What happens when man’s best friend is subject to losing his manhood? In the new adult animation comedy film Fixed, a slick and quick-witted mutt named Bull (voiced by The Out-Laws’ Adam Devine) discovers that his owners plan to neuter him after he’s caught mounting grandma one too many times, leading to an all-night adventure of a lifetime. The raunchy yet heartwarming animated comedy comes from five-time Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator and director behind Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, Primal, and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.
Get a glimpse of the hijinks in the red band, director’s cut trailer above.
The inspiration for the Sony Pictures Animation film came from an unexpectedly personal place for an animated animal-centric romp. “I have been friends with the same group of four guys since high school. These guys make me laugh like nothing else, so I was thinking, ‘Can I translate this humor to animation?’ ” Tartakovsky tells Tudum about the film’s origins.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about the R-rated animated comedy.
After Bull learns his owners are planning to neuter him in the morning, the mutt enlists his loyal neighborhood pals to accompany him on one last untamed all-night adventure, with the mission of proclaiming his love for the show dog next door, Honey (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’s Kathryn Hahn). Tartakvosky tells Tudum about his unexpected canine hero: “Bull is every man, he is lovable, funny, witty, and confident. Then at the same time, he is also nervous, shy, neurotic, and anxious. A complete human, as a dog. His journey is quite simple. He believes that his powers come from his dangly bits, but he learns that it is what is inside that is important.”
The film’s 2D animation style is eye-poppingly colorful and full of wild character reactions. “I love caricatured and exaggerated animation, so I knew the sensibility that I like to do, and it was [just] a matter of dialing [up] the amount of exaggeration. I think it started out as an R-rated Lady and the Tramp — then as we got into it, it naturally became more cartoony and specific to itself,” says Tartakovsky. “I would say it began to really take shape as we were fortunate to hire some of the best animators working in 2D from around the world.”
The director cites Young Frankenstein, Dumb and Dumber, Bridesmaids, Anchorman, and The Party as just a few of his favorite comedies that influenced the tone of Fixed. “To me, these all have strong character humor as well as physical humor. So we tried to build funny personalities and interesting character dynamics and put them into situations where we can execute these principles in animation,” Tartakovsky tells Tudum.
Joining Devine leads the film’s starry voice cast, which also includes Idris Elba as a self-assured boxer named Rocco, Bobby Moynihan as goofy pal Lucky, Fred Armisen as the wannabe influencer dachshund Fetch, and Kathryn Hahn as Honey, the object of Bull’s affection.
“Some of the material is a bit raunchy so we had to find people that were receptive to our sense of humor, and boy, did we,” Tartakovsky tells Tudum. One of the pack offered some key input about her role. “I remember a moment where Kathryn Hahn read the script and called us — she wanted her character to be as raunchy as the other guys. It was a great note. We then rewrote her character to be reflective of that idea and she absolutely killed it.”
The cast of Fixed includes:
Watch Fixed now on Netflix..
