#I know it’s because of the studios rushing this junk out for a quick buck

[bluezey]

How did we go from Rango to Sausage Party to Emoji Movie?

I’m not a fan of review videos right now cause they’re all taking stabs at Emoji Movie.  For one, I haven’t seen it, so I don’t want my view swayed.  And two, well, you don’t need to see it to know that it’s junk, it’s just pandering junk made for a quick buck.  But, today I was finally happy to watch a review, and it was an old review of Caddicarus spoiler-free reviewing Sausage Party.  Last year, we had Sausage Party, so should we not be that surprised we have Emoji Movie?  Well, even without seeing Emoji Movie, I have to say yes it’s surprising because even Sausage Party surprisingly had a point.  Yes, Sausage Party was meant to be raunchy and offensive and wtf, but then you see the film and not only do they own that end of the spectrum, but they make a plot about religion that’s not only another offense but serves a purpose, it made some points and even had a tacked on message about it.  So, should I not judge Emoji Movie because maybe it has a purpose outside of selling a product?  In my opinion, yes, because even with the “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” Emoji Movie does not look like my cup of tea.  I like animated films, I like cheese, but Emoji Movie does not look like my blend of cheese.

Oh, but Sausage Party is, I hear you ask?  Well, yes.  While I like animated films and even cartoons for kids, I also like adult humor, I like something smart for adults and something that’s plain candy mush for adults.  That’s why I like Rick and Morty, that’s why I like American Dad, that’s why I like Family Guy (to an extent), that’s why I like Moral Orel (to an extent), that’s why I like Squidbillies, that’s why I like Aqua Teen, that’s why I like most episodes of South Park, that’s why I like Ugly Americans.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have a limit, so whenever I recommend Sausage Party to people, I also stressfully warn them by saying “when it comes to it’s raunchiness, you’re not ready, you may THINK you’re ready, but you’re not.”  I’ll even admit that I own a copy of Sausage Party unironically, but I still look away when it comes to THAT moment in the film (but thanks to tumblr gifsets I technically HAVE seen it, so... yeah.)

But I’m done rambling.  My point is while I have levels of adult taste and adult “lack of taste” I do have a fascination for adult animated films.  Partly because I have a fascination for the taboo, because let’s be honest animated films are still considered more for kids and families, and also because they’re few and far between.  When we weed out the sugary eye candy and the bullshit, there is a long and wide collection of good films for kids, but for adults we have... Felix the Cat... Cool World... that one film with that title I’m afraid to say... South Park... that one film Cinema Snob found about a duck... long story short, not many.

But, here’s an interesting trend, many of the adult rated animated films are made by Ralph Bakshi.  How do I explain Ralph Bakshi.  Well, Nostalgia Critic’s review of Cool World has a better description of the man, but in my words, he is a crazy, fascinating genius.  Clearly a big fan of animation and a big animation influence, but while many were making kids films, he was making something bizarre and different with animation.  Yes, he did kids films, but he did a Lord of the Rings film with rotoscoping and a fantasy film with swearing and Nazi imagery.  Yes, I’m not joking.  So, with that bit of insanity, how were his films he successfully made for adults.  He made Fritz the Cat, the first X rated animated film that’s also a porno.  And that film that I’m afraid to say the name of?  It’s about racial tension and stars Brier Rabbit, Brier Fox and Brier Bear in some kind of mafia underground.  Again, I’m not joking.  He was one of the many that knew animation was an art film, not a kids genre, but he was also one of the few that successfully made examples of it.  Despite some questionable choices he made, even in his kids films, all his cartoons had a level of smartness and a purpose, made the audience think and react.  All except Cool World, but see Nostalgia Critic’s review to get a good grasp on that story.

To almost switch tangents again, let’s briefly talk about another well known director, Gore Verbinksi.  He is known famously for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but did you know he is also responsible for an animated film?  Yes, 2011′s Rango was his doing.  Not only wanting to do a western and an animated film, but Gore Verbinski was quoted for saying that he missed films by Ralph Bakshi in the media and wanted to make a film much like it.  Woah, I hear you say, what kind of shit is in Rango if he wanted to make a Bakshi-esque film?  Well, overall Rango does sound like a kids film.  It’s about talking animals in the old west setting, and specifically we’re following a chameleon who goes by the name of Rango, who wants to become a hero, so he tries to save the town of Dirt from a drought, as water is not only a living sustenance but a form of currency to the denizens of the town.  Nothing that surprising yet, until you find out this film also has on screen drinking, drunkeness, smoking, gun violence, mild swearing (if you call damn and hell curse words), possibly two females of the town are dress as prostitutes so that may be their occupation.  And Rango, yes, that may not even be his real name.  He made it up because when we met him in the beginning of the film he is literally a blank slate in an existential crisis of finding his purpose in life.  Yes, I’m not joking.  Not only having some things that would make shelter parents flip like guns and tobacco, but this film has a surprisingly deep plot even for adults to grasp, and this film was meant for kids!  Even the world was not animated in a cutesy kids fashion, as the world was dirty and, despite half of the characters having out of proportion faces so they’d look aesthetically okay to look at, the characters look realistic as possible.  No smoothness, no fluff, just matted hair, scales and thorns.  Compared to other films that came out before and after it in the ten year time frame, this film was pretty gritty.

So, should we thank Rango for giving us Sausage Party?  With a big asterisk, I’d have to say, kind of, in a way we have to thank The Simpsons for giving us Family Guy.  These two films could not be any more opposite of each other.  Rango was smart and for kids and Sausage Party, while smart, was just raunchiness for adults.  But, no joking, I believe if we had an alternate reality in which Rango was not made, we would not have Sausage Party.  Let me try to explain why.  Like all evolution, we can’t just take a running leap, we need to take steps or even half-steps to get there.  And without Rango, the last step was the South Park movie back in 1999.  There was a big plateau in adult films between 1999 and 2016, so Rango in 2011 also had a purpose of being the half-step.  Yes, it was for kids and was technically inoffensive, but was also risky and challenging for having smoking, drinking, swearing and gun violence unapologetically in a kids film, like a Ralph Bakshi kids movie.  And, with Rango technically closing the gap even further by winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2012, it closes the gap even further to four years between them and Sausage Party.  So, think of Rango as Ralph Bakshi’s film Wizards and Sausage Party as Ralph Bakshi’s film Fritz the Cat, and you can see some link between the two.  While Sausage Party is the adult film we love, Rango is the film that got us there by showing the audience that it’s okay to have “edgy” things in animated form on the big screen.  Yes, we have this in a way in kids films, but they’re just blips of adult humor in kid friendly fluff.  Rango had edginess and grit throughout, it tried to not only numb us but show us it’s okay.  Sausage Party was the adult version of this by making a full on controversial film for adults.

But now that we gushed about Rango and Sausage Party, how did we go from Rango, to Sausage Party, to Emoji Movie.  The short answer, because while some filmmakers are taking us forward, some are taking us back.  Like a knock off, anyone can find something popular and make a quick buck on it.  When Rugrats movie came out in the late 90s, studios realized that it’s quick and easy to make a film based on a previous source material because people can easily grasp on the source material.  When Shrek came out in the early 2000s, studios saw modernizing tropes as the next cash grab because we are familiar with the tropes and modernizing them made the film look “smart” and “progressive” without even actually trying to be.  And now, with The Lego Movie, we have studios believing that you can make a quick buck by grabbing onto nostalgia and just bullshit the rest of your way through.  The good news, My Little Pony Movie.  The bad news, Emoji Movie.

So, yeah, compared to 2016 that gave us Finding Dory, Kubo, Sausage Party, Sing and a few sprinkles of Minions and Mr. Peabody, 2017 is the flip side.  While we’re getting Coco, we’re also getting Emoji Movie.  Hell, even I wanted to see Power Rangers out of a nostalgic rush (and because Bill Hader was playing Alpha Five) and Cars 3 because it was NOT Cars 2.  Compared to films in 2016 where there was more good films with effort, 2017 has more okay to WTF is this S films with very little effort.  

Basically, I think this is just the trends of the time, and unfortunately the trends of good to bad films and films with effort and films with no effort are both in their downswing this year.  Think about it, 2015 gave us Inside Out, how did we get to Emoji Movie?  Or close the gap even further and you think how did we get from Sausage Party to Emoji Movie?  Yeah, Sausage Party was sophomoric and not for everyone, but even that film had a purpose.  Even Sing, for being nothing but predictable cheese, at least it was an enjoyable blend of cheese.  How do you make a product out of an emoji?  The silver lining we can take out of this is, with Rango, Inside Out, Sausage Party and the upcoming Coco, there’s at least people still giving a crap out there in animation films.  Hell, we can also see that with little shorts like Pixar’s Piper and even the art project In A Heartbeat.  (How messed up is it that In A Heartbeat is now grouped in with Emoji Movie and Sausage Party?  Seriously, I genuinely want to know.)

While animated films will have its ups and down, and clearly 2017 is the downswing, at least there’s some films showing that effort and progression will not die.  And with people as insanely genius as Ralph Bakshi, Gore Verbinski and, yes, Seth Rogen and pals, giving us Fritz the Cat, Rango and Sausage Party, not only will the challenge against the “norms” and the “quick buck” still be there, but we may end up getting another R rated animated film or two in the next few years, maybe even one that’s less raunchy and more challenging than Sausage Party.  I am not kidding when I say In A Heartbeat could be expanded upon into a pre teen romantic comedy “with a PG edge” as they would star a gay couple and even mention other challenges like coming out as trans, or just plain afraid to come out, or just plain bullying.  And the best part is, without it being R rated or full of sex puns like Sausage Party, an In A Heartbeat film can be seen by everyone (except if you have sheltering parents who still don’t get it).  But, I’m rambling on something good again.  In closing, with next few years giving us Incredibles 2, Wreck-It Ralph 2, Lego Movie 2 and even The Loud House Movie, I can see animated films having an upswing in the near future.  But, with upcoming films such as Gnomeo and Juliet 2, Angry Bird 2 and Boss Baby 2, we may still have to sort through the shit to get to them.