It’s like a Pixar film for adults. Except not Wall-E or Up. Plagued with production delays, Sausage Party is Hollywood’s first ever R-rated computer animated feature. I went into this one worried about it being a gimmick – a Pixar film but with swearing and (more) innuendo. Fortunately, Sausage Party goes beyond that, with action sequences and thematic depth also unsuitable for kids.
Sausage Party takes place in a world where all food and products are alive. Food in the supermarket hopes that one day, they’ll be chosen by humans (who they refer to as “gods”) to be taken home with them. Frank is a sausage who seeks to learn what actually happens to food once it’s been bought, and begins a journey to convince his friends the truth before they’re all eaten.
It begins like a parody of the likes of Pixar, with inanimate objects being sentient unbeknownst to us. It mirrors these films in terms of structure, too, by honing in on a small group of characters in a much larger world. They go on an adventure, meet a few comic relief characters, and learn a little about themselves in the process.
And that’s where the similarities end. To call the humour in Sausage Party “raunchy” is an understatement. While much of the comedy is crude and base, I’m happy to say that it’s frequently funny and varied. I found myself giggling at food puns more often than I did at the sex jokes. There’s also a lot of swearing, something that I usually don’t notice but it did start to become a little repetitive. This might kind of be the point but more on that later.
While I’m touching on negatives, the other bad thing I’d say is that, while I still found it funny, a lot of the comedy relies on stereotypes. Yes it’s funny, but it’s also easy. Again, while this is a bad quality it also strangely serves the story.
It’s not just the humour that’s for adults, either. There are some excellent scenes that enter the comedy horror genre. When we see through the eyes of food the truth of what we do to it, it’s terrifying. These impeccably-crafted scenes create real tension and fear but it’s their absurdity that makes them outright hilarious. Just think about grating cheese over nachos and listening to them scream as it melts all over their bodies. It’s horrible stuff, but makes for some of the film’s funniest moments.
The final adult-oriented feature of Sausage Party is in its satirical look at belief systems and attempts to subvert them. Frank has the task of convincing the masses that their gods aren’t actually taking them to the “great beyond”, but to their doom. This is a lesson for kids, too, but I feel that the conclusion is especially geared towards adults. Adults, after all, must engage with these ideas and communicate their points.
The successes and failures depicted in Sausage Party are a wondrous exploration of the necessity or futility of trying to change somebody’s mind, and the right and wrong ways to go about it. A kids film spreads the message that we are free to make up our own mind. Sausage Party stresses that we’re allowed to change our mind even if it’s been ingrained all our lives.
And it all culminates in a glorious finale that not only beggars belief, but actually justifies all the crudity and stereotyping that came before it. I can’t say too much more but the last few scenes make Sausage Party worth watching – it’s one of my favourite and most successful pay-offs I’ve seen all year.
Other gripes are that the villain presence could have been stronger, and while I loved the film’s message it was a bit in-your-face. Mind you, I don’t think this film has much room for subtlety.
Sausage Party extends beyond what could have been a gimmick and succeeds as a concept, proving that there is a mainstream market for adult-oriented CGI films. Like most great animated films, it’s funny and it’ll make you think. Unlike most, it’s raunchy, offensive, and above all else, unique.
(GRADES: Both are from 0 to 10. The left is an objective score based on artistic merit, the right is my personal enjoyment.)
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