The Sundance Institute has announced that the 2020 Sundance Film Festival will host the world premiere of
Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy Story, a brand new documentary exploring the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series
The Ren & Stimpy Show and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi - whose abusive relationship with an underage woman destroyed his once-celebrated career - through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show.
Update (1/18/2020) - Deadline has released a sneak peek from the documentary, which you can watch on
Deadline.com.
“It’s wild and disturbing,” said Sundance director John Cooper. “It’s not trying to make the show separate from the creator. That’s what we hoped to see in it.”
From production industry veterans Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood,
Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy Story is a
crowdfunded documentary that has been in development for a couple of years, before Ralph Bakshi acolyte Kricfalusi's highly inappropriate behavior came to light. When the docu was first pitched, it was set to "delve deep into the world of Ren the rage-fueled chihuahua and Stimpy the simpleton cat. The filmmakers’ goal is to show that the creativity that fueled the animated series is akin to the intrepid genius and controversial merit of Banksy and Warhol."
Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy Story is produced by Ron Cicero, and features the cast of: John Kricfalusi, Robyn Byrd, Vanessa Coffey, Chris Reccardi, Richard Pursel, and Bobby Lee.
Ren & Stimpy premiered on August 11, 1991 as one of the original Nicktoons, alongside
Rugrats and
Doug, and followed the chaotic adventures of a psychotic Chihuahua (Marland “Ren” T. Höek) and dimwitted Cat (Stimpson “Stimpy” J. Cat). The series ran on Nickelodeon for 5 seasons and spawned the spin-off
Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon in 2003.
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival takes place between Jan 23 - Feb 2, 2020 in Park City, Utah. For more information, visit:
https://www.sundance.org.
From
sundance.org:
Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy StoryIn the early 1990s, the animated show Ren & Stimpy broke cable ratings records and was a touchstone for a generation of fans and artists. Creator John Kricfalusi was celebrated as a visionary, but even though his personality suffused the show, dozens of artists and network executives were just as responsible for the show’s meteoric rise. As Kricfalusi’s worst impulses were let loose at the workplace and new allegations about even more disturbing behavior have surfaced, his reputation now threatens to taint the show forever.
With clips recognizable to any Ren & Stimpy fan and interviews with Kricfalusi and his fellow creators whose work has been both elevated and denigrated by their connection to him, this film is a complex look at a show that influenced the history of television, animation, and comedy. More than a celebration, Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy Story forces us to consider the role of media creators and how we reckon with the reality of who they are versus what we see on the screen.
YEAR: 2019
CATEGORY: Documentary Premieres
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
RUN TIME: 104 min
COMPANY: INVADER
WEBSITE
https://getinvader.comEMAIL reception@getinvader.com
PHONE (323) 601-5939
Credits
Directors
Ron Cicero
Kimo Easterwood
Screenwriters
Ron Cicero
Kimo Easterwood
Produced By
Ron Cicero
Director Of Photography
Kimo Easterwood
Editors
Sean Jarrett
Christina Burchard
Kevin Klauber
Kimo Easterwood
Ron Cicero
Executive Producer
Ron Cicero
Co-Executive Producers
Peter Wade
Ryk Maverick
Casey Dobson
Jason Anders
Story Consultant
Christina Burchard
Title Design
Simon Clowes
Colorist
Gabe Sanchez
Sound Editor
Patrick Cicero
Sound Mixer
Tom Efinger
Principal Cast
John Kricfalusi
Robyn Byrd
Vanessa Coffey
Chris Reccardi
Richard Pursel
Bobby Lee
Related Media
-
Official Website-
Twitter / @RenandStimpyDoc-
Official Facebook PageArtist Bios
Ron Cicero
Throughout his 15-year producing career, Ron Cicero has produced a long list of commercials, branded shorts, and experiential installations. He has partnered with industry-leading creatives including Judd Apatow, Aaron Ruell, and Jesse Moss, as well as experience company Magnopus, led by Academy Award–winners Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning. This is Cicero's first feature documentary as a producer and director.
Kimo Easterwood
Kimo Easterwood started his career as a tour photographer counting Chris Rock, Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera, Usher, and ZZ Top among his clients. Since 2015, Easterwood has filmed content for a variety of Fortune 500 brands. His fine art has been featured in galleries in New York and LA. This is Easterwood's first feature as a director.
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From
Deadline:
‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ Clip: First Look At ‘Ren & Stimpy’ Documentary Headed To SundanceEXCLUSIVE: How to describe The Ren & Stimpy Show, that bizarre, you-had-to-be-there ’90s animated series that carved a niche for itself on the kid-friendly Nickelodeon channel without being all that kid-friendly itself? (Well, depending on what kind of kid you were…)
In this exclusive clip from the upcoming Sundance Film Festival documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy, comics (including Bobby Lee) and fans try to describe the outrageous, grotesque and very funny series in one sentence. One or two come close.
Premiering at this month’s Sundance as part of the Documentary Premieres section, Happy Happy Joy Joy (a catchphrase from the series) is co-directed by Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, who set themselves the task of illuminating “the joy, beauty, and lasting impact of Ren & Stimpy” while also examining the cartoon’s creator John Kricfalusi, a man described as a brilliant animator and storyteller as well as a deeply flawed person. Press materials for the documentary say Kricfalusi “both caused and experienced trauma that deeply affected his work and relationships.”
Through archival footage, show artwork, and interviews with the artists, actors, and executives behind the show, Happy Happy Joy Joy explores what happens when “artistic genius goes awry.”
Written and directed by Cicero and Easterwood, Happy Happy Joy Joy is exec produced by Cicero, with Easterwood as director of photography. Kevin Klauber produces.
The doc will have its press and industry screening January 24 at the Park Avenue Theatre before its world premiere Tuesday, January 28 at the Library Center Theatre.
Check out the exclusive clip [on
Deadline.com].
###
From
io9:
Happy Happy, Joy Joy - The Ren and Stimpy StoryDespite what the title suggests, this documentary about the cult Nickelodeon show isn’t all positive. It goes through the history of the show but will focus heavily on recent accusations of underage sexual abuse by its creator John Kricfalusi.
###
From
TheWrap:
‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ Film Review: ‘Ren & Stimpy’ Doc Celebrates Animation But Shies Away From Darker SubjectsSundance 2020: Sexual misconduct accusations against creator John Kricfalusi have forever tainted the legacy of this cult series, but the movie avoids that topic as much as possibleDon’t be fooled by the title: “Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story” may be the story of “Ren & Stimpy,” but it’s not a happy, happy story documentary, nor does it evoke joy or joy.
Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood’s film about the smash hit Nickelodeon animated series and its many artists, and series creator John Kricfalusi in particular, features interesting behind-the-scenes stories but pads the running time with redundancies. Worse, it never adequately engages with the most horrifying elements of this tale.
To watch cartoons in the early 1990s was to watch “Ren & Stimpy,” a trailblazing series about an emotionally abusive chihuahua named Ren, a good-natured doormat of a cat named Stimpy, and their gross, non-sensical, censorship-defying adventures. “Ren & Stimpy” was a critical and commercial success, crass in its subject matter but beautiful in its execution. It smashed expectations of TV animation, which had hitherto been relatively low on American networks. Plus, it was really, really, really gross.
It’s nothing short of amazing that a show like “Ren & Stimpy” — a series for little kids with episodes about pectoral replacement surgery and weepy relationships with anthropomorphic farts — got made at all. That’s the story that “Happy Happy Joy Joy” is happiest-happiest and most joyful-joyful to tell. For a long time, it’s a plucky, can-do story about a group of ambitious young artists who united under Kricfalusi to produce unique animation. A rags to riches story. A story of rock stars.
And, like any rock star biopic, the animators at Spümcø, Inc. were destined for a fall. Kricfalusi’s passion for animation, wild pitching style and extreme perfectionism, celebrated at the beginning of his career, led to abusive relationships with his employees and antagonistic relationships with Nickelodeon. He wasn’t the only artist to let his ego undermine his career but, as one of “Happy Happy Joy Joy’s” many interview subjects sums it up: “Nobody else worked harder to f–k it up than this guy.”
For nearly 90 minutes, “Happy Happy Joy Joy” is a sentimental look back at the history and significance of “Ren & Stimpy.” Cicero and Easterwood lay out the events that transpired and, just as importantly, the artistic innovations that “Ren & Stimpy” either pioneered or reimagined. Various scenes from multiple episodes are broken down in some riveting analyses of the craft, displaying how the animation geniuses at Spümcø, Inc. used elastic, off-model characterizations and extreme expressionistic storytelling to shock and engage the audience at the same time.
Unfortunately, not every aspect of “The Ren & Stimpy Story” is equally enthralling, and “Happy Happy Joy Joy” frequently resorts to sequences of multiple interview subjects saying basically the same thing, or sharing anecdotes that are redundant or go nowhere. Spümcø co-founder Lynne Naylor has one story about pickles that just gradually peters off into non-existence, which is somewhat whimsical but wholly off-topic.
What’s more frustrating is “Happy Happy Joy Joy’s” tendency to break from its narrative flow and occasionally just cut to more talking heads so they can rave about how great “Ren & Stimpy” was. That’s all well and good, but sheesh, we’re an hour into the movie and we’re all on the same page by now. The time has long since come to move on.
And the time to address the disturbing elephant in the room has long since passed by the time “Happy Happy Joy Joy” finally gets to John Kricfalusi’s disturbing relationship with an underage, aspiring animator. Ordinarily a development so incredibly shocking would be front-and-center in a documentary like this, but — perhaps in an effort to primarily focus on the “Ren & Stimpy” parts — the filmmakers haven’t just buried the lede, they’ve practically hidden the headstone.
It’s not that “Happy Happy Joy Joy” completely ignores the story; Robyn Byrd appears halfway through the documentary to talk about writing fan mail about the series, and the filmmakers pointedly leave in a candid moment where Kricfalusi lewdly licks his lips and makes uncomfortable remarks about the woman doing his makeup before an interview. But these foreshadowings don’t build organically to the film’s conclusion, nor does the film spend nearly enough time discussing how the history of “Ren & Stimpy” has been forever tainted by the actions of its credited creator.
In its final 15 minutes, at least, “Happy Happy Joy Joy” does ask some serious and significant questions about the cartoon’s legacy. Can a show with so many twisted, tasteless jokes still be enjoyed now that we know what we now know about John Kricfalusi? Robyn Byrd has a thoughtful answer, but the discussion probably demands a little more screen time than is given to Jack Black to talk about how neat “Ren & Stimpy” was when it first came out.
And since “Happy Happy Joy Joy” includes new interview footage with Kricfalusi, the filmmakers do confront him directly about his life, an opportunity he uses predominantly to excuse himself. The film concludes with a bizarre moment from the animator as he completely plays down the most disturbing parts of his life. It’s odd to give Kricfalusi the last word, and what he does with the opportunity is most unpleasant.
Cicero and Easterwood’s film plays a lot like a loving ode to a beloved children’s series that got hijacked all of a sudden by harsh reality, and it doesn’t handle the transition well. For “Ren & Stimpy” fans, the documentary has an enormous amount of value, taking us behind the scenes of a fascinating chapter in animation history. But for documentary fans, it’s a haphazardly paced and awkwardly structured film that struggles to organically incorporate each facet of the tragic “Ren & Stimpy” story, ultimately giving too short a shrift to the greatest tragedy of all.
###
From
The Hollywood Reporter:
'Happy Happy Joy Joy — the Ren & Stimpy Story': Film Review | Sundance 2020THE BOTTOM LINE
A cliched portrait of difficult genius undermines a layered portrait of a classic TV show. TWITTER
Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood's documentary covers the rise and fall of 'The Ren & Stimpy Show' and of creator John Kricfalusi.
Happy Happy Joy Joy — the Ren & Stimpy Story, a documentary premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, has a John Kricfalusi problem.
Based on watching Happy Happy Joy Joy — the Ren & Stimpy Story, "having a John Kricfalusi problem" seems to have been a common affliction for those working on and associated with the iconic animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Happy Happy Joy Joy follows Kricfalusi and the supernova that was Ren & Stimpy, which arrived at a moment when animation had become a soulless, mechanized process driven by selling toys and not artistic considerations. Kricfalusi, as the story goes, somehow convinced Nickelodeon to bankroll an unconventional comedy about a sociopathic dog, an amiably addled cat and their adventures that veered into the grotesque, scatological and absurd. Kricfalusi restored an auteurist stamp to animation and, surrounded by a remarkable and demented team of artists, became a short-lived sensation before he was forced to abandon his creation and retreat into eccentric obscurity. Or that's the basic story.
As depicted by directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, Kricfalusi was a troubled genius of the sort movies and television have been glorifying for decades. He was brilliant and unconventional and wildly ahead of his time, influential and uncontainable. He was also self-destructive and the reason we have so few episodes of Ren & Stimpy is because of his inability and his refusal to work within the system that brought him fame and to treat the employees who facilitated that fame properly. His is a tragic story, but one in which the victims were primarily viewers denied more greatness and Kricfalusi for his self-inflicted wounds.
If you believe that's the end of the conversation and if you love Ren & Stimpy, chances are good that you'll love Happy Happy Joy Joy. Cicero and Easterwood place Kricfalusi front-and-center and they have assembled an assortment of Kricfalusi's Ren & Stimpy collaborators that borders on all-encompassing. From background artists to character animators to some of the biggest names in the show's lore, including early partners like Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor, Nickelodeon's Vanessa Coffey and even the late Chris Reccardi, who died last year.
The insight into what made Ren & Stimpy unique is exceptional, delving into Kricfalusi's untrained vocal work, those ultra-disgusting cutaway close-ups and several specific episodes, like the notoriously banned "Man's Best Friend," which Kricfalusi links closely to his troubled relationship with his father.
Whether or not it's true, Happy Happy Joy Joy feels like it was deep into production when a 2018 Buzzfeed article accused Kricfalusi of befriending a 13-year-old Robyn Byrd, whom he groomed in sexual terms and moved into his apartment when she was only 16 — a "relationship" that continued with an undercurrent of psychological abuse and left Byrd with shattered confidence and unable to find employment in Hollywood. All signs point to Byrd as having not been the only underage girl in Kricfalusi's sphere and, both in the Buzzfeed article and today, Kricfalusi doesn't deny the generalities of the situation, only Byrd's darkest interpretations. So this part is not an allegation.
Cicero and Easterwood have no idea how to handle the information in that Buzzfeed story, even with Byrd as a candid, but not too candid, talking head in the documentary. As presented here, the "relationship" was almost a symptom of years of struggles after he was booted from Ren & Stimpy and not a part of a long-running pattern of behavior. Byrd's revelations aren't mentioned until nearly 90 minutes into the film and that's even after she was introduced as a 13-year-old fan sending letters to the series' creator. The directors gently push Kricfalusi for an unspecified apology, which he begrudgingly gives as part of a creepy plea for Byrd to contact him, positioning the entire situation as something unsavory and less-than-kosher, but far from borderline criminal. Make no mistake: Byrd's Buzzfeed allegations are borderline criminal. From there, the documentary barely gets into additional accusations from the Buzzfeed article of similarly groomed young women, as well as long-running workplace harassment and more.
Kricfalusi denied many of the charges in the Buzzfeed article and doesn't appear to have been asked to repeat those denials here, but it's hard to stomach how his workplace "crimes" are presented as nothing worse than intense, childish and hyperactive behavior and how sanitized the documentary is up until Byrd's on-camera accusations. And it's unsettling how the several celebrities who appear on camera lauding Ren & Stimpy — Iliza Shlesinger, Bobby Lee, Jack Black — are allowed to give their praise for the series and none of them can give even an "Eww" to any behind-the-scenes stories. I almost want footnotes to say which interviews were conducted before the Buzzfeed story broke and which were conducted after, who had incentive to reckon with the totality of the story and who talked when it was a generally less complicated story — because a lot of the shrugging about "Boys will be boys!" rambunctiousness at Kricfalusi's Spumco Studio plays mighty differently with this not insignificant context, context the filmmakers withhold until far later.
As Byrd says of Kricfalusi — and the bad-boy genius myth — point-blank, "It's not necessary for someone to be like that to create great art."
That should probably be the last word in this documentary. Probably it should be the first word as well. Naturally, it's not. Kricfalusi has to get the last word.
Even having read the Buzzfeed story two years ago, I spent the first hour of Happy Happy Joy Joy guiltily feeling like I needed a rewatch of Ren & Stimpy — it's an important series and there's no pretending otherwise — and the next 35 minutes feeling dirty about the whole thing and the last 10 minutes getting actively angry about how the entire story had been framed and reduced to "difficult genius" cliches.
Production company: Invader
Directors: Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood
Producer: Ron Cicero
Cinematographer: Kimo Easterwood
Editors: Sean Jarrett, Christina Burchard, Kevin Klauber, Kimo Easterwood, Ron Cicero
Venue: Sundance Film Festival (Documentary Premieres)
107 minutes
###
From the
New York Post:
The chilling dark secrets behind ‘The Ren & Stimpy Show’The show was a revolution, ending more than a decade of TV cartoon stagnation and inspiring the next generation of animators. But behind the scenes, the staff of Nickelodeon’s “The Ren & Stimpy Show” were feeling anything but “Happy Happy Joy Joy.”
A new documentary called “Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Story,” which premiered Friday at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, reveals the culture of anger and fear at the new-defunct Spumco studios, led by the show’s fiery genius and scandal-plagued creator John Kricfalusi.
“He had this sort of rockstar status,” an animator says of Kricfalusi in the fascinating, if occasionally long-winded doc. Adds another: “The whole thing is tragic. It really is like a Shakespearean play.”
Animation was in a sorry state in the late 1980 and ‘90s, and shows were being churned out that were cheaply made and more concerned with selling toys — “My Little Pony,” “Strawberry Shortcake” — than artistry. During this time, Kricfalusi, a true believer in the classic styles of Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes, was enthusiastically shopping around ideas to major studios.
In the memorable pitch sessions, Kricfalusi would do full character voices and exaggerated, highly physical gestures. “His glasses hit somebody in the head once,” a colleague recalls. But his non-conforming, subversive story ideas left execs feeling uncomfortable, and the animator says he was escorted out by a security guard at least once.
And then came Nickelodeon. In 1991, the kids network that had been reliant on foreign cartoons for more than a decade, wanted to branch out into original animated programming to be called Nicktoons.
Vanessa Coffey, a then-producer at Nickelodeon, wasn’t the usual TV exec. She was interested in weird, out-of-the-box notions, like those of Kricfalusi. He pitched her a show called “Your Gang,” but she was enamored by just two of his creations, Ren, an irate dog, and Stimpy, a stupid cat.
And thus “The Ren & Stimpy Show” was born.
Kricfalusi and his talented animator friends who had formed Spumco, Inc. in 1988 were tasked with delivering six episodes of the risky new program that consistently bordered on inappropriate. As dramatic as the documentary can be at times, it also admiringly delves into the off-the-charts creativity on display during that period. Bill Wray was painting museum-worthy backgrounds, and cartoon characters meant for kids were being modeled after Kirk Douglas (Ren) and Larry Fine from “The Three Stooges.” This was just not done.
When it premiered, “The Ren & Stimpy Show” became a major hit with critics and audiences alike. But despite the show’s boffo success — scoring a 4.0 (2.5 million viewers) in the ratings by episode 4 — Kricfalusi’s temper was on the rise.
The creator was known to furiously rip up his employees’ drawings, and to lock himself in his office for hours redoing already finished work.
“If they toned it down,” Kricfalusi says in the doc, “they’d get what people called ‘a beating.’”
One worker went further in the film, saying he was “a Hitler type.”
The man’s obsession with quality and pushing the envelope of censorship led to months-long delays and going hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget.
When he finally delivered the first episode of Season 2, a violent story called “Man’s Best Friend,” Coffey was appalled and rejected it. “He said that I ‘could go f–k myself’, he wouldn’t take notes anymore, that he made the network and that he was the star,” Coffey says in the doc.
Kricfalusi, who also was the voice of Ren, was fired after Season 2, and the show plummeted in many critics’ estimations. It was cancelled in 1995.
The creator never found the same success again, but in the ensuing years found himself in a #MeToo scandal. Director Ron Cicero’s film appropriately switches to a deeply serious tone.
In 2018, a Buzzfeed article revealed that in 1997 when Kricfalusi was 42, he started a sexual relationship with Robyn Byrd, a 16-year-old girl, and then later Katie Rice, another teen. Byrd says in the doc that she was a fan of “Ren & Stimpy,” and wrote a letter to Kricfalusi when she was just 14.
“I was falling in love with her letters,” Kricfalusi says in the doc. “She was too young. I freely admit that. But she was so convincing.”
Byrd interned with Kricfalusi, moved in with him and began a sexual relationship.
“I was isolated from everyone I know,” she says in the film, adding that her “entire adolescence from 14 to 21” was controlled by Kricfalusi.
Coffey says that when she read the article, she was deeply disturbed.
“It hurt that he used ‘Ren & Stimpy’ that way,” she says through tears in the doc.
Kricfalusi claims he didn’t realize the emotional havoc he’d wrought. “[I] felt like the lowest creature on earth,” he says of reading the story.
Today, while Byrd says she does not want fans of “The Ren & Stimpy Show” to abandon a cherished childhood memory, hers are forever scarred.
“I still have nightmares about him,” she says.
###
From
Collider:
‘Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story’ Review: Never Meet Your HeroesHappy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story tells of the sudden rise and spectacular fall of one of the most influential animated series in television history. This story is about a group of ragtag artists who, through talent and dedication, brought to life two of the most beloved characters of all time–Ren & Stimpy–but it’s also balanced by a cautionary tale about the artistic genius of the series’ creator. The controversial John Kricfalusi, who both caused and experienced trauma that deeply affected his work and relationships, is as much a part of Ren & Stimpy‘s overnight success as its sudden and disastrous decline.
Through archival footage, incredible artwork from the show, and deeply personal interviews with the artists, actors, and executives behind the scenes, this in-depth documentary from co-directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood (who successfully crowd-funded the project) manages to be both balanced and earnest. The documentary artfully illuminates the joy, beauty, and lasting impact of Ren & Stimpy, as well as the dual sides of the show’s creator, a man who is both a brilliant animator and storyteller as well as a deeply flawed person. Happy Happy Joy Joy makes its Sundance premiere on Tuesday, January 28th, but our early review follows below.
Be sure to head to the doc’s IndieGoGo page (linked above) to check out some clips, and read along with the official synopsis below for a bit of background:
In the early 1990s, the animated show Ren & Stimpy broke cable ratings records and was a touchstone for a generation of fans and artists. Creator John Kricfalusi was celebrated as a visionary, but even though his personality suffused the show, dozens of artists and network executives were just as responsible for the show’s meteoric rise. As Kricfalusi’s worst impulses were let loose at the workplace and new allegations about even more disturbing behavior have surfaced, his reputation now threatens to taint the show forever.
With clips recognizable to any Ren & Stimpy fan and interviews with Kricfalusi and his fellow creators whose work has been both elevated and denigrated by their connection to him, this film is a complex look at a show that influenced the history of television, animation, and comedy. More than a celebration, Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Story forces us to consider the role of media creators and how we reckon with the reality of who they are versus what we see on the screen.
ren-and-stimpyThat synopsis does a grand job of laying the groundwork for what you should expect with this Ren & Stimpy documentary. It’s tailormade for fans who grew up with the outlandish and boundary-shattering Nicktoon, but it’s also accessible for folks who’ve never seen an episode (though I’d imagine it’s even more surreal for the latter crowd). The animated series didn’t just knock down barriers in the animation industry, it whizzed all over them. To put Ren & Stimpy into context for our younger readers out there, it was basically the Rick and Morty of the early 1990s. Both R&S and R&M fans–a minority of them, I hope–have held the creators up as demigods and were more than willing to send death threats to creative forces behind the scenes who, in fans’ estimation, posed a threat to the creative vision. If R&M fans lost their collective shit over Szechuan Sauce, imagine what they’d do if Cartoon Network / Adult Swim fired Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon from the show and then pulled it altogether. Yikes.
But that’s exactly what happened to Ren & Stimpy. Kricfalusi and his team of avant garde-meets-anarchy artists were the animation rockstars of their time, but the rise of the show’s popularity was meteoric … and the crash was spectacular. Happy Happy Joy Joy handles both facets of the story incredibly well. The first third of the runtime is dedicated to the crazy team of artists and animators who bucked traditions and overcame long adds to bring a punk-rock approach to kids animation. It chronicles the early careers of Kricfalusi and introduces Lynne Naylor, Bob Camp, the late Chris Reccardi and many more creative talents who built Ren & Stimpy from the ground up. Kricfalusi’s art style and extreme dedication to the craft united and inspired this ragtag team to achieve something that no one in the industry had seen before. Ren & Stimpy pulled the animation business out of corporate-run decision-making based on toy sales, bland morality plays, and mass market appeal and sent it on a crash course toward unique, creator-driven content.
And then the wheels came off.
The second third of the documentary plays like the desperate crash after a breathtaking high. It tells, in detail, how Ren & Stimpy became a victim of its own success, specifically calling out Kricfalusi’s controlling, abusive practices in both the Spümcø studio and in Nickelodeon’s own production offices. All of the artists interviewed cite Kricfalusi’s signature genius and dedication, but they vary in just how much blame for the fallout they lay at his feet; he’s seen as anywhere from completely responsible for the fall, to an artist suddenly thrust into stardom who failed to manage his own success. The truth is certainly somewhere in that spectrum. The fact is that Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from the show after numerous altercations, and while they tried to keep production going under Camp, Ren & Stimpy itself folded a few years later.
It would take more than 20 years after that for the first underage sexual abuse allegations against Kricfalusi to gain worldwide attention. And that’s what the final third of the documentary addresses, complete with direct responses from Kricfalusi himself and a personal account from his former fan, flame, and protege, Robyn Byrd. I applaud the filmmakers who tackled this sensitive subject head-on, as I do both Byrd for telling her story on the documentary itself and Kricfalusi for addressing it. Filmmakers Cicero and Easterwood push Kricfalusi harder on their questions than they do his co-workers, who say they were surprised to learn that the artist’s inclination towards young, underage girls was more truth than just simple locker room talk. But it took more than 20 years for Byrd to find the courage to speak out thanks in part to the silence and averted eyes of everyone else in the studio and the industry; she is now seen as a shield and cautionary tale that defends other young female artists who might have otherwise given up on their dreams.
To paraphrase Byrd: Just because pain has brought art into your life as a way of coping with it, that doesn’t give you the right to impose pain on others.
So, what remains of the legacy of both Kricfalusi and Ren & Stimpy? For the man who holds the “Created by” stamp–itself a matter of contention since Nickelodeon executive Vanessa Coffey actually pulled those two specific characters out of Kricfalusi’s Our Gang pitch for development–his actions and behavior going forward will speak volumes and his full story has yet to be written. It’s more complicated for the Nicktoon itself. Dozens of talented people worked on Ren & Stimpy, so is it fair to demonize its brilliance and artistry because of the personal failings of its core creative influence? At the same time, can Ren & Stimpy ever manage to shake Kricfalusi from its history after embracing the self-imposed “Created by” badge? That’s a decision that each individual fan out there will have to make for themselves, but thankfully the documentary addresses that complicated issue, as well.
Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story is at once a love letter to the classic Nicktoon that paved the way for creator-driven content over the last 30 years and is also an exploration of the personal demons that can drive an artist to both fame and failure. There is an absolute wealth of incredible behind-the-scenes stories, images, and trivia here for animation fans and Ren & Stimpy fanatics, but it’s all tainted with the hard truth of Kricfalusi’s difficult upbringing, abrasive personality, and abusive tendencies. And that’s exactly what you want in an objective documentary that deals with both a pop culture phenomenon and a divisive creator at its center.
Rating: A
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From
The Utah Review:
Sundance 2020: Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren and Stimpy Story absorbing, sharp, potent, immaculately researched documentaryIf there was one episode from The Ren & Stimpy Show, the cartoon which aired on Nickelodeon in the first half of the 1990s, which encapsulated its creator’s mindset, it was the Christmas season episode Son of Stimpy.
Stimpy breaks wind, convinced that he has given birth to ‘Stinky.’ Ren, of course, does not believe Ren. Stinky runs away and Stimpy desperately searches for his beloved fart.
The 1993 episode almost did not air because the network asked the cartoon’s creator John Kricfalusi (a/k/a John K) to make stories with more heartwarming notes than the usual fare with heavy adult and gross-out scatological undertones, which had made the children’s cartoon immensely popular. John K despised, as he describes it, the “fake pathos” generated in films by tricks with cinematography and music. To prove his point, he based the episode’s story on the nonsensical premise of Stimpy not being able to fart again, using precisely the tricks he despised to prove that one could inspire a viewer to cry even at a story’s most ridiculous premise.
A clip from this episode is featured in the absorbing, sharp, potent and immaculately researched documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Story, which has its premiere at Sundance this year. Making their feature-length debuts as director, Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood capture perfectly the essence of this cartoon classic’s status as a pioneer in the genre of animation. They also deftly handle the damaging self-inflicted consequences of John K’s legacy – the disparaging treatment of colleagues driven by his narcissistic compulsion for creative control and the underage relationships he had with young women in the 1990s, along with other stories of abuse and sexual misconduct.
However, this documentary’s genesis started out on a far more innocent note. Cicero (who had last seen a Ren & Stimpy episode at least 20 years before he began work on the film) and Easterwood (who says in an interview with The Utah Review, “I was not a cartoon fan as a kid so I never watched an episode”) initially set out to document comprehensively the creative team’s gifts that led to Ren & Stimpy. And, when the news broke in 2018 about John K’s relationship with Robyn Byrd (who is featured in the film), a young admirer who initially was inspired by his gifts as a cartoonist, the filmmakers were shocked. Cicero says, in an interview with The Utah Review, “it was a ‘Holy Cow’ moment for us. We realized the film at that point was ruined.” Just three days before, they had entered the credits for the completed film.
A still (John Kricfalusi) from Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Story by Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, an official selection of the Documentary Premieres program at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Kimo Easterwood.
In reworking the film with the news that had just broken, Cicero and Easterwood managed to obtain on-camera interviews from John K, who previously had refused their requests. “It was not an easy process,” Cicero says, adding it took negotiating six months to secure his appearance on camera. The directors worried that even after filming, John K might refuse to sign the release. “To his credit, he did,” Cicero adds.
Byrd, who also agreed to be interviewed, has traveled to Park City for the premiere. Now living in Illinois, she is “all but dissertation” on her Ph.D in applied linguistics. Her Twitter profile reads, in part, “reformed cartoonist/ESL teacher/scrappy AF, will kick in some knees.” A Jan. 23 tweet from Byrd reads, “I survived abuse at the hands of a man who thinks he’s a genius. Not only am I smarter than him (which is not that important)… but I have healthy, long-lasting, affirming, fun, giving relationships. Considering the trauma he caused, I feel like that is a miracle.”
In all of the instances where John K is featured in the documentary, the complex array of his skills as a cartoonist, the improprieties, the insincerity of his apologies, his penchant for sweeping generalizations and his lack of humility or self-effacement emerges in a clear yet disturbing portrait. In fact, his demeanor is pretty much the same as in a 1992 Film Criticism interview with Wheeler Winston Dixon. In that interview, when he was asked about if he is ever pressured by Nickelodeon or outside groups to be politically correct, he said, “No. I feel obligated to be politically incorrect! I think that’s the stupidest term I’ve ever heard in my life! Why is one person’s view politically correct when another person’s isn’t? Who decides that?”
However, in the documentary scenes regarding questions about his abuse and conduct, John K conveys the sense without words being spoken that he at least is aware of his guilt but he goes no further to account for the damage he has wrought. Again, this is consistent with his ‘apology’ that he posted on Facebook in 2018 to Byrd and Katie Rice (another victim who appears in the film). He described his behavior as “inappropriate.” He added, “There is some general truth in it, some things I remember differently, some not at all. The writer exaggerated and presented some things out of context for tabloid consumption.”
Cicero and Easterwood are meticulous and successful in handling the multilayered controversies that frame the telling of The Ren & Stimpy Story, which lead to the epiphany question for viewers to contemplate: Can one still value the art for its creative merit with the same previous devotion and acclaim even as the most damaging and disturbing details of the creative artist’s life are revealed?
The film’s research emanates in many magnificent moments, with artwork, clips and interviews featuring artists, actors, executives and fans. We learn about Spumco, the in-house production unit; the generous, visionary and risk-taking support of Nickelodeon executive Vanessa Coffey; the battles with Nickelodeon not just about having the episodes delivered late but also about the content that often was not advertiser-friendly, and fans such as comedians Iliza Shlesinger, Chris Gore and Bobby Lee. Even the film’s documentary score strongly echoes classical music elements heard in Ren and Stimpy episodes.
John K did not use scripts believing that they were outdated tools and insisted on figuring out the gags in a brief outline that was perhaps two or three pages. Likewise, the story and the dialogue would be filled out on the storyboard. And, the show relied heavily on acting. After auditing numerous professional voice actors for the role of the asthmatic chihuahua Ren, John K decided to take on the part himself, offering what he described as a bad impersonation of the actor Peter Lorre, whose voice frequently has been parodied by comics and other cartoons.
The episode that soured the relationship with Nickelodeon was Man’s Best Friend, which was pulled before it was scheduled to air and led to John K’s firing. It featured George Liquor, an abusive man who pushes Ren to beat George to a bloody pulp with an oar. The oddest thing is that of all the characters John K wanted returned to him, it was George Liquor. In the documentary, we learn that he based the character in part on his father.
In the aftermath John K refused to tone down the controversy, insisting on reaching beyond the boundaries that had led to his firing. He produced a half dozen episodes for Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon but they were considered in such vulgar taste that even Billy West, the voice actor of Stimpy, refused to do. Only three episodes were aired before the series was canceled for good.
Indeed, John K. destroyed a legacy that should have been a brilliant chapter in fearless creative work for a television genre that long had been constricted by tame, prissy conventions to avoid offending the commercial preferences of program advertisers. The film by Cicero and Easterwood lucidly portrays how he wasted the goodwill of a tremendously talented staff and crew, supportive executives, fans and industry peers and, more significantly, inflicted long-lasting trauma on young victims who initially had sought out his guidance as a creative mentor. It is hard to imagine how anyone can enjoy Ren & Stimpy with the same admiration and enthusiasm they had when the show first aired nearly 30 years.
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From
Showbiz Cheat Sheet:
'Ren & Stimpy' Documentary Gets Answers from John Kricfalusi [Sundance]The Ren & Stimpy Show was a groundbreaking animated series for Nickelodeon and ushered in a wave of edgy ‘90s animation. John Kricfalusi created the characters and the documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy depicts the difficulties both he faced and those who worked with him faced.
If you’re wondering about the 2018 allegations that he sexually abused teenage girls, the documentary addresses that too. The filmmakers confront Kricfalusi about it.
‘Ren & Stimpy’ in the history of animation
The beginning of Happy Happy Joy Joy sets the stage for the world Ren & Stimpy rocked. Animated shows in the ‘80s were all about selling toys. Nothing wrong with that. A lot of our childhood favorites were made to sell toys and we loved them whether we owned the toys or not.
Still, in that environment Ren & Stimpy was groundbreaking. It embraced the sort of scatalogical humor of bodily functions that entertained kids, but entertainment was its first and foremost concern. A few minutes into the film, they introduce John Kricfalusi. As an animation aficionado, it sounds like he wanted to make animation great again. He doesn’t say those words but he expresses frustration with the climate of animation at the time.
The troubled making of ‘Ren & Stimpy’
The bulk of Happy Happy Joy Joy documents the making of Nickelodeon’s show. Die had Ren & Stimpy or animation fans may already know much of this, like the episode delays and ultimate firing of John Krikfalusi. The filmmakers found photos and video of pitch sessions and signing, plus storyboards and clips to illustrate the narrative.
Kricfalusi was lively in his pitches. Those sorts of demonstrations probably helped sell Ren & Stimpy but also spoke to some of the turmoil brewing inside. Happy Happy Joy Joy points out some of the naughty elements of Ren & Stimpy you may have missed as a kid. The film introduces Robyn Byrd in this early section as a young animator who wrote to Kricfalusi. More on that later.
Happy Happy Joy Joy singles out a few significant Ren & Stimpy episodes, both for their emotional content and some that pushed too far and got banned. Kricfalusi is self-reflective about his influences and some of the most outrageous Ren & Stimpy shows were very personal.
John Kricsfalusi couldn’t quite deliver ‘Ren & Stimpy’
It seems episodes were coming in late from the very beginning. Fans certainly followed the frustrating randomness of new episode airings and questioned the ousting of Ren & Stimpy’s very creator. The documentary offers more details and gives the network a fair shake. There is the artist’s vision and then there’s the reality that you do have to produce shows. Yes, animation is difficult and time consuming, but other animated series meet their airdates.
Kricfalusi won’t quite own up to his role in the development problems. He concedes that 20 episodes a season was too much for them. Maybe it was, and in 2020 there are shows that can do 13 or less in a run, but a deal’s a deal. He tried to revive a more adult version of Ren & Stimpy for Spike TV in 2003 but only three of the six episodes even aired.
The heartbreaking story of Robyn Byrd
At this point, Happy Happy Joy Joy returns to Robyn Byrd, really the story you’ve been waiting 75 minutes for. The flimmakers dissolve Byrd’s descriptions of her time with John Kricfalusi overlapping. It’s a classy technique that covers a lot and conveys how pervasive it was, while avoiding rehashing all the details in the news. Katie Rice does not appear but the film addresses her story and others’.
The filmmakers ask Kricfalusi the right questions. They probably get the most answers anyone will. Kricfalusi is apologetic but won’t fully incriminate himself. Happy Happy Joy Joy is a worthwhile documentary about a monumental pop culture phenomenon and its problematic creator. It comes at just the right time to address the full scope of his personality, and the larger impact he had on the people in his wake.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
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From
Solzy at the Movies:
Sundance 2020: Happy Happy Joy JoyHappy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story takes us through the journey of Ren & Stimpy while also touching on creator John Kricfalusi’s dark side.
Ren & Stimpy was a hit for Nickelodeon when it first hit the airwaves. Outside of those working on the series, nobody could have ever guessed what happened beyond the scenes. No, not creator John Kricfalusi performing the storyboards while pitching his ideas. It’s worse than this to tell you the truth. His behavior is something that would get him fired under today’s #MeToo and Times’ Up movements. As it should.
If anything, this documentary serves as a wider exposure of John Kricfalusi’s dark side. It’s this dark side that would hurt relationships with people working on the show. Think of it this way–when Ren & Stimpy came back in an adult series on Spike TV, it didn’t hit with the same impact. The reason for this is new version was missing the dedicated artists that worked on the show’s previous incarnation. Honestly, the tragedy behind Ren & Stimpy is among the worst in television history.
Co-directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood underwent months of interviews to get the story. The story that they get? One that celebrates the show. Nobody could predict what would come next. Everything changed come 2018. Until this point, John Kricfalusi declined to be interviewed for the documentary. Naturally, you think you have a finished film and then BOOM! Breaking news happens and the film must go in a different direction. In this instance, allegations surfaced regarding John Kricfalusi’s relationship with an underage girl. So what happens? Kricfalusi finally speaks on camera. Better late than never, I suppose. One would think that most of this is to contain the PR damage.
When we talk about films having more than one cut, Happy Happy Joy Joy may become a new prime example. New footage means a very different cut of the film. This speaks to how important editing becomes in filmmaking. Not only does new footage need to be edited into the film but how does the previous footage connect with the new footage? Editing is truly everything. It really is!
Watching the documentary does beg the question of separating art from the artist. The beauty in this documentary is asking if we can celebrate the success of the show but recognize the flaws in creator John Kricfalusi. Can one still love the show or will it become a victim of “cancel culture?” There is no easy answer to the question. Honestly, there might never be.
After viewing Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story, you’ll never be able to watch Ren & Stimpy in the same way ever again.
DIRECTORS: Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood
Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story holds its world premiere during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Premieres program.
Grade: 3.5/5
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From
The Sun:
NO LAUGHING MATTER Dark secrets of ‘Hitler-type’ Ren & Stimpy Show creator who ‘preyed on teen fans’A NEW documentary about Ren & Stimpy reveals alleged sexual and verbal abuse at the hands of the show's creator, John Kricfalusi.
Several former staffers claim he was verbally abusive and two women accuse him of preying on them as teens in "Happy Happy Joy Joy - The Ren & Stimpy Story," which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival.
The risky cartoon debuted on Nickelodeon in 1991 and quickly became a major hit, appealing to critics with subversive story ideas and drawing in kids with childishly-drawn characters that had adult personalities.
But despite Ren & Stimpy's early success, Kricfalusi remained dissatisfied and often took his anger out on his staff.
He was known for allegedly tearing up his employees' drawings if they were too tame and locked himself in his office for hours to redo already finished work, the New York Post reported.
"If they toned it down, they'd get what people called 'a beating,'" Kricfalusi says in the film.
One employee went as far as to describe his former boss as "a Hitler type."
His obsession with quality and pushing the envelope of censorship created months-long delays in production, causing the show to go over budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Former Nickelodeon producer Vanessa Coffey said the Canadian animator cursed her out after she rejected the season 2 premiere for being too violent and claimed he made the network, not the other way around.
"He said that I 'could go f**k myself', he wouldn't take notes anymore,that he made the network, and that he was the star," she says in the doc.
Kricfalusi, who also voiced Ren, was canned by the end of Season 2 - the show was eventually canceled after the fifth season aired in 1995.
In 2018, Robyn Byrd told Buzzfeed News she had sex with the animator for the first time at a nearby hotel in 1997, when she was just 16 years old and he was 42.
She moved in with him that year and began working at his studios as an intern that summer, a dream come true for the teenage fan.
Another fan and former employee, Katie Rice, told the news outlet that a then-49-year-old Kricfalusi would walk around "with his wiener hanging out of his pants" when she worked from his Los Angeles home.
He professed his romantic feelings to Rice in a work email he sent her when she was only 18 years old, she told the news outlet.
Kricfalusi, now 64, was never able to replicate the success he found with Ren & Stimpy, and eventually moved on to more behind-the-scenes collaborations on music videos and internet cartoons in later years.
In spite of the abuse allegations levied against him, Kricfalusi claims he didn't realize the emotional damage he caused in either of his accusers.
"[I] felt like the lowest creature on Earth," he said after reading the Buzzfeed exposé.
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From
JoBlo.com:
REVIEW: HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY (SUNDANCE 2020)PLOT: The story behind Nickelodeon’s seminal “Ren & Stimpy”, and the complicated, sometimes predatory man behind it, John Kricfalusi.
REVIEW: For fans of “Ren & Stimpy”, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s packed with enough clips to make you nostalgic for one of the most demented, cerebral and often brilliant cartoons ever made. On the other, it makes the series all but impossible to enjoy as by the end you’ll know its creator, John Kricfalusi, all too well. At his best a brilliant, but complicated man, Kricfalusi, who sits for a thorough interview, is a troubled soul. While undeniably talented, so much so that “Ren & Stimpy” had no chance whatsoever when Nickelodeon infamously showed him the door, he was also a toxic, abusive man who treated his employees, friends and especially his romantic partners with absolute disdain. And that’s not even getting into some of the more sordid aspects of his personality, such as the allegations of sexual harassment and his highly inappropriate relationships with former young fans, such as one woman who he reportedly groomed from the age of fourteen, and became his romantic partner when she turned sixteen.
One thing worth noting - these aren’t only accusations. Kricfalusi admits what he did in the documentary, even if he stops short of expressing real remorse over anything other than the fact that his actions cost him his career (he admits that he’s currently retired - but not by choice). It should also be noted though - directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood do not make this aspect of his life their focus, a choice that produces mixed results. Instead, the focus is on the cartoon itself, which isn’t a bad way to go, but the accusations only really come into the film about fifteen minutes away from the ending, making them feel like a bit of a footnote. That said, Cicero and Easterwood have clearly tailored their film towards “Ren & Stimpy” devotees, and if you’re a fan of the show, chances are you already know what he did and this gives you a little added context non-fans may not have.
Thoroughly entertaining throughout, it can’t be denied that the subject matter is incredibly compelling. “Ren & Stimpy” was a full-fledged cultural phenomenon, albeit briefly, and both it and the man behind it make for compelling subjects. The impact it made on pop culture is enlightening, especially to a person like myself, who watched it as an eleven year old Canadian (when it aired on Much Music) and knew little about the effect it had on animation in general. It’s argued that Kricfalusi, with his demand for creative control and an all-important “created by” title card, paved the way for the makers of “South Park” and other important cartoons.
For those of us who watched it as kids and wondered why it suddenly started to suck after the second season, you find out why here although this is perhaps the only time where you’ll sympathize the network over the artist. He comes off as so insufferable you’ll wonder how he lasted so long at the helm, even if his work was brilliant. The stories are fascinating, with it coming out that it was the reaction to one deeply personal episode that triggered his downfall. Watching the clips, it also seems amazing that Nickelodeon let so much slide, although this willingness to push the envelope has allowed it to stand the test of time, even if its creator makes it hard to appreciate now.
If you haven’t seen “Ren & Stimpy” in awhile, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY is a mixed blessing. It’ll no doubt trigger so legitimate nostalgia, but it’s also a tragic story about how one man couldn’t help but inflict his pain on others at every chance he got. It’s fascinating, but also deeply tragic.
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From
812filmReviews:
SUNDANCE 2020: HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY – THE REN & STIMPY STORYRating: 3/4
In 1991, a cartoon debuted on Nickelodeon that would change cartoons forever. The Ren & Stimpy Show, born from the mind of John Kricfalusi and the artists of Spümcø, pushed the boundaries of acceptable child programming and the limits of animation to revolutionary results while inspiring a generation of animators and kids. Nevertheless, a shadow sketches across its storyboards because of the grotesque acts of its creator. Ron Cicero and Kimo Eastwood’s Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren and Stimpy Story charts the path of the show—detailing all of the artists who made the program special and their challenges—while examining the psychology components that led to Kricfalusi crafting the show and becoming a predator.
For Ren & Stimpy enthusiasts, the most thrilling portions of Cicero and Eastwood’s documentary comes in deconstructing the origins of the cartoon. The animators: Corey Yost, Scott Wills, Bob Camp, Bill Wray, Chris Riccardi, etc.—recount the influences of the characters, from black and white films to comedy trios. They also recount the early days of working with Kricfalusi, who they speak about in referential terms.
Described as the next “Walt Disney,” Kricfalusi was a flight of energy that had rarely been seen before. His acting of storyboards became legendary, much like Disney, and his quest for perfection toxic. Animators describe the verbal and emotional abuse they suffered under the creator while he perched himself as a God. And like most icons, the brilliance of their shine hypnotizes many for a time, until their acidic drops return their worshippers back to reality. They were outsiders ordained to take down the city walls of cable television, and they believed in their charge. Watching a band of creatives fight for artistic integrity and freedom, unspool themselves for a cause they believe in, invites the most uplifting portions of Cicero and Eastwood’s doc.
However, the Happy Happy Joy Joy doesn’t solely bow at the altar of Kricfalusi. Incredibly, the directors talked the Ren & Stimpy creator into appearing in the documentary. He chronicles much of his childhood, one filled with multiple instances of abuse, and how it formed his ethos for perfectionism. We also receive the behind the scenes spats between him and Nickelodeon producer Vanessa Coffey, who often is left devastated at multiple parts while holding a Stimpy plush doll during her interviews. Furthermore, Cicero and Eastwood show the disintegration of Kricfalusi relationship with Lynne Neyer and later Bob Camp, and airs significant portions of the banned Ren & Stimpy episode “Man’s Best Friend.”
Nevertheless, the most harrowing portions arrives when Happy Happy Joy Joy inspects Kricfalusi’s predatorial history of raping under-aged girls. Robyn Byrd, one of Kricfalusi’s victims, describes the acts of grooming perpetrated by the Ren & Stimpy creator. And shockingly, Cicero and Eastwood coax Kricfalusi into addressing the multiple allegations of pedophilia and abuse levied at him. The results are stomach churning and achingly horrifying, nearly destroying whatever affinity one might have for the cartoon, even as Cicero and Eastwood carefully divide the program from its creator over the course of 104 minutes. That division, which doesn’t allow for a deeper dive on allegations (they mostly take up 20 minutes) often seems one note. Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren & Stimpy Story is engrossing and gutsy, and tactfully executed, but could be more combative.
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From
Celebrity Insider:
Alleged Misconduct Of Ren And Stimpy Creator Revealed In New Documentary At Sundance Film FestivalRen And Stimpy has become one of the most influential cartoons of all time, however, after ten years of run-time, the staff behind the popular Nickelodeon series were not as happy as one might suspect.
The New York Post recently picked up on a new documentary that screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival called Happy Happy Joy Joy – The Ren and Stimpy Story.
The doc purports to explore the behind-the-scenes problems at Spumco Studios, helmed by the series’ creator, John Kricfalusi, who has since been accused of several transgressions. An animator said in the documentary that Kricfalusi had “rock-star status,” and how the show collapsed was “tragic,” like a “Shakespearean Play.”
Before Ren and Stimpy began, cartoon animation wasn’t doing well on the market, as many of them were cheaply made and concerned with marketing products. However, Kricfalusi, who was a true believer in cartoon animation, shopped around his show which later went on to great success.
One source claimed that Kricfalusi would pitch his ideas to executives sometimes in a dramatic manner, even forcing them to escort him out of the building on one occasion. In 1991, Nickelodeon began investing in cartoons, Nicktoons, and Vanessa Coffey, who was a producer at Nickelodeon at the time, became interested in his subversive ideas.
When the show finally premiered, it was an instant hit. Despite the cartoon’s success, Kricfalusi’s erratic behavior increased. Reportedly, he was known to angrily rip up his employee’s drawings and lock himself in his office redoing the work of others.
Another person in the film described him as a “Hitler type,” stating that his obsession with quality and perfection was out of control, sometimes even leading to month-long delays and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent over the pre-established budget.
During the first episode of the second season, Vanessa Coffey had to reject the first episode, titled, “Man’s Best Friend,” due to its violence. Kricfalusi was fired after the second season and the series plummeted in the ratings afterward. Nickelodeon canceled it in 1995.
Then, two years ago, a BuzzFeed article came out claiming that Kricfalusi had been in a relationship with a 16-year-old girl. Another girl, Katie Rice, sent him a letter when she was 14-years-old. She later interned with him and began a sexual relationship after moving into his home.
She claims she was isolated and her life was controlled by him from the age of 14 until 21. Through tears in the documentary, Rice claimed it was tragic that he “used Ren and Stimpy” in that way. In the doc, Rice claims that she still has nightmares about him until to this day.
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