On November 17, 2015 I reviewed The Night Before with a creative poem that I believed was fitting. The Night Before ended up being my least favorite Seth Rogen (This Is the End, Superbad, The Interview) film ever, so I needed something to see that would redeem his comedic concepts for me. Sausage Party is the perfect redemption story for Seth Rogen. This animated film breaks boundaries with constantly offensive and inappropriate scenes, but I'm not complaining. The film is a call for creativity similar to South Park, with witty jokes and gory imagery. It's not every day that you get an R-rated animated film in theaters. Rather than wasting time with more live action comedy films, Rogen and his team finally break away from the rut that they got stuck in with Sausage Party.
In the film food is our enemy, our friend, and the most disgusting thing ever. Foods are humanized to act as immature and ignorant beings who oddly wear gloves and boots most of the time. Ethnic wars are prone to the different foods, especially between an Arabic lavash and a Jewish bagel. The journey through the supermarket acts as a completely stereotypical drug trip where we question what we see, and think about deeper concepts like the existence of an afterlife. There is a naivete among the products that believe leaving the store is basically going to heaven, as opposed to getting eaten and dying. Brutal scenes of food deaths look so realistic that I often tensed up during certain scenes. Most of the comedy really shines during the scenes portrayed in the trailer, so if you want to see the movie I recommend skipping the trailers if you can. Still though, the film is worth the watch because it keeps the jokes flying all the way through.
It would be amiss to stop discussing this film without a proper mention of the score. Most animated films strive to keep audiences entertained with music numbers. Sausage Party is no different, opening with a musical number. Alan Menken contributes to the project with past experience in composing. If his name doesn't sound familiar, you need to go back to your Disney roots and re-watch Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and a few others as well. That's right, Menken has moved into the realm of comedy films, which is an amazing addition to the genre. Other stars contribute to the projects as different characters including an unrecognizable Edward Norton (Fight Club, American History X). I encourage the viewer to stay for the credits because there are so many names that you may not realize are in the film. The news is now out that there could be another Sausage Party and possibly more comedy animated films. Personally, I cannot wait to see what other odd stories might show up next.
The Bottom Line: Sausage Party is a spectacle that the whole family should definitely not see.
Score: 9.2/10
Image credit: By Howardwrites36 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
In the film food is our enemy, our friend, and the most disgusting thing ever. Foods are humanized to act as immature and ignorant beings who oddly wear gloves and boots most of the time. Ethnic wars are prone to the different foods, especially between an Arabic lavash and a Jewish bagel. The journey through the supermarket acts as a completely stereotypical drug trip where we question what we see, and think about deeper concepts like the existence of an afterlife. There is a naivete among the products that believe leaving the store is basically going to heaven, as opposed to getting eaten and dying. Brutal scenes of food deaths look so realistic that I often tensed up during certain scenes. Most of the comedy really shines during the scenes portrayed in the trailer, so if you want to see the movie I recommend skipping the trailers if you can. Still though, the film is worth the watch because it keeps the jokes flying all the way through.
It would be amiss to stop discussing this film without a proper mention of the score. Most animated films strive to keep audiences entertained with music numbers. Sausage Party is no different, opening with a musical number. Alan Menken contributes to the project with past experience in composing. If his name doesn't sound familiar, you need to go back to your Disney roots and re-watch Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and a few others as well. That's right, Menken has moved into the realm of comedy films, which is an amazing addition to the genre. Other stars contribute to the projects as different characters including an unrecognizable Edward Norton (Fight Club, American History X). I encourage the viewer to stay for the credits because there are so many names that you may not realize are in the film. The news is now out that there could be another Sausage Party and possibly more comedy animated films. Personally, I cannot wait to see what other odd stories might show up next.
The Bottom Line: Sausage Party is a spectacle that the whole family should definitely not see.
Score: 9.2/10
Image credit: By Howardwrites36 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
