‘Fixed’ review: A ballsy attempt

The adult animated comedy Fixed by master animator Genndy Tartakovsky refreshes the medium while leaning too heavily on raunchy innuendo.

Fleshing out a story surrounding a dog having an existential crisis over being neutered is no easy feat. For animator Genndy Tartakovsky, he sets a lofty task for himself in Fixed, with mixed results. This raunchy R-rated animated comedy is funny up to a point, but its emphasis on balls-to-the-wall (sometimes literally) humor wears thin. Yet, its classic 2D style animation is a nostalgic reminder of what we’ve lost along the way and why we can’t leave it behind.

In Fixed, Bull (Adam DeVine) is a mutt with big honking balls with a penchant for humping everything. His balls and horniness are a driving point of dialogue for the first act of the film, emphasized in conversations with his fellow male dog compatriots who, sadly, have had their balls removed. Neutering is depicted as a traumatizing event, with the emasculation all but shoved into our faces like a dog into a pee-riddled carpet. If you’re looking for any sort of subtlety here, look elsewhere. Fixed is as subtle as Bull humping his Nana’s leg.

Needless to say, his humping prompts his family to arrange his future neutering appointment. Foreshadowing has Bull (and the audience) filling in the dots, provoking his crisis and a whole litany of insecurities to erupt. A testament to his dogly manhood, the idea of his family committing such a cruel act forces him to take drastic action that only a dog can take. Yes, this domesticated pooch runs away to literally save his balls.

Genndy Tartakovsky pushes the limits of our expectations.

Fixed is the kind of adult raunch fest you’d expect, with the jokes featured throughout heavily riddled with sex, drugs, and violence. This is not something you should show children unless you really want to have those essential life conversations with them before you’re ready. Just when you think Tartakovsky and his fellow screenwriters, John Vitti, Steve Greenberg, and Rich Lufrano, won’t go there, they do go there in every regard.

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Punctuating the level of crassness is the animation, with the 2D style allowing for a full range of expressions to roam. Bull, in particular, is wholly transparent; his face contorting and rippling with every emotion that percolates in his brain. This is the kind of expressiveness that I miss from animation. It’s something that we’ve lost with the limitations of 3D, and Tartakovsky particular familiar style shines brightly in this rompfest.

Speaking of familiar, the film assembles a memorable voice cast plucked from the big-name movie screen. It’s almost a who’s who of comedic talent thrust into the voice acting realm. Adam DeVine’s voice takes on a slightly new dimension, stretching and experimenting with the range, though its limitations do show in certain scenes. The rest aren’t particularly memorable in their vocal performances, a reminder of the downside of not casting trained voice actors. Still, given the dialogue in Fixed, it’s a testament to the entire cast that they were able to say some of these without breaking in all takes.

The bottom line.

Listen, Fixed is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. The humor is lowbrow, with Bull’s constant fixation on his balls (and their inevitable loss) beat like a dead horse throughout the film’s runtime. Despite the premise being stretched too thin (honestly, it probably would have hit better as a short film rather than a feature), it’s nice to see Tartakovsky’s animation grace our screens. Good for a watch if the humor is your vibe, I’d say check this out with caution and assume that, if you think they won’t go there with certain bits, you will be dead wrong.

Fixed is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.

Images courtesy of Netflix.