Sausage Party has been in development since 2008. (Photo courtesy of Colombia Pictures)

Henry St. Pierre and Benjamin St. Pierre
Connector Staff

A rated-R animated film is something unheard of to most moviegoers, and to the film industry itself, especially in an animation style akin to Pixar movies. That’s exactly what Seth Rogen and company were aiming for: a Pixar-style film that is completely unlike any other animated film in every way imaginable.

The premise of the innuendo-laden “Sausage Party” revolves around a group of anthropomorphic foodstuffs and grocery store items desiring to be “chosen,” or picked up by the human customers and taken out of the store to the “Great Beyond.” The food refers to the human shoppers as gods, and every morning in the store, the food sings praise to the gods, unknowingly wishing for their own demises.

Everything changes when Honey Mustard returns from the Great Beyond and reveals that, in actuality, the Great Beyond is where the grocery store items go to die. The film’s protagonist, a hot dog named Frank (voiced by Rogen) comes to believe what Honey Mustard says, despite the rest of the store being reluctant in accepting it.

Frank sets out on a journey to get proof of the Great Beyond being nonexistent, and in the process finds characters and plot intricacies that are both hilarious and wildly entertaining. Rogen brings his typical favorite cast members to this film, with actors like Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton and Jonah Hill being featured. The film makes philosophical statements far beyond the scope of what a viewer would expect from talking food, and the film’s ensemble cast brings life and energy to animated characters in a way never before seen, in terms of explicit language and obscene scenes involving animated food.

Moviegoers are accustomed to animated films being primarily for children, with family fun and innocent humor. The humor of “Sausage Party” is anything but innocent, and this is what makes the film so captivating.

A lot of the humor of the film is rooted in the fact that there is no shortage of F bombs, sexual situations, and other adult content that one would not expect from an animated movie that is in the same developmental vein as a “Toy Story” or “Finding Nemo.” It’s one thing when there’s an F bomb in a movie, but it’s a completely different thing when a hot dog says it. Not to suggest that it’s comedic gold to have food say random swears, but overall, Rogen and his cast of talented actors make it work nicely.

People usually know what to expect from a Rogen film when going in, and that pretty much holds true for “Sausage Party” too. The humor centers around drug references and being uproariously explicit, but the film’s whole plot is also laid on the foundation of tradition versus knowledge, and religion versus science.

Frank embodies, or em-sausages, seeking the truth and not being complacent with what he’s been told, and his bun girlfriend Brenda and ignorant friends represent those who blindly follow tradition. One complaint though is that these messages seem a bit over-the-top in some spots, and even though that does seem intentional, it did get a little monotonous and even cringe-worthy for these messages to be so up-front. But the film definitely made up for that with the ending. Without spoiling what happens, it’s amazing that Colombia Pictures allowed Rogen and company to get away with nearly as much as they did with that ending.

Overall, I’d recommend Sausage Party. It definitely has its issues, but the novelty of an R-rated animated film spoofing Pixar counts for a lot.