Among the various entertainment franchises marking different eras in America, “Sausage Party” stands out as one of the strangest. When the original film premiered in the summer of 2016, audiences were keen on the outlandish and heartwarming antics of Seth Rogen and his circle. Nestled between the films “Neighbors” and “Neighbors 2,” this R-rated animated comedy featuring anthropomorphized food items striving to escape death was seen as an innocent indulgence. It was a bawdy comedy filled with crude jokes and even cruder animation. Beneath the mountain of puns and explicit content was a religious allegory that added an existential layer to the story. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich called it “a feature-length Sunday school lesson for budding atheists.”
It would be wild to claim that a movie involving a hot dog puppeteering a human by pulling on the inside of his behind could provide insights into the 2016 election. “Sausage Party” was a hit, grossing $141 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated animated movie. Its success was more indicative of a robust theater-going culture still able to support frivolous comedies.
Now, after a pandemic, eight years of streaming evolutions, and numerous franchise expansions, “Sausage Party 2,” retitled “Sausage Party: Foodtopia,” debuts as an eight-part series on Amazon Prime Video. Rogen and his team have returned, and their food characters remain as randy and violent as ever, with another moral layered into the obscene narrative. However, enough has changed to spoil the experience. It lacks novelty, cleverness, and most importantly, fun. Although cultural shifts over the past two presidential terms play a part, the failure of “Sausage Party: Foodtopia” is primarily on its own merits. The creators focused too much on infusing real-world parallels into the absurd sex comedy rather than making it the rowdiest, funniest time possible. Even the lowbrow aspects of the show fall short.
The series picks up soon after the film’s finale. The food items have escaped their human oppressors and are relishing their freedom. Frank (the hot dog voiced by Rogen) and Brenda (the bun voiced by Kristen Wiig) celebrate their newfound liberty, which quickly turns sexual. Before their revolution, the foods were concerned with preserving their purity for their human gods who chose and consumed them.
“Foodtopia” doesn’t burden itself with explaining its world’s rules, opting instead to revel in a grocery aisle orgy until a storm causes chaos among the perishables. Those that survive must navigate a divided society, forming leaders, task forces, and courts, resembling Western civilization with its genuine issues of rigged elections, judicial bribery, and corruption.
The series trots out each new problem with predictable weariness. Characters like a human captive (voiced by Will Forte) make the comparisons obvious, and despite copious puns, history repeating itself remains unexciting. Even the voice work, which includes Edward Norton’s Jewish bagel Sammy Bagel Jr. and amusing performances by Michael Cera and Sam Richardson, fails to redeem the show. New character Wiener Hotsdog isn’t compelling, and graphic scenes involving Forte’s human character and Frank should have been scrapped.
The absence of James Franco, Nick Kroll, and Jonah Hill from the cast is notable. The animation quality has dropped, making it resemble “Cocomelon,” and the constant sex jokes feel desperate rather than entertaining. “Foodtopia” feels like a feature-length idea stretched thin into a series, weighed down by obvious and superficial satire tied to a plot about rebooting a collapsing capitalist society dismantled by a literal orange politician.
Escapism is not an option in “Foodtopia,” and with its shallow satire, there’s little fun to be had. Instead of marveling at its existence, viewers are left wondering why they’re watching.
Grade: D+
“Sausage Party: Foodtopia” premieres Thursday, July 11 on Prime Video, with all eight episodes available at once.