Western animation is divided into three types. Most of it is the kid friendly variant with a moral message, some of it is super dark and violent without a message, and there is also this tiny part which finds a way to be dark and have a message. Sausage Party belongs in the third category.
It’s easy to say it stands out because they swear a lot and everything is about sex and cartoons are not supposed to be that shocking because they are for kids. That is a superficial quality to attract the casuals, but it doesn’t stop there. It’s also a social commentary of sorts, expanding to religion and the state of the world today. It sugarcoats it to make seem it’s innocent while at the same time not shying away from being vicious about it.
So essentially it’s an adult movie, pretending to be childish, pretending to be about adult themes. It’s meta squared, shows the middle finger to anything that is politically correct, or afraid of irritating certain groups of people, while at the same time making a point.
There is so much subversion going on in it when it comes to classic story templates, that if you are a pretentious overthinker it’s easy to write long essays about it. Starting with the premise which is essentially a parody of utopias turning dystopias, with talking food. Said food is all about food jokes based on where they are produced. And they swear, talk about sex, and wish to find salvation by worshiping the gods that are their creators. Us humans. Who of course do nothing but eating them. And we do not see them talking unless we take a lot of drugs, meaning drugs expand your horizons instead of frying your brain. And then it becomes about homosexuality, and saying no to all social norms. And just about you think it’s done, it goes even more meta by openly saying they know they are cartoons, created for entertainment.
Holy hell, that was brilliant. Every time you think the movie ran out of things to show you, it proves you wrong. You are constantly kept engaged without getting the same thing all the time or jumping to something completely different. There is uniformity amongst the various themes, the characters are funny, the food puns are creative, it gives you food for thought without turning the cast into lifeless mouthpieces, the stakes are high, there is no stupid reset in the end to undo the whole conflict with zero repercussions, and for a CGI movie it’s well animated. How can I not love it? There is not a single thing I didn’t like about it.
This is one of the best animated movies I have seen in my life, it’s highly recommended, and it goes instantly into my top cartoons list.