The resident’s of Shopwell’s grocery store live in an ignorant bliss fueled by a cheerful morning song about following the rules in order to be picked out by the “gods” (humans) to be taken to the “Great Beyond.” Little do they know that beyond those magical (automatic) doors lies only pain, misery, and death, leaving it up to Frank (Seth Rogen) to drop the truth bomb on his friends who would rather live blindly and in ignorance than seeing how things really are.
Yes, Sausage Party is actually one big allegory for the faith vs. fact debate.
Sausage Party is not your typical animated film—or any film for that matter—as it is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg who gave us the wickedly funny apocalypse in This is the End. What first seems like an over-the-top, raunchy beyond belief spin on Pixar films becomes so much more as it addresses issues of religion, homosexuality, being different, and even some Middle Eastern politics.
Despite its gross packaging, Sausage Party is actually a solidly made flick that only suffers from the fact that it feels a little too double-stuffed. Certain plot points and characters feel excessive in its 90-minute run time and would probably have served better in potential sequels. Beautiful animation with some incredible attention to detail makes for a wonderful sight, even if at times its almost too gross to comprehend. Toss in the copious amounts of foods and other grocery store items brought to life by a stellar cast including Edward Norton, Jonah Hill, Selma Hayek and Kristen Wiig, and its cinematic world rivals those of Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia.
Despite the film being primarily about, well, food, there are still enough “human” jokes to satisfy your comedy fix. Weed and bath salts both make an appearance, as well as a rather stunning homage to Saving Private Ryan.
Oh, and they managed to squeeze in Nazis here, so there’s that.
The film is a little scattered at times, as it follows three different storylines. One follows Frank (Rogen) trying to find out the answers to the Great Beyond; another sees Barry (Michael Cera) trying to make his way back to the super market to warn everyone about the dangers of the outside world; and the third shows Brenda (Wiig) struggling with her feelings for Frank as he does not respect her beliefs that there really is a great beyond (all while dodging the charming moves of a taco voiced by Hayek).
The end of the film does little to leave much to the imagination, but I won’t say anything more than that: just know that you’ve seen nothing like it before.
As far as animated films go, Sausage Party is a one of a kind feast of debauchery, drugs, and insanity. Go in hungry and leave laughing, though you might think twice before going to the grocery store again.
Good review. I still haven’t seeing it yet as I am bit leery to see it. It wasn’t one of my top movies to see. So I might go and see it or I just might rent it later this year.