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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Nearly eight years after its theatrical release, the adult animated comedy film, Sausage Party, gains a sequel series on Prime Video. The film’s co-director, Conrad Vernon, returns to helm the new project with screenwriters Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, and Ariel Shaffir as the series creators and executive producers. Subtitled Foodtopia, this eight-course meal lasts twice as long as the 2016 film’s runtime. As a result, twice as much story can be told. It may not be as perfect an animated series as its contemporaries. However, the series holds more weight in its subtext while also developing its characters in their search for purpose.
Sausage Party: Foodtopia‘s writers’ room consists of Rogen, Goldberg, Hunter, Shaffir, co-executive producers Ali Waller and Laura Krafft, supervising producer Dewayne Perkins, executive story producer Jennifer Kim, and staff writers Jeremy Levick and Rajat Suresh. All eight episodes are directed by series executive producer, Conrad Vernon.
In this review, I will discuss Sausage Party: Foodtopia. As this article’s title suggests, no spoilers will be present.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Sausage Party: Foodtopia Synopsis
According to Amazon MGM Studios/ Prime Video Press, here is the premise for Sausage Party: Foodtopia.
Based off the 2016 animated feature Sausage Party, the series Sausage Party: Foodtopia follows Frank, Brenda, Barry, and Sammy as they try to build their own food society.
Amazon MGM Studios/ Prime Video Press
Discussion
For an animated series, Sausage Party: Foodtopia happens to stick out like a sore thumb. Given prior animated television programs that fans of the medium have been blessed with—X-Men ’97, Prime Video cousin Invincible, and more recently, My Adventures with Superman—the character designs and the background work here are fine. There is nothing too unique about the character artistry for the food and the humans that were not already introduced in the 2016 film. Still, head of story Scott Diggs Underwood and team’s work on the storyboarding presents a few more intriguing animated sequences than the original could offer.
While the original film’s introduction saw groceries in a Final Destination 2-esque predicament in an aisle of Shopwell’s supermarket, Foodtopia finds characters in a few more life-threatening circumstances. There is a kind of fascinating Biblical nature to how some subplots are told. Sausage Party illustrated produce living in apparent harmony, communicating through the language of song. Yet, the Prime Video series showcases the dilapidation of Shopwell’s as much akin to the dissolution of Babel. Consequently, the talking food and drinks are forced to disperse. At this point, they must then make an exodus to a new place to call home.
The music team has a great soundtrack comprised of songs from Celine Dion, Alias, and others. However, there seems to be a missed opportunity to play The Cranberries, especially with all the puns dropped effortlessly. Meanwhile, in the film, puns often obstruct the delivery of dialogue. Seriously, the series’ screenwriting seems oversaturated with puns, especially for those who do not quite have the taste for this type of humor. Just when one thinks it’s over, the show keeps dropping more puns. A part of the screenwriting holds merits here, as the story relies heavily on the comical aspect.
Storyboarding Sequences
Sure, Foodtopia is appealing in its puns, but it also features some of the most shocking action ever. For one thing, the orgies do not end with the original film and instead continue onto the Prime Video sequel series. Now, imagine what can happen with a block of Swiss cheese… Even the, “Sixth Course” tops anything that the orgies could ever have on display. It also seems as if Rogen and his team wanted to commit to something on the same level as any portrayal of sexuality in The Boys, but I digress.
The sequences involving the produce physically fighting the humans are nice. One man has his nipples twisted by both Frank Frankfurter (voiced by Seth Rogen) and Brenda Bunson (voiced by Kristen Wiig) and probably dies from it. With that said, watching the food and the drinks in peril is a greater spectacle. “First Course” has a suspenseful sequence as it pauses comedy and revulsion. To add, the supermarket’s breakdown feels reminiscent of the beginning of The Final Destination, where characters running in terror are only trying to save their own skin. With Foodtopia, it’s thrilling to see a chase, whether it be from a lone crow, a group of law enforcement officers, or a collective of cop cars.
Namely, one protagonist’s fight against the primary antagonist is storyboarded well. Even the spoiler language attached to early screeners of the series is not enough to prepare viewers for how great the scene plays out. If there is anything to take away here, the storyboarding is indisputably the best element of the animation.
Screenwriting Suitable for Streaming
Viewers—namely fans of Rogen’s works—might easily find themselves stuck on identifying various Easter Eggs and references to prior Rogen and Goldberg-related titles, including Superbad and Good Boys. The Superbad reference can be missable, but it is definitely a clever tidbit. After all, this is the world of Sausage Party. Foodtopia also writes itself into the Robert Rodriguez/ Quentin Tarantino cinematic canon. That alone should be enough to suggest either an homage to the filmmakers or a future collaboration in some manner.
The writing team’s teleplays are fascinating. Their first few episodes are a slow burn with a decent two or three foreshadowing en route. Yet, once the new character, Julius (voiced by Sam Richardson), makes a more prominent appearance, the story truly begins to pick up the pace. “Fourth Course” and “Fifth Course” are a major highlight of the narrative development. The latter spotlights the life of a minor character and their family. It’s filled to the brim with puns and ends with a punchline, but its merit over profound other scenes in the series is its contribution to subtext.
Additionally, the conflict is witty as it points to afflictions and inflictions on the immediate world around the series’ characters. Everything is confined within the spaces of a strip mall, so there is not a lot of world-building as one would like. In Sausage Party, the inside of Shopwell’s supermarket gave an impression that traveling around is an endless effort. However, with Foodtopia, the strip mall extends to a residential treehouse, and that looks to be it.
The New Currency
[G]ood foods can go bad…
Barry (voiced by Michael Cera), ‘Sausage Party: Foodtopia’
The anthropomorphism of the Shopwell’s produce in the series makes more sense compared to the film. The victories that the food and drinks have over the humans involve holding onto human teeth as trophies of war. On paper, this appears barbaric, but because the produce must eventually live without human supervision, the humans’ ways of life become theirs. Teeth become a currency, establishing a socio-politico-economic system, with the populace deciding between a community or a capitalist democracy.
The writers’ narrative of politics at this level is quite on the nose. At face value, the greedy orange, Julius, is representative of America’s late-2010s/early-2020s politics, and there is no denying that fact. Sausage Party: Foodtopia achieves a feat that the original film only briefly accomplishes. The Prime Video series sees its main characters making social platforms for themselves, and the other produce are prompted into following one public figure rather than the other. This becomes a huge affair about taking sides and believing in an affluent individual’s rhetoric as a means to tear others down. It completely rips off a bandaid on a wound that was hardly healing.
There is something uncanny about how the produce’s monetary system works in the series. Characters discuss the abolishment of teeth as currency, especially when various food figures must strive through labor to earn their living. The irony is that these teeth came from their gods, i.e. the humans, whose own monetary currency includes the faces of slave owners and powerful politicians.
The Crew Behind Sausage Party: Foodtopia
Jennifer Kim (Netflix’s The Chair, Mel Brooks’s History of the World: Part II) serves as the executive story editor. Jeremy Levick (FX’s What We Do in the Shadows) and Rajat Suresh (FX’s What We Do in the Shadows) are the series’ staff writers.
Linda Lamontagne (Family Guy, American Dad!, The Cleveland Show, Over the Garden Wall, Robot Chicken, BoJack Horseman, Infinity Train, The Boys Presents: Diabolical, J.G. Quintel’s Close Enough, Prime Video’s Invincible) serves as the voice casting director.
Jeff Seibenick (Parks and Recreation, Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett) is the supervising editor.
Christopher Lennertz (Supernatural, Agent Carter, Sausage Party, The Boys, The Boys Presents: Diabolical, Gen V) scores the musical composition for the series. Alexander Bornstein is the co-composer.
Gabe Hilfer (Fear the Walking Dead, Venom, Birds of Prey, Ozark, Halloween Ends, The White Lotus, Renfield, White Men Can’t Jump, Invincible, Brian Watkins’s Outer Range) serves as the music supervisor.
Christopher Brooks (Howard the Duck, the Die Hard franchise, Goodfellas, Batman Forever, Event Horizon, Pleasantville, The Iron Giant, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Sausage Party, The Boys, Gen V) is the music editor.
Alec G. Rubay and Geoffrey G. Rubay are the supervising sound editors.
Benjamin Mitnick and Aziza Ngozi are the assistant editors.
Animation Team
Scott Diggs Underwood serves as the head of story.
Stephan Neary and Dirk Van Dulmen serve as the story artists.
Craig Kellman and Jesse Winchester are the character designers. Thomas Humber is the background designer.
Bardel Entertainment Inc.
Johnny Darrell serves as the series director under the Canadian animation studio, Bardel Entertainment.
Mark Sonntag is the storyboard director for “Second Course” and “Sixth Course”. Donna Brockopp is the storyboard director for “Fourth Course” and “Eighth Course”.
Adam Cootes and Jose Antonio Cerro are the storyboard artists for “Second Course” and “Fourth Course”.
Cootes, Chris LaBonte, and Santiago Velez are the storyboard artists for “Sixth Course”. Cootes, Graeme Lee, Cerro, and Velez are the storyboard artists for “Eighth Course”.
Ryan Garcia, Chiara Hubner Travezan, and Giorgos Chatzellis are the storyboard revisionists for “Second Course”.
Garcia, Hubner Travezan, and Chatzellis are also the storyboard revisionists for “Fourth Course”, “Sixth Course”, and “Eighth Course” along with Hannah Miner, Kay Golda, and Sarah Kinney.
Alex van Nieuwkuyk serves as the animatic editor for “Fourth Course” and “Eighth Course”. David Avery serves as the animatic editor for “Second Course” and “Sixth Course”.
Stellar Creative Lab Inc.
Bert Van Brande serves as the visual effects producer for “First Course”, “Third Course”, and “Fifth Course” under the Vancouver animation studio, Stellar Creative Lab.
Mathew Rodgers is credited as the production designer for all episodes of the series.
Marta Demong, Shiyeon Cho, Bryan L. Francis, Gavin Freitas, Gene Kim, Sidne Marat, and Ricardo Osuna are the storyboard artists for “First Course”.
Demong, Cho, Kim, Marat, and Maddie Taylor are the storyboard artists for “Third Course”. Osuna, Oliver Hine, Megan Parker, and Becka Ling are the storyboard artists for “Fifth Course”. Demong, Cho, Ling, and Marat are the storyboard artists for “Seventh Course”.
Braden Oberson, John-Michael Powell, and Bing Xue are the animatic editors for “First Course”.
Vanessa Seecharran is the animatic editor for “Third Course” and “Seventh Course”. Xue and Lesley Mackay-Hunter are the animatic editors for “Fifth Course”.
Brittany Lewis (DC League of Super-Pets, Robert Smigel’s Leo), Akeylah Rivero, and Deniz Ozden are the assistant editors for “First Course”. Lewis and Rivero are also the assistant editors for “Third Course”, “Fifth Course”, and “Seventh Course”.
Chloé Molley is the animation lead for “First Course”. Molley and Andrew Vilanen are the animation leads for “Third Course” and “Fifth Course”.
The Cast of Sausage Party: Foodtopia
Seth Rogen (The Spiderwick Chronicles, the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Monsters vs. Aliens, Paul, The Lion King, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) reprises his role as the voice of Frank Frankfurter, a sausage.
Kristen Wiig (the How to Train Your Dragon film trilogy, the Despicable Me film franchise, Paul, Spike Jonze’s Her) reprises her role as the voice of Brenda Bunson, a hot dog bun and Frank’s love interest.
Michael Cera (The Lego Batman Movie, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) reprises his role as the voice of Barry, a deformed sausage and one of Frank’s friends.
Edward Norton (American History X, Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Isle of Dogs, Glass Onion) reprises his role as the voice of Samuel “Sammy” Bagel Jr., a Jewish bagel.
David Krumholtz (10 Things I Hate About You, the Harold & Kumar franchise, Oppenheimer) appears as the voice of Kareem Abdul Lavash, a Middle Eastern lavash and Sammy’s main lover. Krumholtz lends his voice to other character(s) in the series.
Will Forte (MacGruber, The Lego Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Scoob!, America: The Motion Picture, Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken) voices Jack, a human.
Sam Richardson (Hulu and Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K., Harley Quinn, Velma, Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken) voices Julius, an orange and a new character for the Sausage Party mythos.
Series head of story Scott Diggs Underwood reprises his role as the voice of Gum, a Stephen Hawking-esque wad of chewed gum. Underwood lends his voice to other character(s) in the series.
Supporting Voice Cast
Alejandro Saab, André Sogliuzzo (Courage the Cowardly Dog, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dead Boy Detectives, My Adventures with Superman), Conrad Vernon, Daniel Hagen, Evan Goldberg, Grey DeLisle (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Invincible), Jay Pharoah (The Blackening, Invincible), Natasha Rothwell (HBO’s Insecure, The White Lotus, Hulu’s How to Die Alone), Rachel Butera, Sugar Lyn Beard, SungWon Cho, Timothy Simons (Veep, The Interview, Shortcomings, History of the World: Part II, Joy Ride), Darmirra Brunson, Alex Karukas, Jill Talley, Yassir Lester, Carla Delaney, and Ana Scobie have recurring voice roles in the series.
Joshua Logan, Kerri Kenney (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Netflix’s Love), series supervising producer and co-writer Dewayne Perkins, Andrea Tyler, Avalon Lennon, Emily Lynne, James Adomian (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Major Lazer, Harley Quinn, J.G. Quintel’s Close Enough, Rick and Morty, History of the World: Part II), Lena Hall, Quino, Chris Cox, Jimmy O. Yang (HBO’s Silicon Valley), Marcus Paul James, Sy Smith, and Tommy Kang make small appearances in the series.
Voice Performances and Character Developments
Brenda is the wisest of the series’ protagonists, and that is already saying a lot. Her beliefs stem from good intentions, but her and Frank’s concerns are incredibly relatable. As a character, Brenda is a completionist, which is why her mission for a better society takes an entirely meaningful tone by the end of the series. In Foodtopia, Wiig’s role is not only as a hot dog bun but as an animated character with familiar human qualities.
Cera as Barry is easily the best voice performance in the world of Sausage Party: Foodtopia. Barry did appear to have a love interest in the original film, but that did not look to have gone anywhere. His role in the series is a strong development from the film as he now has the courage to save his friends from trouble. Through Cera, this deformed sausage is feasible, with as much resolve as Frank and Brenda to get down to business.
Norton’s role as Sammy Bagel Jr. is honestly lovely. The character finds purpose in public speaking, but this comes at the cost of speaking for or against his friends. While Frank and Brenda do get physically bruised, Sammy is emotionally and psychologically bruised, especially when the wealth-hoarder, Julius, is doing the bruising. The bagel is not well-rounded, but by the end of the series, he does come to terms with his losses and that’s what matters so far.
Final Thoughts on Sausage Party: Foodtopia
When life gives you lemons, the situation is going to be split. Foodtopia is subtextually heavier in demonstrating a world much like ours. It reveals the bruises and the bruisers, as well as why stories such as these are important for modern audiences. Granted, the animation/live-action concept of a sequel to the original would be a more entertaining option. There is still room to make that happen, given that one of the final frames of the series might indicate that another installment to the Sausage Party franchise could be in the cards. For now, this Prime Video series is perhaps one that people should see sometime soon.
3.5/5 stars
All eight episodes of Sausage Party: Foodtopia stream via Prime Video starting this Thursday, July 11th!
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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
