What may be the most shocking R-rated animated comedy ever made has arrived on DVD and Blu-Ray. Sausage Party, from the team that brought us This is the End, Neighbors, Pineapple Express and Superbad, stars a bevy of brilliant voices in roles that are good enough to eat… literally.
Sausage Party follows a group of supermarket food, living their blissful life in a supermarket in the days before July 4. Our main character is Frank (Seth Rogen), a hot dog who gets so much more than he could ever expect when he learns the truth about life as a food product and how the “gods,” — humans, truly treat them once they exit the supermarket doors.
Rogen is joined in the voice talent pool by Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride, Paul Rudd, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek.
Sausage Party is expertly directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan and based on a story by Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Hill, compiled into a screenplay by Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, Rogen and Goldberg.
The film itself has countless jaw-dropping scenes that elicit major laugh-out-loud moments that should easily put it in the top 10 of comedies (and animated films for that matter) of 2016. It puts a new spin on a subject matter most humans have probably never thought of… if food was a living, breathing entity, what would it think, believe, feel, love and yes, fear. Rogen, Goldberg and his creative team have hatched a comedy that is equally entertaining as it is enlightening in the most surprising of ways.
The Sausage Party DVD and Blu-Ray is chock-full of bonus features — that for fans of the film itself should only enhance their positive opinion on this instant animated classic.
Shock and Awe: How Did This Get Made? is the making-of featurette that answers the question everyone must be asking after witnessing this Party. Viewers are taken through the process of how Rogen and his team went from concept to getting an actually producer to put themselves and their money and reputation on the line to make a “hard R” rated animated film.
Surprisingly, not many animated home video releases include a featurette that takes the viewer into the vocal booth to see how the actors brought the lines and these characters to life. The Booth does just that, as Rogen, Cera, Wiig, Norton, Hill, Hayek, Rudd and Hader show off their voice acting talents as we get a front row seat to the magic of the movies, raunchy Sausage Party-style.
Another fantastic featurette is The Great Beyond. Would you ever expect that one of the most outlandish musical moments in recent screen memory is in Sausage Party? You bet, and you’ll never get what legend they got to create it – Oscar winner Alan Menken. The Great Beyond explores how Menken was persuaded to take on the task and how the composer behind Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tangled and Enchanted cross the line into a raunchy revue.
Also fascinating is The Pitch, which features Rogen and Goldberg in a classic interview talking about how they pitch their projects. If you listen carefully, you see the birth of a little film about a big-hearted Sausage.
Animated features with a key sense of humor have been including a gag reel on their DVD and Blu-Ray releases and we could not have been more delighted that Sausage Party undertook the task as well. The Good Food Gag Reel is an outlandish group of outtakes that keep the humor flying in the most unexpected of ways.
You don’t want to miss the Alternative Ending! Check it out as our favorite foods join us in the real world and witness something horrible: Rogen, Cera and Norton enjoying a tasty bit of cuisine that hits close to home for our food friends.
Lastly, we have to salute Seth Rogen’s Animation Imaginatorium. It is a classic-looking, Disney-inspired preview for Sausage Party that could not serve as a more perfect example of classic creative contrast.
Film Grade: A
Bonus Features: A