Dumbstruck -- Film Review

PALM SPRINGS -- The ventriloquist's dummy just might be the original lo-fi avatar. As the engaging documentary "Dumbstruck" suggests, the voice-throwers who bring those inanimate bodies to life often are shy people channeling what they couldn't otherwise express. But the film wastes no time spelling out the psychology behind puppetry or even its history. The spotlight illuminates a well-chosen quintet of subjects, all wholesomely passionate practitioners of a readily dissed form of entertainment and each at a different point in their career. You don't have to read anyone's lips to know that this quick-moving crowd-pleaser, which received its world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, is destined for a well-received theatrical run.