Sausage Party

I gotta admit, when the trailer for Sausage Party first came out back in spring, I was NOT looking forward to it. I yearned for Hollywood to learn that animation wasn’t all kiddie like their marketing teams promoted it. There is a LOT of potential in this medium that’s only restrictions are the animator’s imagination. But, when an earlier draft of the film’s script was leaked shortly after the movie, I went from neutrally optimistic to full pessimistic. It highlighted everything wrong with what people think makes an adult animated project. Excessive swearing, graphic violence, needless anti-religion subject matter and vulgarity for the sake of being vulgar. That was the film I was expecting…and surprisingly, that wasn’t the film I got. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty wrong with this movie. But the changes they made turned it from something horrible to something more tolerable.

The story is about the lives of anthropomorphic food live in a supermarket. They believe that the customers are gods who will take them outside the store, or as they call it, the Great Beyond. In a song composed by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast), the food in the different aisles sing about what they think happens in the Great Beyond. For our main protagonist Frank the hot dog(Voice by the film’s writer, Seth Rogen), he’s been taught that he and his fellow sausages will be freed from their packaging. Giving him the freedom to consummate his love to a plump bun named Brenda (Voiced by the always hilarious Kristen Wiig). Frank experiences some doubts about the belief system despite how hyped his friends are to finally fill up the buns. And yes, it leads to a LOT of innuendo. So if you’re tired of genital humor, this film will quickly annoy you. After a jar of honey mustard is returned by a customer, he tries to warn Frank and his friends about the horrible plans the gods of in store for them. One cart crash and Saving Private Ryan spoof later, Frank and his girlfriend are separated from their friends, now stuck with a bickering Lavash wrap and a bagel incarnation of Woody Allen, minus the sexism and uncomfortable attraction towards younger women. While they all want to return to their aisles in the hopes that another god will purchase them, Frank wants answers to his questions. As he discovers the truth of why he and his friends exist, he tries to tell everyone the horrible truth while avoiding an angry douche (Yes. Literally the feminine hygiene product) who speaks with a jersey accent and refers to everyone as “Bro”.

I guess it’s pretty obvious from the summery that the film deals with the controversial topics of Religion as well as the debate on God’s existence. In the earlier draft, the film had a real nu atheism tone in its message. But in the final version, it tries to be more on the fence with its subject matter. As Frank warning towards the products of their fate, most don’t believe him. And that really angers him to the point where his warning turns into an argument. But he learns very quickly that his outburst towards them made him no better than the religious zealots. Frank decided to focus less on what everyone else believes in as he convinces them to work together in order to make it out of the insane finale of the film. (And it gets quite meta.) It’s pretty refreshing that a film about the existence of God debate tries to abandon its “Us vs Them” mentality and try to tell both sides of the argument not to be a pompous jerk. We don’t know what comes next so let’s try to make it through this life together. But the message about tolerance gets bogged down by its heavy reliance on ethnic and sexual stereotypes. There are a slew of food products that represent a heavily dated stereotype, whether they’re sauerkraut singing about exterminating the juice, or fruit talking VERY flamboyantly. They’re so common in the film that even Seth Macfarlane would go “Guys…you’re being pretty insensitive here.” Lavash and the bagel even have arguments that are painfully obvious metaphors for conflict in the Middle East. It really goes against your message about tolerance when most of your characters are racist and homophobic stereotypes that can really cause more damage to your audience then make them laugh!

So with somewhat angry rant about how politically incorrect this film is, you’d think I really hate this film. Well…some parts of it. The animation is super cartoony and there are a ton of visual gags that smack you right in the face so fast, you might miss them if you blink. It’s almost like something out of an old Looney Tunes cartoon…the infamous censored 11 Looney Tunes maybe. But we were so close to getting this raunchy cartoon comedy about religious tolerance and unity and it had to go and throw in stereotypes for the sake of stereotypes! But I guess it could have been as worst as the leaked script, giving us a horrible vision of what could have been. It at least tries to bring a little bit of outsider humility to the heated debate on religion.

I know this is insane. I’m trying to stick up for Sausage Party of all films. And I’m only calling it average at best! But for what I was expecting, I was a bit surprised by what I got A film, though somewhat misguided, is saying how we should try to look past how we think and look and instead try to come together. In a way that looks like it was taken from a scene out of Caligula that makes them deserve the R rating. Come to think of it, we sort of dealt with these subjects in another animated movie. Didn’t we? Yeah it’s no comparison that Zootopia dealt with this subject matter of tolerance a lot better and more grown up ironically more than this film has. But Sausage Party is the ultimate case of “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” It shows that after years of struggling to create something different, no matter how terrible it is during the conception, you can still put out of something that surprisingly has substance when everyone is expecting a dud. You almost have to admire their ambition. If this film is a success and Hollywood does decided to be more open minded with whom animation can appeal to, I hope it encourages more writers from different genres to consider the potential this medium has to execute their ideas.

If you want a comedy that’s more modern and tries something new, you’re are not going to like this. But if you’re thinking, “I don’t care how ridiculous or juvenile it is. I just want some shock worthy laughs with a side of philosophy” Then Sausage Party will wet whatever sick twisted appetite you might have.

2 ½ out of 4 stars.

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: The Killing Joke

(Note: Although the film hasn’t been released on DVD/Blu-ray yet, I was lucky enough to catch its limited theatrical release at one of my local theaters.)

With expectations VERY low for Sausage Party, Warner Bros Animation is here to give us our fill of R rated animation with Batman: The Killing Joke. Based on the iconic graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated, this animated adaptation takes a psychological look inside Joker. It even reunites BTAS cast members Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Tara Strong as Batman, Joker and Batgirl/Barbara Gordon respectively.

In the Clown Prince of Crime’s latest plan, he attempts to prove that anyone can go insane like him after one bad day by kidnapping Commissioner Gordon. His psychological torture is very grim, deserving of its R rating, yet a musical number called “I Go Loony” that’s one part energetic and one part terrifying. Throughout his plan, we flashback to his supposed backstory (Like the Joker says “If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”) that portrays his as a sympathetic comedian struggling to support his pregnant wife. It’s the first time in history the character has ever been portrayed as sympathetic, the last word you’d ever use to describe him, and yet they manage to pull it off. Thanks to a combination of the writing and Hamill’s great voice performance as both of the character’s personas.

But seeing how the graphic novel the film is based on is quite short, they created an entirely new first act that focuses on Bat Girl. She’s a fun character, but the story in it ties little to nothing with the actual plot. And there are scenes, without spoiling anything, where they portray her that I find quite….questionable. Admittedly, I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to comic books so my word on it shouldn’t be taken seriously. But my sister and her boyfriend who attended the screening with me, seemed genuinely shocked by one scene involving the character with Batman.

Unnecessary first act aside, when it followed the graphic novel, it was a very entertaining movie. I loved the Killing Joke comic and Batman/DC Comics fans will find a faithfully adaptation or Moore’s most iconic story with these characters. But you’ll first have to sit through a story arc that has little to nothing to do with it. But when it followed the comic, which id did very well, it’s pretty hard not to recommend it.  As for me, I have no problem being part of this sick joke.

3 out of 4 stars.

Free Birds

Well, Thanksgiving is almost upon us. To Americans, it’s about being together with close friends and family members, being grateful for what we have. To others, it’s about forgetting that our ancestors nearly wiped out an entire race of people by binging on turkey. It’s a holiday that doesn’t really need a family movie about it. But we got Free Birds. When I first saw the trailer to this movie, I had no idea what to make of it. But the marketing wanted me to remember it was produced by that one guy who produced Shrek. Cause that’s what people look for in their films, the guy who funded it. The “From the producer of Shrek” marketing tag line strategy worked so well for that hobo piss stained building that was once called Vanguard Animation (Look it up.) It’s like saying “From that guy who saw Madagascar with his kids at a Matinee showing.” Okay, I’m getting side tracked. The trailer for Free Birds just threw so much at me in just three minutes. It looked like the script was written by 5 year olds who typed up whatever came to their heads. And that’s what the entire 90 minute movie feels like.

A turkey named Reggie, voiced by Owen Wilson cause he has nothing better to do, gets pardoned by the President Generic-Enough-To-Keep-The-Movie-From-Being-Datedson, and lives the life by watching TV and eating Chuck E. Cheese’s pizza (I guess not even Papa John’s was cheap enough for the food tie in.). But that changes when a muscle bound Turkey named Jake, abducts him for his mission sent forth to him by the Great Turkey. To go back in time to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the menu. They managed to travel back to the 1600’s and attempt to help a flock of wild turkeys, who dolled up like stereotypical Native Americans, hiding from a hunter, who is of course, the main villain. With his all black attire, over the top menacing design, and needlessly talks like a pirate, the hunter has an unnatural obsession with catching turkeys and you’d except him to be a villain from a children’s’ TV cartoon then a feature length movie. And none of the other characters are entertaining either. Reggie just whines about how good it was to sit on his feathered ass eating pizza, while Jake just responds by acting all Commando. And the rest of the characters? They’re just there to fill in generic roles in an animated movie. The love interest, the parent who dies to have a forced sad moment, and side characters who say the same thing over and over again so they’d have something for their talking plush toys. It would be a bit more tolerable if the humor was at least funny. But it’s not. The visual humor and jokes are like something you’d find in a children’s animated tv show.

The animation ranges from passable to something you’d see in some cheap CGI tv cartoon. The Turkey’s fingers are actually their wing feathers, which is like something you’d see in a hand drawn cartoon. But since it’s computer animated, their fingers are paper thing which makes it look weird. The human characters look even worse and even downright ugly. Their models look almost like something you’d see in Jimmy Newtron. No joke!

Overal, the animation, characters, story, humor and even concept, is more like something you’d see in a children’s TV cartoon then a theatrical film. I’m even convinced Hollywood executives will green light any animated project that stretches the concept of a tv show/short cartoon into a feature length movie. Further proving my point, I saw the trailer to this upcoming animated movie called “The Nut Job”. A squirrel and rodents try to break into a nut store…and that’s it. That’s what the whole movie is about. Rodent’s breaking into a nut store while occasionally dancing to Harlem Shuff-Ah, I’m getting side tracked again! You know what, if the Hollywood dosent care, why should I?! I’m just gonna end my review here!

1 out of 4 stars.

Turbo Review

Well, Dreamworks Animation has a habit of coming up with the strangest concepts for movies. Fish who talk like stereotypical black people, a bee who sues the entire human race for selling honey, and now, a snail who gains the speed of a race car, and races in the Indy 500. That’s the plot synopsis for their latest film, Turbo. This film (unsurprisingly) underperformed in the box office, coming in at number 3, right behind Despicable Me 2, which was already in its 4^th week. Not counting inflation and additional charge for 3D showings, it’s the third worst opening weekend for Dreamworks Animation. So I went to see this movie, hoping to be surprised by it like I was with Kung Fu Panda, and…I wasn’t surprised….at all. I could tell what would happen next while watching the film. In fact, I can tell you the plot through clichés.

The underdog dreams a big dream to be in his favorite sport, which makes him look like an oddball to the others. His conformist brother, father and/or wife tells him it’s impossible and be normal like the rest of them. But he still dreams his big dream and looks up to the best competitor in the sport, listening to his every word in his interviews on TV. Soon he gains powers that help him realize his dream, but his conformist family still tries to talk him out of it. He tries out in the sport, qualifies and wins the hearts of millions of Americans. But it turns out his idol is a huge jerk who wants to crush him with the competition. His conformist family still tells him he can’t do this and won’t be watching him compete, but they come in at the last minute and tell him he CAN do this. And he does do it! The underdog wins! The end! NOW GO BUY THE TOYS!

The film tells the same story we’ve seen a million times with characters we’ve seen a million times. Except with snails….that can race…and voiced by celebrities desperate for a pay check. Granted, it’s not teaching bad morals and it doesn’t have anything that would scar children, the film feels like it’s trying to make their own franchise similar to Pixar’s Cars then telling a story. In fact, Dreamworks counted their chickens before they hatched by announcing they were making a Turbo TV series following this movie. But surprise, no one wants to see Ryan Reynolds voice a racing snail.

2 out of 4 stars. While some of the visual humor made me smile, it didn’t make me laugh.