Movie Reviews

Sausage Party - 8/15/16

............I don't think I can watch 'Ratatouille' the same way again. And what's worse, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. Go figure. Anyway...

The rating system for films today has come under some 'scrutiny' by the critic community. Back when films were starting out, or at least, when they were really beginning to pick up, the rating system was more ironclad. 'R' meant only adults, 'G' mean the kiddies could go by themselves (if parents did that sorta thing), 'PG' meant that Parents had to talk and clear things up with their kids, and 'PG-13' meant that parents had to clear things up with teenagers. Nowadays, 'G' and 'PG' are practically synonymous while PG-13 might as well mean 'The Diet-Coke version of R.' Very rarely is there an 'R'-rated film nowadays that deserves that categorization. As you can imagine, 'Sausage Party' most definitely deserves a hard 'R' rating. But, that fact doesn't necessarily relate to quality.

So, is this one party we wish we were invited to? Or should we all just order in? Well...the answer may surprise you.

The Plot: Food. Is. ALIVE~! At least, that's what this movie wants us to see. Apparently, on some level of reality we can't see or hear, (except without some heavy-duty narcotics), certain food products and items have little legs and arms, and sing and dance together int 'harmony', (more on that later), as they wait to be chosen by the 'gods' - us, and be taken to the Great Beyond. However, one sausage, Frank, after a freak shopping cart collision that pays creative homage to 'Saving Private Ryan,' discovers there is a conspiracy of some kind concerning the gods. So, with the 4th of July sale just around the corner, Frank, and an assortment of other characters, must discover the truth and save the day.

The plot of the movie is exactly what you'd expect given the world this film is based in. And it's kind of a brilliant move. Taking the inanimate objects come to life motif that so many animated films have used in the past, and applying it to the living food advertisements that have been a part of our culture since the early days of cinema and television, and then ramping up the logic to eleven, gives us a potentially brilliant and comedic story no matter what the message may be. But that's the problem of this film. The film's themes of tolerance to other religions and beliefs, not to mention faith, are handled a little too blunt for my liking. It's hard to take what this movie is saying seriously when you have jewish bagel and middle-eastern falafel fighting about shelf space, then become friends one minute, and then being in the middle of some rather 'adult' situations the next. A person could easily walk away from this film thinking that the message is, 'To heck with faith, I don't when I'm gonna kick the bucket, so I'm gonna live everyday like it's my last.' I don't think that's what they're going for. But you can see how their original message is drowned out by food puns, sex jokes, and some pretty cringe stereotypes. Speaking of which...

The Characters: The characters are very much a dividing point of this movie. A good test to see if you would be okay with this movie would be this: if you are a casual fan of South Park, Archer, and Seth Rogan films, you will do fine with this film. If not, and you're friends are dragging you to see this? Yeah, run the first moment you can. Gay fruits and twinkies, jewish bagels that bear a striking resemblance to Woody Allen, Indian bottles of booze, the are so many low-brow, cultural stereotypes that any 'PC' members in the audience would have a heart attack. But, again, if you are a fan of the above mentioned shows, you should be able to laugh your way to the end of the film. And that's kind of the problem. The characters, while good for initial laughs and shock values, do little to carry the film forward. If this were a comedic short film, that would be okay. But it's not, and it needed a little more to drive the film home.

The Animation: The animation for this film is a bit of sore topic for some people, so I'll just stick to the pros and the cons. The people? They look exaggerated in some parts, but that's a good thing in service of the film, as we humans are considered the freakish, murdering, cannabalistic enemies.. The food looks great. There's a cartoonish feel that goes back to old advertisement in the 20's and 40's that gives the film a certain charm. For some viewers, though, I could easily see it being either hit or miss.

Final Verdict: For all the negative-sounding comments I made earlier, you'd think I'd have a low score for this film. But I don't. I liked this film. It was a good way to spend an afternoon. The biggest flaw, I think, the film had was it half-heartedly tried to be something it wasn't. This was a raunchy, low-brow, animated comedy that NOBODY under eighteen should see. Nothing more, nothing less. However, that might be a problem also. This film falls under a category I call 'one and done.' After the initial laughter and shock, the film looses its replay value dramatically. It might me a good time waster to riff on with your college friends, or when some of you have some weed you might want to smoke off, but other than that, there's not much else reason to purchase or watch it. If it's on Pay-Per-View, that's fine; if it's on cable, even better. But DVD? Only for hardcore fans would I recommend this film. And Ratatouille fans? AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Score: 7/10