Seth Rogen’s Murderous Orgy-Loving Talking Hot Dog Returns in Sausage Party Sequel
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s 2016 animated feature “Sausage Party” was a raunchy, R-rated parody of Pixar films, featuring a secret world where talking food items navigate their own grocery-store society. The film delved into themes of belief systems and was filled with situational puns and adult humor. Now, nearly a decade later, the story continues with a new Prime Video series titled “Sausage Party: Foodtopia.”
“Sausage Party: Foodtopia” doesn’t pick up exactly where the original film left off. Instead, it revisits the climactic battle between the food items and humans, leading to an apocalypse for the latter. With humans nearly extinct, the food characters, including hot dog Frank (voiced by Seth Rogen), his romantic partner Brenda (Kristen Wiig), Barry (Michael Cera), and Sammy Bagel Jr. (Edward Norton), must navigate a world outside the confines of their grocery store.
Fresh from their revolutionary success, Frank and Brenda are optimistic about their ability to face new challenges, whether it’s creating a social safety net, avoiding a marauding crow, or understanding the mysterious phenomenon of water falling from the sky. However, their journey becomes more complicated with the presence of one of the last remaining humans, voiced by Will Forte.
The first few episodes of “Foodtopia” rehash many of the shock gags from the original film. While sex and violence can be humorous, the show’s fixation on cartoon characters engaging in orgies and slapstick violence quickly becomes repetitive. However, some of the show’s stoner-y thought experiments about a post-apocalyptic food-governed society are genuinely funny. For instance, food citizens discover currency through trading human teeth, leading to the rise of a power-hungry police force led by Barry.
Despite some ham-fisted social commentary, Rogen and Goldberg balance it out with pure silliness, such as food-based musical acts like Megan Thee Scallion and Talking Breads. However, the show’s ultimate problem lies in its length. “Foodtopia” is a continuous narrative broken into eight 20-minute episodes, resulting in a 160-minute sequel to an 89-minute movie. This format makes it feel more like an overextended novelty rather than a well-paced companion piece.
Hard-core fans of Rogen and Goldberg’s style or aficionados of animated grotesquerie will likely enjoy “Foodtopia.” However, more than a decade after the pair branched out from the Judd Apatow universe, it’s worth questioning whether they’ve started placing too much emphasis on branded raunch. Just as “Finding Dory” might have spurred nostalgia for unsequelized Pixar films like “Wall-E” or “Ratatouille,” “Sausage Party: Foodtopia” may inspire longing for Rogen and Goldberg’s earlier, more concise works like “Superbad” or “This Is The End.”
The food characters in “Sausage Party: Foodtopia” spend a lot of time trying to make the big picture work but never quite become individuals worthy of Rogen and Goldberg’s talent.
The series, produced by Annapurna Television, Sony Pictures Television, and Amazon MGM Studios, features returning cast members Rogen, Wiig, Cera, David Krumholtz, and Norton, along with newcomers Will Forte, Sam Richardson, Natasha Rothwell, and Yassir Lester. The show is executive produced by Ariel Shaffir and Kyle Hunter, who also serve as showrunners. Shaffir and Hunter co-wrote the original film with Rogen and Goldberg. Conrad Vernon, who co-directed the feature film, returns as director for the series.
The series was announced in 2022, with Rogen and Goldberg humorously stating that “film is completely dead” and that any follow-up to “Sausage Party” was best suited for TV. Rogen proudly told Empire magazine that Wiig found the series more outrageous than the original film, recalling a specific scene that had a special screening for Amazon PR people.
“Sausage Party: Foodtopia” will premiere on July 11 on Prime Video. The original film was controversial, facing criticism for its explicit content and allegations of poor staff treatment. When Amazon Prime Video teased the trailer for “Foodtopia,” it received mixed reactions. Some viewers were unimpressed, while others were open to giving the new series a chance.
Despite the controversy and mixed reactions, “Sausage Party: Foodtopia” promises to deliver more of the outrageous humor and raunchy antics that made the original film a cult favorite. Whether it will live up to the expectations of fans or fall short remains to be seen.
Source: The Daily Beast, IndieWire, Express Online
