Sausage Party (2016)

Director: Greg Tiernan

Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Edward Norton, Michael Cera

Review Author: Tony

Rating: 4/5 cans of Guinness

Animated features geared towards adult audiences are hard to come by and usually have found difficulty convincing studios to distribute them. Film studios tend to believe that we the audience can’t comprehend that animation can be just as good a medium to tell more mature (or in this case immature) adult oriented stories as live action, that the pretty colours will confuse our simple brains which is a fate we only reserve for children. Fortunately adult animation has found an alternative media outlet in television with great shows like South Park, Family Guy and a plethora of quality shows on Adult Swim.

I’ve always had a massive amount of respect for Japan and the popularity of Anime. Classics such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Grave of the Fireflies and Jin Roh have all told mature stories with hard-hitting adult themes. Film’s like Inside Out and Zootopia both have more mature themes running through them such as racism and learning how to deal with your own emotions however the me miserable fuck that I am  wants something harder, Animation has fewer restrictions and allows us to suspend our belief a little further so I don’t see why more film studios don’t want to capitalise on this……Oh I forgot they think we’re all brain-dead.

When the first Red Band trailer for Sausage Party dropped I was engaged,specifically the potato with the exaggerated stereotypical Irish accent. I adore animated films but the genre has been ripe for parody for too long. Taking the all too familiar concept of sentient inanimate objects I was looking forward to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg putting a foul-mouthed spin on it. What I didn’t expect is the clever social commentary on organised religion and belief systems.

I have enjoyed nearly all of Rogen’s films yet since This Is The End (2013) I felt all his films have suffered a drop in quality. Sausage Party is his glorious return to form as he and longtime collaborator have written one of the funniest films of the year. Sausage Party fully exceeded my expectations, the film manages to be both clever and incredibly immature and left me in stitches.

If you are a devout believer in any religion then this film is not for you, not only does the film make a mockery of organised religion it points out the dangers of blind faith. If you and your buddies are planning to get blazed before this then just heed my warning, THIS SHIT GETS CRAZY, When I wasn’t pissing myself laughing I was contemplating the ramifications of my current diet. If for even a second I could believe that food was sentient then I had to come to terms with the fact that I have committed mass genocide, then I started thinking how plants are technically sentient and how most meat were also once sentient beings and then I was down a rabbit hole that I knew a baked brain couldn’t handle.

The voice cast are fantastic and I was genuinely surprised to see some of the actors lending their talents here. The film not only tears chunks out of various religions but has plenty of childish pop shots at different cultures and countries although its played in a light-hearted childish tone never allowing it to be overly offensive. The mix of comedy is great, the animation allows for some great puns and movie tie ins (The Saving Private Ryan spoof had me in tears , while the writing allows for both witty and crass dialogue. At times the film probably relies a little to heavily on characters swearing but its a minor gripe I had.

Sausage party was a pleasant surprise and one of the best cinema experiences I’ve has so far this year. The audience at my screening were having a blast which was great to see since  the majority of films this summer have been such unengaging and dull affairs. Seth Rogen campaigned for eight years to get this film made and props to him for getting it made and props to Columbia Pictures for having the balls to distribute it. Hopefully this can open the door in Hollywood for more adult themed animated films.