# Sausage Party - 4K Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84138[/img] 
*Title: Sausage Party* 

*Movie:* :2.5stars:
*Video:* :4.5stars:
*Audio:* :5stars:
*Extras:* :3stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*83



[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84154[/img]*Summary*
Wait? What did I Just see? That is pretty much the reaction of anyone I know who has ever seen “Sausage Party”. Basically it’s an animated version of “This is the End”. A Rude, crude, in your face obscene film that had me rolling in the aisles while sitting back and saying to myself “ooooooooo, should I be laughing at this?”. Conceptually speaking it’s a fabulous concept. A bunch of food who are in complete denial to the fact that they are being bought only to be EATEN! The original trailer had me laughing hysterically at the weird blend of irreverent humor and the overly stylized slasher horror model when they realize that humans are not the big saviors they think they are. Little winks to “Saving Private Ryan” and a myriad of horror movies had much completely looking forward to the film, but actual viewing is a slightly awkward experience.

“Sausage Party” tells the story of one supermarket full of unwitting food. We have the sausage Frank (Seth Rogen), his adoring hot dog bun girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig) and a whole host of food all just believing that once they are purchased by the “gods” (humans) they are going to go off and live in the great beyond and have their wildest and happiest dreams come true. This dream begins to be shattered when Honey Mustard (Danny McBride) is returned to the store when a customer buys the wrong mustard to tell the tale of horrors. Sadly his experience has driven him to desperate measures and he upsets an entire shopping cart full of food (including Brenda and Frank) in a frenzied suicide attempt before he can tell the entire tale. In a frenzied and terrifying crash (hilariously rendered after a classic D-day war sequence) Brenda, Frank and several other items are ripped from their packaging, forcing them to make the long trek across the store to their own aisles.

Along the way Frank learns the terrible secret of the great beyond from Firewater (Bill Hader). The truth is that HE and a couple of the other non-perishables created the myth of the “great beyond” in order to ease the minds of all of the food who were just terrified in store. That way they could be blind to the truth and live in peace not knowing what ACTUALLY awaits them on the other side. Frank can’t believe what he’s hearing, but once he takes a detour to the BBQ section of the store he finds truth in large cook book that is stored there. Trying his best to warn the rest of the food he fails miserably when the angry food products refuse to listen to his proof. The only help he gets comes in the form of Barry (Michael Cera), a misshaped sausage who has escaped the humans clutches and comes back with a way to destroy the seemingly immortal gods. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84162[/img]“Sausage Party” is….well…. an experience. I had to watch the movie at least twice to process how I felt about the whole thing. In some ways I was literally dying in the aisles while watching (even funnier was watching my friends who had NO idea that this was an R-rated movie when he and his fiancée decided to watch it with me), but the whole time I was sitting here going “I’m not even sure I should be laughing at this”! Seth Rogen is one of the kings of dirty comedies, but it’s as if he and his buddies thought that they should just go balls to the walls crazy and make the most lewd, out there, completely irreverent comedy known to man. In that respect they really did succeed past their wildest expectations. I was left in shock watching the amount of crudity and insanity unfold in front of me. Basically it was like taking the crassest parts out of every Seth Rogen comedy and blending them all together into one long string of dialog for the film. Let’s just put it this way. If you’ve seen “This is the End” then be rest assured that it was actually pretty mild in comparison to “Sausage Party”.

While the crudity and in your face jokes were the main event, there actually is some pretty funny humor in there (if you can survive the obscenity, which is a LOT). Bill Hader as Firewater and his little band of merry men steal every scene they’re in and Nick Kroll running around as a douche (yes, an ACTUAL medical douche in fact) jacked up on “roids” was priceless. However, the rest of the film suffers from just plain stupid weed humor (tons and tons of jokes about being baked while Seth Rogen does that little laugh he’s so famous for) and the VERY obvious anti-religion theme of the movie. I mean, we have a film that’s very BASIS is about food creating some myth about gods so that they can placate themselves about the horrors of reality. Then when they are confronted with the truth they’d rather stick their head in the sand. KINDA hard to miss.

The first few acts are fairly slick and stupid, but it’s the last act that just goes completely nuts and has you wondering if you’re ACTUALLY on some sort of illicit substance. It’s like the creators decided that the movie wasn’t crazy enough so let’s just lose any sense of realism and go straight for a drug crazed battle of an ending that will leave EVERYONE wondering what we’re smoking. Then of course there’s the last 8 minutes of the film where they make the rest of the third act look like child’s play. I won’t spoil the surprise, but let me say this. If you can make it through the rest of the movie the ending will absolutely flatten you. 



*Rating:* 

Rated R for strong crude sexual content, pervasive language, and drug use



*Video* :4.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84170[/img]The 1.85:1 HEVC encoded 4K UltraHD disc enjoys a nice uptick in quality from the already excellent Blu-ray. It’s not a HUGE increase in clarity, but there is a noticeable shift with brighter colors and better looking detail on the vegetables bodies. The little flickering of crush that was on the Blu-ray seems to be much abated and the overall clarity of the disc is amazing. Personally I had a hard time rating this a 4/5 or 4.5/5 for the UltraHD presentation as the increase in visual quality is not as steep as some live action movies (animated films always seem to have smaller increases compared to live action for some reason). Either way, this is easily the best looking version of the film available and worth the upgrade when coupled with the Atmos track unique to this disc. 








*Audio* :5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84178[/img]The Dolby Atmos track on the 4K disc (sadly ONLY on the 4K disc) is just a little bit better than the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track on the Blu-ray. The surround field is opened up ever so slightly with the use of the rear surrounds (if you have a 7.1 setup at the very least) and the use of the overheads is quite impressive. Once again that famous “Knife” scene in the dark aisle comes to mind. As the blades come crashing down from above you can hear the overheads light up with activity as the blades fall from the top and impact in side channels. LFE is punishing with the end battle as well as some of the more ominous scenes involving blades or stomping human feet. Dialog is crystal clear and centered up front while the score flows smoothly and organically through the rest of the speakers making for one awesome sounding Atmos experience. 











*Extras* :3stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=84186[/img]
• The Booth
• The Great Beyond
• The Pitch
• Shock and Awe: How Did This Get Made?
• Animation Imaginatorium
• Good Food Gag Reel
• Line-O-Rama







*Overall:* :4stars:

I’m not sure whether to actually recommend “Sausage Party” or not. In fact I actually can’t give a recommendation one way or the other, but rather say that I think it’s completely subjective. If you’re not a fan of crude humor and obscenity than it’s certainly go its funny moments, but even I had my moments where I felt a big uncomfortable (and it takes a LOOOOOOOOOT to make me uncomfortable). So I don’t want to say “skip it” being that I did laugh myself silly at times, but warn those who would proceed to do so with caution and temper your expectations based on my warnings. Audio and video are awesome both in the Blu-ray and 4K release and the extras are fairly decent. Proceed with warnings.


*Additional Information:*

Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Nick Kroll
Directed by: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Written by: Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core) Czech, French, Hungarian, Polish, Russian DD 5.1
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 89 Minutes 
Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th 2016


*Buy Sausage Party On 4K Blu-ray at Amazon*
*Buy Sausage Party On Blu-ray at Amazon*




*Recommendation: Proceed with Caution​*







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