Crisp Criticism - "Sausage Party", "Nerve", "The Little Prince"

by

Julien Faddoul

Sausage Party

A sausage strives to discover the truth about his existence.

The philosophical convulsions of having religious faith is the basis of this low-budget, crude and uniquely filthy computer-animated feature that tragically offers no existential insight, no social or political satire, no evident plot and no wit. It is content merely to demand with unwavering insistence that jokes about sexual innuendo and the uncommon sight of a mainstream computer animated character cursing are automatically hilarious.

d – Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan

w – Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Jonah Hill, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir

pd – Kyle McQueen

m – Alan Menken, Christopher Lennertz

ed – Kevin Pavlovic

p – Conrad Vernon, Megan Ellison, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Cast: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Paul Rudd, Nick Kroll, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek

Nerve

A high school senior finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of "watchers."

Dumb and heavily misguided lampoon on current youthful trends, with unconvincing performances and annoying cinematography.

d – Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

w – Jessica Sharzer   (Based on the Novel by Jeanne Ryan)

ph – Michael Simmonds

pd – Chris Trujillo

m – Rob Simonsen

ed – Madeleine Gavin, Jeff McEvoy

cos – Melissa Vargas

p – Anthony Katagas, Allison Shearmur

Cast: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Kimiko Glenn

The Little Prince **

A little girl lives in a very grown-up world with her mother, who tries to prepare her for it. Her neighbor, the Aviator, introduces the girl to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of the Little Prince.

Delicate and gorgeously constructed animated adaptation of Saint-Exupéry’s childrens story, which uses a Mise en abyme device of a female protagonist discovering The Little Prince story on her own. That story is computer-animated, while the story within the story is stop-motion. As tender as it is, it lacks a centre to hold it together and by the end, runs out of steam.

d – Mark Osborne

w – Irena Brignull, Bob Persichetti   (Based on the Novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

pd – Lou Romano, Celine Desrumaux

m – Hans Zimmer, Richard Harvey

ed – Carole Kravetz Aykanian, Matt Landon

p – Dimitri Rassam, Aton Soumache, Alexis Vonarb

Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Bud Cort, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, Ricky Gervais, Paul Giamatti, Riley Osborne, Albert Brooks