Zealand puppet

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

film directed by

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

, and written by Jackson,

Fran Walsh Dame Frances Rosemary Walsh (born 10 January 1959) is a New Zealand screenwriter and film producer. The partner of filmmaker Peter Jackson, Walsh has contributed to all of their films since 1989: as co-writer since '' Meet the Feebles'', and ...

Stephen Sinclair Stephen Sinclair is a New Zealand playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the co-author of stage comedy '' Ladies Night''. In 2001, the French version won the Molière Award for stage comedy of the year. Other plays include ''The Bellbird'' a ...

and Danny Mulheron (who also performed the body of lead character Heidi the Hippo). It features

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

-esque puppets in a perverse comic satire. Like Henson's Muppets, the Feebles are animal-figured puppets (plus some suited performers) who are members of a stage troupe. However, whereas the Muppets characterize positivity, naïve folly and innocence, the Feebles largely present negativity, vice and other misanthropic characteristics. It is the first Jackson film that was co-written by his future partner

, who has gone on to act as co-writer for all his subsequent films.

Plot

The

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

Feeble Variety Hour theatre troupe is rehearsing the title song with hopes of finding success through being picked up for a syndicated television show. Heidi (a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

), the star, is insulted by

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

director Trevor (a rat) and complains to her boss and lover, Bletch (a

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the fami ...

), who is actually in an adulterous relationship with Samantha (a Siamese cat). Meanwhile, Robert (a

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

), the newest member of the team, arrives at the theatre, where he is accosted by

reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

F. W. Fly (a

fly Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

), who tries to corrupt Robert into informing on the cast, meets Arthur (a

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...

), the show's manager, and immediately falls in love with another newcomer, Lucille (a

poodle The Poodle, called the Pudel in German and the Caniche in French, is a breed of water dog. The breed is divided into four varieties based on size, the Standard Poodle, Medium Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle, although the Medium Poodle var ...

). Trevor is approached by sniveling drug-addicted knife thrower Wynyard (a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

) looking for his fix, but the drugs have not yet been delivered. Guppy (a

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

) auditions for The Feebles backstage, only to get eaten by Bletch. After Heidi finishes

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

, Samantha confronts her, insults her, and reveals her relationship with Bletch, resulting in a fight between the two, in which Heidi throws her in a cardboard box. With the help of Arthur, Robert is able to

serenade In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Itali ...

Lucille, confessing his love to her, and the two become engaged. After his

tribble Tribbles are a fictional alien species in the ''Star Trek'' universe. They were conceived by screenwriter David Gerrold and first appeared in 1967, in the fifteenth episode of the second season of '' The Original Series'', titled " The Trouble wi ...

-like creatures accidentally get crushed by a barrel, animal tamer, Sid (an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

), and Arthur have a beer, when he receives a visit from his ex-girlfriend,

showgirl A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing, toplessness, or nudity. History Showgirls date back to the late 180 ...

Sandy (a

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

) with his alleged son Seymour the Elechicken (an improbable-looking elephant/chicken hybrid). Sandy informs him she will be preparing a paternity case against him. Bletch and Barry (a

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.drug deal The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

with Cedric (a

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly con ...

), during which Bletch and Cedric deliberately sabotage eachother during a game of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

, which ends with Bletch winning by throwing up the chewed remains of Guppy. Back at the theater, Dennis (an

aardvark The aardvark ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlik ...

) is shown peeping on the second most important star of the show, Harry (a

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit sp ...

) in a

threesome In human sexuality, a threesome is commonly understood as "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". Though ''threesome'' most commonly refers to sexu ...

with two female rabbits. Trevor is shooting a porn film in the basement with the Masked Masochist (a weta) and Madam Bovine (a cow). They are interrupted by Robert, who mistakes the scene for torture and tries to save Bovine, who in turn accidentally crushes the Masked Masochist, suffocating him. Trevor later feeds him to a fish-like monster. The director of the show, Sebastian (a

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...

), lambasts Robert for failing his part as an extra on the stage. As punishment, he assigns Robert the task of replacing Wynyard's assistant, who has just been killed by Wynyard's knife throwing while going through

drug withdrawal Drug withdrawal, drug withdrawal syndrome, or substance withdrawal syndrome, is the group of symptoms that occur upon the abrupt discontinuation or decrease in the intake of pharmaceutical or recreational drugs. In order for the symptoms of w ...

. At the toilet, Harry is suffering from a mystery illness and F. W. Fly harasses him. Wynyard tells Robert his story of Vietnam, and convinces Robert to give him $50 to buy drugs from Trevor. After seeing Trevor's latest porno film starring Dennis (who Trevor chose for a substitute) and Madame Bovine, Bletch decides they need a new porn star, and Trevor chooses Lucille. Harry passes out down some stairs, much to the surprise of fellow cast member Dorothy (a

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

), who yells for help. Dr. Quack (a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

) gives Harry only twelve hours to live, both unaware of F.W. Fly spying on them from the ceiling above. Elsewhere, Abi, the show's contortionist, accidentally manages to roll himself into a ball during rehearsal. Hating how the show is turning out, Sebastian demands for his song to be included, only to be turned down and thrown out by Bletch. F. W. Fly continually harasses Harry, ultimately reporting his illness to the tabloids. Trevor drugs Lucille and tries to

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

her as an audition, but is caught by Robert. When he walks in on the scene, Robert thinks that Lucille was drinking and throwing herself at Trevor, and disowns her. After an awful rehearsal, Sebastian lambasts Heidi, causing her to rush to Bletch for emotional affirmation, but walks in on Samantha performing

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...

on him. That night, after testing the drugs provided by Cedric on Dennis, the drugs turn out to be

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form ...

, infuriating Bletch. Cedric's agent Louie (a dog) is literally liquefied after being force-fed some of the borax by Bletch's henchmen. Heidi locks herself in her room, throws a tantrum, and refuses to perform, but relents after Bletch has make-up sex with her. Soon after, Bletch and his cronies venture to the docklands to fight Cedric and his

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all th ...

-crewmen. Bletch's side prevails after killing Cedric and the crabs, as well as a giant

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

, which bites off Barry's head, and Cedric's boss, Mr. Big (a

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

), by driving through him and coming out the other end. Lucille tries to convince Robert of her love for him, but he tells her he never wants to see her again. After seeing the article of Harry's illness in the paper, Trevor lures F. W. Fly into the bathroom, where Bletch tears his wings off and flushes him down the toilet. Shortly afterwards, Heidi attempts to seduce Bletch in his office, but Bletch confesses to Heidi that he actually hates her and wants to give the main role to Samantha. This causes Heidi to mentally break down, and envisions the rest of the Feebles laughing at her. Later, things begin to go awry during the performance. An ailing Harry winds up

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenter ...

all over the stage during his performance, Sid is accosted by Sandy in the midst of his act, which causes it to fall apart, Wynyard accidentally kills himself during his act when he loses his grip on one of his knives and it comes down on his head, and Sebastian decides to take matters into his own hands. After a failed attempt at hanging herself, Heidi then tries to commit suicide with an

M60 machine gun The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved fo ...

, but at that second, Samantha walks into the room and taunts Heidi upon seeing her about to end her life. Heidi snaps, turns the gun on Samantha, and shoots her dead. Heidi then goes on a shooting spree, killing many of the cast, including Harry (who was told by Dr. Quack that he was going to recover as he only has "bunny pox"), Abi (who finally managed to free his head only to be crushed by his bedded nails), Dorothy (who attempted to talk to Heidi), and others. Sebastian, in a poor and desperate attempt to save the show, puts on a musical number about the act of "Sodomy", disgusting the silent and unamused live audience, much to the horror of Bletch who orders Trevor to kill him. At the end of the show, Heidi continues her shooting spree, and Sid braves the crazed Heidi's automatic fire to save his son, after Sandy gets her head shot off. Robert rescues Lucille from being shot and professes that he still loves her, and Lucille tells him the truth about Trevor's attempted raping of her. Sebastian hides in Harry’s giant carrot-rocket, and is injured when Heidi causes it to go off and crash into a wall. Bletch attempts to talk Heidi into surrendering, but Heidi opens fire on him and he drops from the balcony. Lying injured on the stage, Bletch convinces Heidi to stop her rampage by proclaiming he still loves her, only for Trevor to shoot her in the shoulder from behind with a shotgun. Bletch, having tricked Heidi into letting her guard down, orders Trevor to kill her, only for Robert to intervene by swinging on a rope from the rafters and colliding with Trevor, incapacitating Trevor briefly enough for Heidi to reclaim the machine gun and shoot him dead. Bletch lunges at Heidi in a last ditch effort, but is killed too. From backstage, Arthur tells Heidi that he regrettably had to tip off the police about Heidi's shooting rampage. Heidi accepts this and makes one last request before her impending incarceration - to play her musical number, "Garden of Love", to which Arthur complies. The

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...

reveals the fates of only seven survivors: Sid gets extensive repair on his kneecaps after being accidentally shot by Heidi in her rampage and works in an orchard as a struggling

horticulturist Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

with his son Seymour. Arthur received an OBE for his lifelong service at the theater and retires to the country. Sebastian recovers from his injuries and became a successful writer who achieved worldwide fame for his best seller, ''The Feeble Variety Massacre: One Man's Act of Heroism!'', and is currently negotiating

film rights A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Robert (now an award-winning

fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography which is devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, sometimes haute couture. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking a picture of a dressed model in a photographic studio ...

for a women's magazine) and Lucille are married with two children. Finally, Heidi, whose killing spree resulted in her imprisonment in a women's penitentiary for ten years, has been rehabilitated into the community and now works under a new identity on the check-out counter of a large supermarket.

Cast

Mark Hadlow Mark Selwyn Hadlow (born 1957) is an Australian-New Zealand actor and comedian. Hadlow is perhaps best known internationally for playing the roles of Harry in ''King Kong'' and Dori, a Dwarf, in ''The Hobbit'' series. Early life Hadlow was bo ...

as: ** Robert the Hedgehog ** Heidi the Hippo (voice) ** Barry the Bulldog ** Chorus Girl #3 *

Peter Vere-Jones Peter Vere-Jones (21 October 1939 – 26 January 2021) was an English-born-New Zealand actor. He was known for his collaborations with director Peter Jackson, appearing in four of his films. He was also known for starring in the New Zealand te ...

as: ** Bletch the Walrus ** Arthur the Worm ** The Baker ** Newspaper Mouse (Paperboy) ** The Announcer * Donna Akersten as: ** Lucille the Pomeranian ** Samantha the Cat ** Dorothy the Sheep ** Female Rabbit #1 ** Chorus Girl #2 ** Fitness Tape Voice *

Stuart Devenie Stuart Forbes Devenie is a New Zealand actor and theatre director, whose career spans three decades on stage and screen. He has performed in theatre productions nationally and internationally. In the 1980s, he was the artistic director of Cen ...

as: ** Sebastian the Fox ** Dr. Quack the Duck (doing a

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor and game show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely closeted homosexuality, Lynde was we ...

impression) ** Daisy the Cow (Madame Bovine) ** Sandy the Chicken ** Cedric the Warthog ** Seymour the Elechicken (mixed elephant and chicken) ** Female Rabbit #2 ** Chorus Girl #1 *

Brian Sergent Brian Sergent (born 29 December 1959) is an actor born and based in Wellington, New Zealand. Background Sergent’s acting career began at age 15 playing Lionel in the soap opera, '' Close to Home''. In television Sergeant is known for playin ...

as: ** Wynyard the Frog (doing a Jim Ignatowski impression) ** Trevor the Rat (doing a

Peter Lorre Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...

impression) ** F. W. Fly ** Jim the Frog ** Chuck the Frog ** The Spider ** Vietnamese Gophers * Ross Jolly as: ** Harry the Rabbit (doing a

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

impression) ** Dennis the Aardvark ** Abi the Contortionist ** Mr. Big the Whale ** Pekingese ** Vietnamese Gophers * Mark Wright as: ** Sid the Elephant ** The Masked Masochist ** Louie the Dog ** Guppy the Fish ** Poodle ** Snake bartender ** Crab ** Chorus Girl #4 *

Fane Flaws Fane Michael Flaws (16 May 1951 – 17 June 2021) was a New Zealand musician, songwriter, and artist. Career Flaws was a member of bands including Blerta, Spats, and The Crocodiles. Until joining Blerta he was known by his second name Michael: ...

as Musician Frog * Danny Mulheron as Heidi the Hippo (body)

Puppeteers

* Jonathon Acorn - supervising puppeteer * Ramon Aguilar - supervising puppeteer * Eleanor Aitken * Terri Anderton * Sean Ashton-Peach * Carl Buckley * Sarah Glensor * Danny Mulheron * George Port * Ian Williamson * Justine Wright

Production

The film was originally conceived as part of a television series, and only belatedly became a feature after Japanese investors proposed expanding it; as such, the script was hastily re-written. The dialogue was recorded before shooting began. Made on an extremely low budget considering the time-consuming process of working with puppets, the film went over budget and schedule. Some scenes, including the

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

flashback, were funded by members of the film crew, and filmed secretly under the title ''Frogs of War''. The Vietnam flashback includes a game of Russian roulette as a parody of ''

The Deer Hunter ''The Deer Hunter'' is a 1978 war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Slavic-American steelworkers whose lives were upended after fighting in the Vietnam War. The three soldiers are played by Robert De Niro ...

''. An initial application for Film Commission money was rejected by executive director Jim Booth, who a short time later became Jackson's producer. The Commission eventually granted the production two-thirds of its $750,000 budget, though relationships between the funders and the production soured and the Film Commission removed its credit from the film. It is often mistakenly stated that there are no human characters in the film; the character Abi is a human. However, there are no ''real-life'' human characters in the film. Director Jackson has a cameo as an audience member dressed as an alien from ''Bad Taste''. Every vehicle seen in the film is a variation on the

Morris Minor The Morris Minor is a British economy family car that made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show, London, in October 1948. Designed under the leadership of Alec Issigonis, more than 1.6 million were manufactured between 1948 and 1972 in ...

, including a specially constructed

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...

. Morris Minors also appear in Jackson's '' Bad Taste'' and ''

Braindead ''BrainDead'' is an American political satire science fiction comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King. The series stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Healy, a documentary film-maker who takes a job working for h ...

''. By presumed coincidence, one of the characters, Harry the Hare, shares a name with the title character of James B. Hemesath's short story "Harry the Hare" (himself a

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...

pastiche), written for Harlan Ellison's anthology ''

Again, Dangerous Visions ''Again, Dangerous Visions'' (1972) is a science fiction short story anthology, edited by American author Harlan Ellison. It is the follow-up to ''Dangerous Visions'' (1967), also edited by Ellison. Cover art and interior illustrations are by Ed ...

'' in 1972.

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by

Peter Dasent Peter Dasent is a New Zealand born composer, pianist and songwriter who has lived and worked in Sydney, Australia since 1981. He played keyboards in the bands Spats, and The Crocodiles. He leads the chamber-jazz group the Umbrellas, is writing ...

. The soundtrack was released in 1991 by Q.D.K. Media. ;Track listing

Release

The film was marketed in some countries with the tagline: "From the director of '' Bad Taste'', comes a movie with no taste at all!" ''Meet the Feebles'' was given its public premiere at a fantasy film festival in Hamburg, in April 1990. From then on, the film was released theatrically in Japan (7 December 1990); Portugal (February 1991); Australia (March 1991); Sweden (April 1991); Germany (May 1991); France (July 1991); United Kingdom (April 1992); and the United States (February 1995 in New York and September 1995 nationwide). The film was banned in Ireland.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 71% based on reviews from 24 critics, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's consensus reads "Dark and vulgar, ''Meet the Feebles'' is a backstage comedy featuring puppets that offers proof of Peter Jackson's taste for sheer outrageousness, even if it often lapses into pure

juvenilia Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appears as a retrospective publication, some time after the author has become well known for later works. ...

." During a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in North America in 2002, critic James Berardinelli touched on aspects of the film which likely helped ensure it limited release in cinemas. "The stories of these ... characters are told in a disgustingly graphic, obscenely offbeat, and caustically funny manner. ''Meet the Feebles'' is for those with a strong stomach and a seriously warped sense of humor. The film is so off the beaten track that it makes

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fou ...

seem mainstream."

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave it 2 out of 5 and wrote that it was "Destined to stand as an unfortunate footnote to Mr. Jackson's career."

Legacy

Despite being a

commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...

on release (grossing only 80,000), the film went on to win critical praise and a cult following plus won over new viewers following Jackson's success with ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Academy Awards, Jackson mentioned ''Meet the Feebles'' (along with '' Bad Taste''), joking that it had been "wisely overlooked by the Academy.""The Lord of the Rings" winning the Best Picture Oscar®-Oscars on YouTube
/ref>

References

External links

*
Trailer on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meet the Feebles 1989 films 1989 comedy films 1980s black comedy films 1980s comedy horror films 1980s crime comedy films 1980s musical comedy films 1980s satirical films 1980s English-language films New Zealand black comedy films New Zealand comedy horror films New Zealand crime comedy films New Zealand musical comedy films New Zealand satirical films Exploitation films New Zealand splatter films Puppet films Muppet parodies Films about dogs Films about elephants Films about flies Films about foxes Films about frogs Films about hedgehogs Fictional hippopotamuses Films about mice and rats Films about pinnipeds Films about rabbits and hares Fictional worms Anthropomorphic animals Films about death Films set in a theatre Films set in New Zealand Films shot in New Zealand Films set in 1989 Films directed by Peter Jackson Films with screenplays by Peter Jackson Films with screenplays by Fran Walsh Films with screenplays by Stephen Sinclair WingNut Films films 1980s New Zealand films