We all grew up with talking animal movies. The genre has been a staple of children’s films ever since people learned to train a dog to sit and stare into a camera, eventually culminating (but not ending) with Disney classics Homeward Bound and Babe. Really, not much can be done with gender. But wait! What if the animal swore and got high? What if it was like all those kids movies, but the dogs swear a lot? Strays’ Red Band (NSFW) trailer, featuring the voices of Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, answers that question.
In Strays, a dog named Reggie (Ferrell) has a terrible owner named Doug (Will Forte), who repeatedly tries to get rid of him but fails until he leaves him in the middle of a city. There, Reggie meets a menagerie of pooches, including Bug (Foxx), who tells him he’s a pooch now and should start living the good life. However, Reggie wants revenge, so the motley crew of dogs head to his house to bite off Doug’s penis and teach him a lesson. Swearing, drinking, mushrooming, and a whole bunch of other stuff not normally found in a talking animal movie.
With its trailer, Strays easily draws comparisons to Sausage Party, Seth Rogen’s 2016 animated film that tried to adulterate the talking food genre by swearing a lot and making sex jokes about hot- penis-like dogs. That one didn’t go too well, and doing something more adult by cursing and getting everyone high is a recipe for a boring movie. However, there is hope that Strays finds the right balance. Ferrell, for example, is a master at blending adult humor with childlike wonder. The film is also directed by Josh Greenbaum of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, and written by Dan Perrault (Players, American Vandal). They’re two people with solid backgrounds in the comedy world, so they just might get it.
The film also stars Josh Gad (Beauty and the Beast), Harvey Guillén (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish), Emmy nominee Rob Riggle (The Hangover), Brett Gelman (Stranger Things), Jamie Demetriou (The Afterparty) and Emmy nominee Sofía Vergara (Modern Family). Strays hits theaters on June 9.