The concept was a pretty intriguing one and unlike any other concept personally seen before. Reading the very polarising reviews, mostly from audiences that had people defending it and others hating it with a passion, and being aware of what kind of humour there'll be and what to expect, there was no trouble knowing what to let myself in for.
'Sausage Party', after seeing it, is not as bad as has been made out by those who hated it (understandably), there are redeeming qualities here and there are far worse animated films out there that are much more cheaply made, poorly conceived and offensive in their lack of quality. 'Sausage Party', with that being said, also could have been much more, an intriguing and unique concept with severely under-cooked and muddled execution. Crude, juvenile humour doesn't always offend me and am constantly saying how annoying the constantly spouted "it's a kid's movie" cliché needs to be nipped in the bud.
It's wholly dependent on how the crude, juvenile humour is executed, 'South Park' is as crude, as bold and as controversial as one can possibly get but executes its very satirical, daring and takes-no-prisoners humour much more sharply and cleverly. How 'Sausage Party' executes its crude, juvenile humour is instead excessive, repetitive and gratuitous.
Certainly there are good things. Have no qualms about the animation, which is rich in detail, colourful and quite inventive in places. The soundtrack is catchy. The voice cast is good, and even they alone are reason enough for anybody to know what to let themselves in for (Seth Rogan and Kristin Wiig are no strangers to the humour seen in 'Sausage Party').
Nick Kroll and Edward Norton, the latter's dead-on channelling of Woody Allen being the most inspired the film gets, are particularly good. Rogan and Wiig also bring personality to their roles. There are parts that are inspired and equally horrifying and hilarious, like the scene with the can of spaghetti spoofing 'Saving Private Ryan', and some witty dialogue but it's Norton's Allen channelling that provides the biggest laughs.
However, too much of 'Sausage Party's' writing falls flat. The cussing and sexual raunchy innuendos epitomise excessive and gratuitous (some of it is very out of place as well), while the vulgarity is not as witty or as clever as it likes to think and some of it is very repetitive. The dialogue makes one cringe more than laugh and completely lacks wit or fun, it's just dumb and insipid.
For all the voice cast's best efforts, the characters are either bland or annoying with little personality or development. 'Sausage Party' started off well but wore thin quickly and felt very over-stretched. It's not a long film, but the thinner the concept got the more of a long haul it felt. The story does not have enough to sustain the length and apart from a few moments of genuine inspiration it's dull and under-cooked to the point of rawness and with not enough fun to give it sauce.
Overall, not that bad but rather lacklustre and could have been so much more. Loved the concept, no matter how silly it could easily have been, was underwhelmed by the wanting execution. The low rating is with regret, and with knowledge that, along with the other less-than-positive reviews, will be blasted by those vehemently, ignorantly and condescendingly defending the film (thinking that only their opinion is right and everybody else is wrong). 4/10 Bethany Cox
