3 stars (out of 5)
This foul-mouthed pseudo-stoner-comedy from co-director/co-producer/co-voicer Conrad Vernon (working with co-director/co-voicer Greg Tiernan) is not at all like his previous family-friendly outings like Madagascar 3, Monsters Vs. Aliens and Shrek 2, so parents be warned and look out for that MA Rating (although many adults apparently don’t look at censorship ratings much at all, and therefore it’s their fault if their impressionable rugrats get shipped off to this animated outing that offers far rougher language than Bad Moms and more penis jokes than you could poke a wiener at).
At a Shopwell’s supermarket we discover that all the products can talk (and sing), have cute little arms, legs and shoes, are prone to making salacious sexual jokes and believe that the ‘Gods’ (ie. the customers who somehow don’t see their anthropomorphic ways) will eventually take them away to ‘The Great Beyond’, where nothing bad could possibly happen. Frank (voiced by co-writer and co-producer Seth Rogen – who else?) a ‘Fancy Dog’, hopes to be bought at the same time as Brenda (voiced by Kristen Wiig – who else?), a ‘Glamour Bun’, so he can, well, get inside her and slide around. Yep, you saw it coming, so to speak.
Anyway, when a crazy jar of honey mustard (voiced by Danny McBride) reveals that ‘The Great Beyond’ is a lie and they’re all going to be eaten (or used and thrown away), and Frank and Brenda wind up lost, aisles away from home, they must travel with Sammy Bagel Jr. (voiced by Edward Norton doing a Woody Allen imitation) and Lavash (voiced by David Krumholtz), both of whom argue about territory and religion and properly kick off this one’s subtexts about equality, justice and acceptance (no, really). And even as they’re pursued by a vengeful and deranged douche (no, an actual douche) voiced by Nick Kroll.
Elaborate and expensive-looking, it’s tempting to think that this one was dreamt up one night when Seth, Kristen and the guys were all sitting round getting, like, super, super, super baked, and yet it is surprisingly funny at times. And you’ll certainly laugh, even though you’ll feel a bit like a dick.
I Wake Up Screening 