Sausage Party

In a supermarket various food products have established a whole world of their own with different cultures and personalities but just one belief system, a belief in the utopian Great Beyond. Frank (Seth Rogan) is a sausage who believes in the Great Beyond and he wants to escape to this Utopian world with his love, a bun named Brenda (Kristen Wigg). However, everything is thrown into chaos when a jar of honey mustard (Danny McBride) returns from the Great Beyond and proclaiming it a lie. In the ensuing chaos (a crashed shopping trolley) both Frank and Brenda are standard aisles from home.

A sausage party (also called a Sausage fest) is slang for a party mostly attended by men and may or may not include the swinging of dicks, the film’s main protagonist is a sausage and there are no prizes for anyone who correctly guess what it’s supposed to represent. The title is appropriate because it represents well the type of juvenile humour you should expect to find in this animated comedy. With its numerous gags about a sausage slipping effortless into a bun it’s not one for the kids.

Whilst the more puerile gags do sometimes work, the film does overplay its cards in that puerile gag department and perhaps is partly the reason why the film sags in the middle. The film also doesn’t downplay any racial stereotypes either, and, as a result, the film has been accused of racism, but Sausage Party is film that pretty much targets everyone and really isn’t that offensive anyway.

Childish gags aside, there’s actually something intelligent about the film and the most praise worthy aspect about the film is the impressive world they built around supermarket food. It’s a very expansive and quite imaginative world filled with late night liquor parties, political struggles and a whole belief system about the Gods and The Great Beyond. There are also a number of clever sight gags that work superbly, such as a visual reference to the Omaha beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan. It’s this smart and imaginative world building and excellent animation that does help this the film overcome its rather immature origins. 

Narratively the film is a little weak and is partly responsible (along with the repetitive gross gags) for the sag in the middle where the religion vs atheism story gets bogged down in boring sequences where various food products get high. The film’s main theme is the debate in the belief of a divine power, and whilst the film swings toward favouring atheism, it argues that it’s pointless calling those who believe in a god ‘stupid’.

The crass humour sometimes works, but it does give the impression that its trying too hard to be crass and offensive and it eventually becomes rather telling. However, the imaginative world built by the film's writers, and performances by the talented vocal cast, help the film overcome that.

3/5