Product Info

Studio

Universal Studios

Director

Josh Greenbaum

Genre

Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy

Rated

R

Theatrical Release Date (NA)

Aug 18, 2023

Film Length

1hr 33min

Purchase From

Strays is a film about a dog finding his way home, with comical, adult humor that sometimes takes things to an extreme level but always manages to keep the audience laughing. To sum it up in simpler terms, it’s Homeward Bound for adults. It’s a film you either love or hate, depending on your sense of humor.

Abandoned but Not Alone

Strays revolves mostly around an optimistic border terrier named Reggie, voiced by Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights, Anchorman), who’s left behind by his neglectful owner, Doug, played by Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken). After Reggie ruins the relationship between Doug and his girlfriend, in addition to basically annoying Doug in his day-to-day life, Doug attempts to abandon his dog in some fields. Unfortunately for Doug, Reggie finds his way back and believes it’s a game. Giving it one last shot, Doug abandons Reggie in a city alley that’s three hours from home.

After hours of trying to get around the alley, the emotions begin to sink in for Reggie. He’s not enjoying this game anymore, and he realizes he’s been abandoned. Luckily, Reggie meets a foul-mouthed Boston terrier named Bug, voiced by Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained), who takes him in to show him the ropes on how to be a stray like himself. Bug enjoys the freedom, believing that those who want to have owners are missing out and are suckers in life.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have friends who have owners, as Reggie is introduced to an Australian shepherd named Maggie, voiced by Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Rango) and an anxious Great Dane named Hunter, voiced by Randall Park (WandaVision, The Interview). Both Maggie and Hunter have their own baggage with their owners. Maggie is sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter is stressed out as an emotional support dog for the elderly and wears a cone around his head.

Reggie, feeling shocked that he gave his owner Doug love and support, now wants revenge against him. His plan is to remove the thing Doug loves most. Here are a couple hints: it’s a part of his body and it’s not his hand. Bug, Maggie, and Hunter decide to join Reggie on an adventure to go to Doug’s house to take revenge before Doug moves. Along the way, they confront many obstacles while learning more about each other. While the story isn’t something new regarding a lost pet returning home, Reggie’s goal and his travels with his new friends make it stand out.

A K-9 Personality

The voice acting from all four actors was great. It felt like their personality matched each dog’s breed. Bug’s short temper and foul mouth seems fitting for a small dog. Similarly, Hunter’s low-key and anxious behavior plays well for the large dog with a cone around his head. Finally, with Maggie being an Australian shepard, the film uses Isla Fisher’s Australian accent, which makes it amusing as the dog breed itself is not Australian but American. Well played!

The animation used on the dogs’ mouths to sync it with the dialogue is quite smooth and realistic. The dog footage itself was actually the dogs themselves, though, not CG substitutes. They were very well trained, and the fact that the film utilizes that footage with the actors’ dialogue (some no doubt ad-libbed) makes it even more humorous.

A Dog’s View

The entire film revolves around dogs and their daily lives, all presented in third-person view. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. Instead, it’s life as a stray when it comes to finding food and staying alive in tough situations. For example, when they are locked up in a cell at a humane center, the dogs all unite by pooping on the floor to get one of the staff members to come in and clean it up. The dogs succeed in bringing the employee inside their cell and make their escape once the employee falls on multiple piles of poop. The movie doesn’t steer away from the crudeness either and continues to showcase the feces colliding with the person’s face and going all over his body.

That’s just one scene. There are multiple over-the-top scenarios of bodily fluids where it gets to be too much for audiences that have queasy stomachs. The film follows up with comical dialogue to ease that icky feeling and soon you’ll be back to wanting to know what will happen next with these dogs.

One of the most memorable parts is when the dogs go into a trance after eating mushrooms. You can tell that the writers enjoyed coming up with ideas for this scene. It’s full of random cuts, from a cartoon of Maggie to a puppet sock of Hunter. It’s hilarious.

The Revenge Tour

Like most movies, Strays was shot at multiple locations. From the city alley to the wilderness, the film doesn’t stay too long at each place, providing enough variety to keep the audience focused. What will these dogs do at the fairgrounds? What’s going to happen in the forest? The script is full of wild scenarios where the audience won’t know what’s coming, only that they can foresee the possibilities when Reggie returns to Doug for revenge. Additionally, the movie stays under two hours long and the pacing feels right, so the experience doesn’t feel like it stretches too long.

The soundtrack, composed by Dara Taylor (The Invitation, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), does a good job placing scores in the right scene. A hip-hop vibe when Bug first shows up in the film goes well, and the harmonic score between Reggie and Doug works even though Doug calls Reggie awful names and throws beer cans at him. Outside of the instrumental scores, the film adds vocal tracks from big artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Ice Cube.

The Final Vengeance

Strays is humorous, crude, and goes overboard with its grotesque scenes, but it’s a hysterical adventure from beginning to end. It’s a great film to watch if you’re looking for adult humor or for an escape from the real world. Go fetch!

An early screening provided for this review. An official website of the film available for more information.