Sausage Party – No one should enjoy this film (and yet I did)

There are some films which should probably come in blank DVD boxes.  That way, when they’re mixed in with your collection and you have friends or family round, they will never know that you really enjoyed watching an animated sausage discover the meaning of life in a supermarket by indulging in everything from murder to... I’ll stop there when it comes to details (that’s for the film’s final act only).

Yes, seriously, ‘Sausage Party’ is basically the polar opposite to all those delightful Disney/Pixar movies we’ve been taking our kids to over the years.  Pixar films are delightful fun for all the family.  Sausage Party is something you want to keep your kids away from for as long as possible.  As I mentioned in the opening, a hotdog learns the (awful) truth about his existence.  This particular hotdog is one of many different food types, all living in a supermarket (where else?!).  Every morning all the foods for sale cross their fingers (yes, most at least have arms and hands, if not legs, too) and hope upon hope that a friendly human will ‘choose’ them for a better life in the great beyond (basically through the supermarket’s sliding entrance/exit doors).  Naturally, our hotdog (voiced perfectly by Seth Rogan) soon realises that his ‘perfect life’ will ultimately involve being roasted alive before being ground up in a human’s mouth and then pushed out through the afore-mentioned human’s rear.  Hardly an attractive ambition for a sausage in love.

Therefore, he – and his various buddies – set on a plan to escape this.  At first it’s a little hard to work out where this film will go.  It’s almost entirely set inside the supermarket and you may well wonder if this setting gives the film enough scope to really go anywhere.  I’m pleased to say that that’s an incorrect assumption.  It never really lets up for a moment.  The (very adult) humour comes thick and fast and, if you’ve seen any other recent Seth Rogan movie, you’ll know to expect much profanity, sexual references and the – seemingly obligatory – getting high scene.

You may not be able to tell some of the actors who have leant their vocal talents to this film by their performances, but Edward Norton and Salma Hayek are both newcomers, along with Seth Rogan’s usual bunch of suspects such as James Franco and Jonah Hill.  If you’re into their collaborations then you should enjoy this.  It’s hard to imagine it will ever be that successful as the concept is just too ‘niche’ to ever get a mainstream following.  It’s definitely not one to watch with your grandmother, but it is extremely gross and adult fun if you’re in the mood for that sort of entertainment.
Oh, and as a Meat Loaf fan, I loved the ‘Bat out of Hell’ sequences, but that’s probably just me.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that