Team America: World Police
Every time I think I have the world figured out, they throw another twist in. First, there was the all-human film adaptation of the all-marionette TV show Thunderbirds. Now there's an all-marionette takeoff on live-action movies called Team America: World Police. And it was created by those guys who do South Park, which is animated. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for any project that gets puppets of any kind work. But marionettes? C'mon! Why not sock puppets? Let me explain something to you—there is a distinct hierarchy of quality when it comes to puppets, and just as mimes are the lowest form of human, marionettes are the lowest form of puppets! For future reference, I present a list of puppet types, ranked from best to worst. Hollywood, take note:
- Sock puppets (of course)
- Hand puppets
- Foam & Rod puppets (other than Muppets™)
- Body puppets (also called walk-around puppets)
- Bunraku (traditional Japanese puppets)
- Marotte à main prenante (French rod & hand puppets)
- Shadow puppets
- Finger puppets
- Ventriloquist dummies
- Cartoons of puppets (like Mr. Hand)
- Muppets™
- Marionettes