The Jim Henson Company’s most recent venture, “The Happytime Murders,” didn’t sit well with audiences for its opening this weekend, indicating Muppet-lovers aren’t quite ready to have their childhood ripped apart on screen.

The film stars Melissa McCarthy as Detective Connie Edwards, who teams up with puppet-cop Phil Phillips to solve a series of crimes relating to a cast of 90s’ puppet television actors. The film grossed just over $9.5 million at the box office opening weekend and had a budget of an estimated $40 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

The comedy comes from an innate juxtaposition of two worlds. In theory, the image of childish-looking puppets investigating brutal homicides and doing hard drugs is funny because those things don’t go together.

However, “The Happytime Murders” takes this idea and beats viewers over the head, resulting in a film that may be more fit for a Youtube sketch than a full-length feature.

Raunchy puppets has, in a way, become an odd subgenre of contemporary comedy. The 2003 musical “Avenue Q” takes place in a “Sesame Street”-esque neighborhood, but where puppets sing about sex and violence; their worldviews act as a dark mirror to the “Sesame Street” universe. The 2004 movie “Team America: World Police” features “Thunderbird”-like puppets that drink and swear, among other more R-rated activities.

While a generous person could argue “Avenue Q” and “Team America” are not fully without any larger message or social critique, “The Happytime Murders” feels raunchy for the sake of being raunchy. After about 15 minutes, the schtick grows old, and the crude jokes have diminishing returns.

One of the most disappointing things about the film is McCarthy’s wasted potential. Instead of landing strong central characters, she’s often hindered by bad scripts or upstaged by other talent, now including puppets. McCarthy has the potential to rise above such menial roles if she were to be handed a better script. In the words of Muppet Ralph the Dog: “I hope that something better comes along.”

Though the concept isn’t inherently worthless—maybe there’s something to explore about what cheery puppet life looks like on the bad side of town—the public is not embracing this new, dark muppet universe. “The Happytime Murders” may have hit too close to home for audiences, and perhaps Henson would be better off sticking to films where Kermit the Frog sings about rainbows.