Fixed, 2025.
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
featuring the voice talents of Adam Devine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Bobby Moynihan, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Michelle Buteau, River Gallo, Aaron LaPlante, Todd Haberkorn, and Grey DeLisle.
SYNOPSIS:
Bull, an average, all-around good dog, discovers he’s going to be neutered in the morning. He realizes he needs one last adventure with his pack of buddies, as these are the last 24 hours with his balls. What could go wrong?
Co-writer/director Genndy Tartakovsky’s Fixed initially sets itself up as a more unfiltered, graphically honest take on something like Illumination’s The Secret Life of Pets, which in itself had potential that went on to be squandered (across two movies) into the usual animated talking animal nothingburger nonsense. It’s frustrating then that there is a similar downfall here (cowritten by Jon Vitti, with several other names contributing to the story) in that there are a handful of good ideas buried underneath a cheap, lowbrow execution.
This time, that comes from excessive raunch that prevents the filmmakers from doing anything truly hilarious or bold with those concepts and characters, ranging from the degrading nature of dog shows (a steppingstone for breeding top-of-the-line matches), dressing dogs up as human beings and snapping pictures of them in poses attempting to do normal people activities for social media clout, and even abandonment issues from being a pup of many and never getting a turn for breast-feeding.
The bulk of the narrative is also distilled into something more relatable, in that endlessly horny mutt Bull (voiced by Adam Devine, who just isn’t suited for animation or isn’t as funny as some of his counterparts, which is a problem getting that he has to carry the feature) also has insecurities and doubts his neighbor, the prized showmanship dog Honey (voiced by Kathryn Hahn) would ever reciprocate his feelings, especially since her owners are prepping her to be bred alongside another showmanship dog, the stuffy and spoiled, uppity and obnoxious Sterling (voiced by Beck Bennett).
Unsurprisingly, Honey does have affection for Bull, going back to when they were pups, but is also undergoing a crisis of whether it is who she should be with. It all leads to a well-meaning message about embracing others (and even desiring them) for their differences, rather than second-guessing what is meant to be. There are also a couple of moments here where the raunch also takes on sweet and romantic tones.
Everything orbiting that dynamic practically comes across as Genndy Tartakovsky (typically known for children’s animation, most recently the Adam Sandler-led Hotel Transylvania features, now getting something much more crude and unabashedly vulgar out of his system) searching for ways to shock rather than capitalize on some of the interesting ideas presented. This isn’t to take away from what appears to be stellar hand-drawn animation, but Fixed’s idea of a joke is animating dog buttholes and making sure they are visible in as many scenes as possible. Dogs are seen engaging in sexual intercourse in human positions. At one point, everyone ends up at a place called the Poundhouse. To spare readers the graphic details, all that will be said is that it’s another avenue for dogs to get their freak on.
There’s an opportunity to draw juxtapositions between the sexual cravings of humans and animals, but again, all Genndy Tartakovsky concerns himself with is the crudeness of it all. Bull’s sexual appetite is so unhinged and rampant that, following a destructive household occurring in the wake of a disastrous series of events while humping the leg of grandma (if this is what qualifies as comedy to you, be my guest and take a shot at watching this), his owners decide it’s time to get him fixed. He also knows this is coming based on conversations with his other fixed canine companions, ranging from wise Rocco (voiced by Idris Elba, who admittedly has funny line delivery and fares the best of the entire ensemble), upright-walking Fetch (voiced by Fred Armisen), and blissfully unaware Lucky who is mined for laughs from eating all types of feces and other embarrassing situations (voiced by Bobby Moynihan).
So ensues the above hijinks and this severely broken feature that sacrifices solid ideas for an abundance of raunch, drowning out anything clever to be done with them. As a film, Fixed doesn’t have the balls to say anything intelligent or damning through its crass humor.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
