Fixed review

FIXED: 

SONY’S FIRST VENTURE INTO ADULT ANIMATION IS QUITE A RAUNCHY BITCH INDEED! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

NETFLIX AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

Bull the Dog in Fixed

 

            A dog runs away from home in fear of getting neutered in Fixed, an adult-animated feature from Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix, and director Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Hotel Transylvaniafranchise). This movie certainly gained a lot of attention when it was being developed and especially after its first trailer dropped in a way I haven’t seen or heard for an R-rated animated film since Sausage Party in 2016. 

            It was also shocking that Sony Pictures Animation, the same company behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and also this year’s KPop Demon Hunters was developing this movie which is about as different as you could get from their usual fare. Does that mean we can get R-rated Pixar and DreamWorksfilms now? IDK, just asking! 

            Nevertheless, despite its trailer premiering that was certainly…a trailer, I gave Sony’s first venture into adult animation a shot and…found it pretty funny. Yeah, Fixed is actually not a bad film at all even though I was initially dreading this viewing after seeing the trailer. 

            I don’t think it’s one of the all-time greatest adult-animated films like South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut nor is it as clever as Strays (Another dog-related comedy for adults), but I laughed a fair amount of times while watching it which is more than what I expected when the trailer dropped. This is also coming from someone who watched a lot of South Park, Family Guy, Beavis and Butt-Head, and several Adult Swim shows during middle-high school. 

            The film follows Bull (voiced by Adam DeVine-Workaholics, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, The Lego Batman Movie), a dog who frequently humps everything that piques his interest. But when he learns he is going to be neutered by his owners, Bull and his friends, Rocco (voiced by Idris Elba-Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Jungle Book(2016), Sonic the Hedgehog franchise), Fetch (voiced by Fred Armisen-Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)), and Lucky (voiced by Bobby Moynihan-Saturday Night Live, We Bare Bears, DuckTales (2017)) leave their homes and embark on a life-changing adventure through the city to keep Bull’s genitals intact…maybe also fall in love with that cute neighboring dog, Honey (voiced by Kathryn Hahn-Hotel Transylvania 3 and 4, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Agatha All Along) along the way. 

            The film also features the voices of Beck Bennett (Saturday Night Live, The Mitchells VS the Machines,Superman (2025)) as Sterling, Michelle Buteau (First Wives Club, Clerks III, Babes) as Molasses, River Gallo (Love, Victor, Every Body, Ponyboi) as Frankie, Grey DeLisle (The Fairly OddParents, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Avatar: The Last Airbender) as Nana, Julie Nathanson (The Zeta Project, Avengers Assemble, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay) as Julia, Michelle Ruff (Bleach, Resident Evil franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog franchise) as Emma, and Kari Wahlgren (FLCL, Phineas and Ferb, Rick and Morty) as Honey’s Mom. 

            Overall, Fixed is a gleefully vulgar detour from family entertainment for Sony Pictures Animation and Genndy Tartakovsky and like The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, a welcome return to hand-drawn cinema animation. It is definitely not for everyone and I’m not surprised the general reactions to this movie are mixed, but as someone who loved adult animation when he was a tween/teen, I got some good laughs out of this. 

            Despite the film’s insane premise, the animation is both gorgeous and zany with sort of a Ren and Stimpy meets The Haunted World of El Superbeasto vibe. Constant, fast-paced cartoon animation with the shock value and boundary-pushing raunchiness of El Superbeasto that leaves you laughing and wondering “What the Fuck are you watching?”. 

            While not every joke lands and often relies on shock humor, I found myself laughing at quite a number of gags in this film. Some of my favorites were a douchebag rival dog competing in a dog show that had a consistently funny voice, this insane sequence involving dogs chasing a squirrel that had me laughing on the floor, and a great visual gag involving dogs on the red carpet at the dog show and the owners look exactly like their dogs, best joke in the movie IMO. 

            The voice acting is top notch especially from Idris Elba as Rocco who delivers these nasty, vulgar lines of dialogue in his stoic Knuckles the Echidna-like voice thus making it even funnier in the process. Adam DeVine is also great as the main dog, Bull and honestly I think he could be a prominent voice actor in animation through his line delivery and comedic timing, he already has this naturally cartoony voice so setting it to this horny cartoon dog somehow fits. 

            Other people like Kathryn Hahn, Michelle Buteau, and Fred Armisen have their moments to shine in the film with Armisen thankfully being nowhere near as obnoxious as he was as Cranky Kong in the recent Mario movie. Great voice acting all-around! 

            This is a decent animated comedy with tons of laughs to be had, but I personally felt Strays was a little cleverer with its story. Granted, Strays isn’t a great film either, but it was an allegory on toxic relationships with the main dog and the neglectful owner being the stand-ins for that situation, it’s just as foul and raunchy as this, but it was also smarter with its storytelling. 

            I’m convinced Genndy Tartakovsky is the ultimate troll in the animation industry because he took this outlandish and bonkers idea that probably should have been dead on arrival given the reactions of the initial trailer and made a genuinely funny animated comedy out of it. Not to mention the most experimental Sony Pictures Animation has ever been that opens the door to more possibilities for the animation studio that was once only known for movies like Open Season, Surf’s Up, and The Smurfs, no fixing required for this movie but friends and alcohol are surely welcome.