Simply Perfect

Great Film overall

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Puppet Master 3 is to me much better than the original two, not only that, it's one of my favorites in the entire franchise. Don't get me wrong though this is a Puppet Master movie so it won't be without its cheesy low budget feel, just like anything else put out by Full Moon. I'm always surprised when I see other reviews say that it's the worst acted of the franchise because I always felt that that was one of the better aspects of the movie! That amongst many other things is one of the reasons I really enjoy this film.The plot is much different than that of the first two. We find ourselves going back in time to Nazi Germany where the Nazi's are trying to re-animate the dead using drugs. Eventually Andre Toulon raises suspicion with his puppet show and his secrets are then discovered. After the Nazi's cause a great personal tragedy trying to capture him and the secret to his puppets Toulon begins to seek his revenge against the Nazi's.The time change in this movie for me helps a great deal, it doesn't feel quite as worn out as the first two and still holds up pretty well today. The idea to tackle Nazi Germany was a very ambitious thing that most low budget movies wouldn't even consider, but I'm glad Full Moon did, it's necessary for us to see these things if we are to truly understand the origins of Andre Toulon and his puppets. For around an $800,000 budget and shooting in the backlot of Universal Studios Puppet Master 3 does an amazing job of putting me in the location.The puppets in this movie are awesome as always and they get a decent amount of screen time, learning how each puppet came to be is engaging and watching Toulon build his most famous puppet Blade is exciting, I felt my anticipation building for Blade the entire movie. Once Blade does make his way into the movie he makes his presence felt, as only Blade could. He is only in the movie for a short amount of time and that is one of the down sides of it at least if you're a Blade fan. We see the introduction of the Six Shooter puppet dressed like a cowboy, he is a fun character and is always giggling and smiling. He has some fun scenes especially one where he kills a despised Nazi General, unfortunately before this takes place we see Six Shooter climbing a building and wires are obviously visible. I will say this movie made me care about the puppets and I really didn't want to see any of them die, being a prequel I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen but a few scenes still had me worried about them. This is the first Puppet Master film in which Toulon and his Puppet creations truly make the switch from bad guys to good guys, which I think was necessary for the story, Toulon wasn't a likeable character in prior installments, but with the prequel story shown in part 3 Guy Rolfe does a great job of making us care for him. There are a few plot holes with the continuity though, it had been said prior to part 3 that Toulon committed suicide in 1939, when this movie is set in 1941. I'm no history buff but this could have been done to fit the historical timeline involving Hitler and the Nazi's or it could just be a mistake on behalf of Full Moon, either way it doesn't really bother me, but I have to give the film a mark down for that. This is a Puppet Master movie, you can't go into it expecting some sort of greatness and you can't expect it to be problem free, this is a movie for pure horror fans and fans of the franchise. So you can't be critical of the movie in a serious way or that takes all the enjoyment out of it, it's undeniable that this is a fun movie! There are obvious mistakes that just with a retake or proper editing could have easily been fixed, plus 1 or 2 continuity issues but besides that there are no major problems present in this film. The Puppet Master movies ruled the direct to video market and flooded video stores around the nation, I have very fond memories of renting these movies and loving them as a kid, and as I have grown up my opinion hasn't changed and neither has this movie. I can only hope we continue to see the Puppet Master franchise thrive today.

Working on a project for the Nazis, a scientist's work with reviving the dead is complicated by a local puppet master's work on a group of dolls for a theater show being sent after them in revenge for the murder of his wife as they carry out his deadly plans.This here was a rather fun and exciting effort with a lot to really like about it. What makes it so fun is the film's rather enjoyable and worthwhile backstory here by being the starting point for the franchise and filling in so many holes in the main running thread. Though it keeps the puppets off-screen for the most part, the fact that the first half sets up the impetus of his revenge makes for a really exciting time here with this one bringing about a notable and certainly justified revenge motif about their mistreatment of him which really sets this one in motion from that point onward. As that allows the film to descend into a series of encounters with the puppets wiping out the Nazis almost exclusively, that not only means the film is so fast- paced that it avoids the pacing issues of the previous film but also manages the same facet of the rest of the franchise in being able to give the different puppets the same elements as before where they get plenty of fine time to shine. There's a strong slew of encounters here that gives this one a rather frenetic pace that makes for each puppet getting plenty of chances to showcase their powers which is where this one scores more than the other efforts in this regard as the excess time not only gives them the chance for those attacks while also managing to give them a more tender and affectionate side with them now being the good guys throughout here instead of only at the end when their feelings are insulted after being the villains beforehand. It's a nice breath of fresh air in the series and gives it some additional life, along with the fun new addition to the franchise in a cool puppet brought into play. It does suffer slightly from a drawn-out plot line about the Nazi mastermind who's simply a prick for no reason other than he needs to be the villain of the of the piece yet comes off more as a disgraceful, condescending jerk more than anything else. This carries over into the events of the finale as there's a few too many plot-points by that time to really get the full effect of what's going on. This clichéd nature doesn't really give this a whole lot of originality at that point, which is about the only real problems this one has to lower it.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language, mild sexual activities and children-in-jeopardy.

I've been a Puppet Master fan for a long time and if I had to name a favorite this would be it, this is the second movie in the franchise chronologically and gives a great background to Andre Toulon. The acting in this movie is completely flawless with actors such as Guy Rolfe,Richard Lynch, Ian Abercrombie, (and even though she has small screen time) Sarah Douglas you can't go wrong. In Puppet Master 1&2 we saw the Puppets as killers but now with their calm and good hearted master their killing true villainous monsters "the Nazis"! The story is awesome and action packed and serves its purpose well as a VERY entertaining movie. If you're in the neighborhood and see this movie on ebay (it's usually fairly cheap) buy it! Hell, once you get your hands on it your guaranteed to get relentless hours of entertainment!

Set in Berlin during WWII, the Nazi regime is attempting to develop a drug that will animate the dead, in order to use in the war effort. Toulon arouses suspicion as a Nazi dissident, and his secret is discovered.Can you believe David DeCouteau made a good movie? And he did it under the Full Moon banner? Strange as that may seem today (2012), in the not too distant past, this actually happened. In fact, part three is arguably the best film in the "Puppet Master" series -- which is saying a lot when you have eleven films (and growing). In fact, the only real complaint I have with it is the continuity, but that is a running theme with Puppet Master (we pretty much never have the same actor playing Toulon twice, for example).I love the exposition here, the development of the origins of the dolls. I am unclear how Toulon went from being the good guy here to the bad guy we saw in earlier films... but, hey, it happens (Darth Vader, anyone?). This production is slick, the story is solid, the effects are good... I was a little bit surprised. I thought Aron Eisenberg did a terrible job pretending to be a naive child (as much as I loved him on "Deep Space 9"), but that can be excused.