Fixed

3 outta 5

There’s a Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix exclusive that is setting viewership records and that is K-Pop Demon Hunters. Which is well deserved because it is pretty awesome. And the next effort from both these companies is the raunchy balls-centric anthropomorphic animal comedy, Fixed. It’s … alright, if one doesn’t exactly look for anything deeper, or many consistent yuks. If one wants a fantastic comedy right now, go check out The Naked Gun in theatres. But if one just wants to see a lot of jokes about dog humping and bouncing testicles, to be fair some of which are fairly amusing, then Fixed is good for a few laughs.

Bull (Adam Devine) is a dog who is still bounding around with his testicles attached and humping just about anything; he is especially fond of Nana’s leg. But meanwhile his neutered dog buddies like Rocco (Idris Elba), Fetch (Fred Armisen) and Lucky (Bobby Moynihan) are living fine without their two ball buddies. But when they hear a story from a traumatized dog about his last day with his nuts, his owners treated him like royalty and then neutered him, and that freaks out Bull. He is also yearning for love from the next-door neighbour dog, Honey (Kathryn Hahn) although she is going to be sent to breed with the douchey dog, Sterling (Beck Bennett). When Bull’s pack learns about his impending fate, they decide to send him out for a final blast of fun, but they keep running into problems like crazed cats, getting stuck at a dog show, and getting distracted while murdering squirrels. Things might be looking up when they find their way to a Dog Whore House but Bull’s indulging his nuts may have cost his relationship with Honey and his pack’s freedom.

This movie was directed and co-written by Genndy Tartakovsky who has an incredibly diverse animated resume, starting with Dexter’s Laboratory to intense animated action in Star Wars: Clone Wars and the hard-hitting Samurai Jack and Primal and even the family friendly franchise of Hotel Transylvania. This is his first R-rated raunchy comedy and it’s 2D animated too, a style that is sort of becoming a rarity. The best thing about this movie is the crazy animated style and the exaggerated character designs. They’re all very distinct which is a key in animation, and they can emote crazily, which happens quite a lot. The bit when the pack becomes crazed and kills a squirrel is darkly funny, which is what happens when a dog catches the squirrel, and one of the dogs is disturbed by their actions. There are also some silly jokes like when all three dogs dress up in a trench coat like a human and bark their way past the security guard (“That guy is not good at his job”). When they get to the Dog Whore House the visual gags are amusingly bizarre like a small Shizu that barks dominating orders at dogs. Also, Lucky gets into a strange but sweet relationship with another dog.

Devine’s voice as Bull is loud and whiny but has funny bits, like when he is angrily confused that if his family loves him, why would they want to neuter him? Moynihan and Armisen have funny animated sidekick voices, and Armisen’s Fetch is particularly insufferable as he keeps talking about being an influencer and calling his owner his mom, which annoys the rest of the pack. Bennett as Sterling sounds like highbrow twit which makes him easy to hate, and Hahn has Honey has a few good freak out moments. The whole relationship between Honey and Bull is coded like Lady and the Tramp, Honey herself is a dead ringer for Lady, but with more jokes about bouncing testicles. But the funniest dog is Elba as Rocco as he keeps yelling and swearing to great effect as the big bad Alpha dog. The best bit is he keeps having these traumatic flashback freakouts as he yells about how his mother had 15 kids so there wasn’t enough room for him to suckle at her teat, but he’s totally okay with it as she tried her best. It’s funny in the randomness in how he interjects it into any conversation as it’s clearly gnawing at him.

There are some jokes that are better than expected, like the movie opens with Bull going on a tear and humping anything which is very wild, especially how he can’t help but keep humping Nana’s leg, or when all the dogs are released from their houses in the morning and screaming about how they have to go to the bathroom. And the way Bull starts talking to his testicles, giving them distinct personalities is kinda hilarious. Some bits seem like it’s trying a bit too hard, as there are only so many closeups of dog anuses that are funny, and some of the sex joke moments are just kind of lame raunchy attempts. There’s a bit when Bull “takes a bullet” for Honey that manages to be shocking, gross but strangely heartfelt. Even the end of the movie features a montage to “Lovely Day” (always a good choice) and a very sweet ending for Bull and Honey’s storyline. Fixed may whiff on a few gags but it is certainly a strangely entertaining story about a dog and his balls.