Fixed movie review: Utterly deranged, it's perhaps the only cartoon film that could realistically be banned by the CBFC

Indian Express

3 days ago

Animation hall-of-famer Genndy Tartakovsky latest film, Fixed, was originally set for a theatrical release, but was offloaded by Warner Bros. during a cost-cutting drive. While movies such as Coyote vs. Acme and Batgirl — both were dealt similar blows — remain sight unseen, it's easy to imagine why the studio would've wanted to wash the scent of Fixed off of itself. A wiser move would've been to bury it in the backyard. Painfully unfunny, the train wreck of a movie feels interminable at even 80 minutes long; it's crude, cringe, and filled with juvenile dialogue that makes you feel like you're eavesdropping on a group of 12-year-old boys at the playground.
Like its protagonist — a dog named Bull — Fixed tries too hard, eventually recognises that it isn't special in any way, but commits to the buffoonery because it's incapable of anything else. You're the speeding car; the movie is the dog. Even if it catches up to you, it wouldn't know what to do. It runs out of tricks in its very first scene, in which Bull (graphically) humps everything in sight. Fixed isn't a cartoon for kids; it's Netflix's boldest adult animated offering since Bojack Horseman all those years ago.
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Voiced by Adam DeVine, Bull has a bunch of dopey friends that he hangs out in the park with. One of them, a Boxer named Rocco, is voiced by Idris Elba. He's pragmatic and proper, but he's also nursing mommy issues. The others, a nervous Jack Russell Terrier and a yuppie Dachshund, are voiced by SNL veterans Bobby Moynihan and Fred Armisen. Bull is in love with his next-door neighbour Honey, a Borzoi voiced by Kathryn Hahn, but there are two major hurdles in his direct line-of-sight. The first is another Borzoi, Sterling, who's openly hitting on Honey as if Bull isn't even there. Second, his humans have decided that enough is enough, and that he should immediately be neutered.
What unfolds is a cross between the Seth Rogen comedy Sausage Party and Spike Lee's modern masterpiece 25th Hour. Terrified out of his wits, Bull runs away from home, and, along with his posse, goes on an R-rated adventure across town. The goal, he is told in no uncertain terms by Rocco, is to put his soon-to-be removed organs to maximum use. If watching a bunch of 2D animated dogs commit all sorts of debauchery is your idea of a fun time at the movies, by all means, hit play on Fixed. But here's the thing, the movie's premise isn't the problem. The execution is. Fixed relies more heavily than expected on verbal (not visual) gags.
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This has never been one of Genndy Tartakovsky's strengths. Best known for landmark shows such as Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack — not to mention the first three Hotel Transylvania blockbusters — Tartakovsky's animation has pushed the boundaries of the medium. He uses physics like Charlie Chaplin; his grasp over character design is second to none. For some reason, however, Fixed feels unfinished. It's as if Netflix picked the film up on the condition that no additional funds would be invested in rounding out the edges.
It feels neither like a homage to the cartoons that Tartakovsky made in the '90s, nor does it feel cutting-edge. As shows such as South Park and Netflix's own Big Mouth have proven, you can get away with rudimentary animation if the writing is sharp. It rarely is in Fixed, a movie that would rather devote an entire running gag to one of the dog's calling his human 'mommy' than conceive moments of emotional vulnerability. After having scrutinised the movie, you're left with only one conclusion: it isn't something that is meant to be watched sober. In fact, watching it from start to finish might even prompt a teetotaler into rethinking their life choices.
Fixed
Director – Genndy Tartakovsky
Cast – Adam DeVine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan
Rating – 2/5