Name: Hell and Back (2015)
IMDb: link to Hell and Back page
Genres: Adult Animation, Comedy Country of origin: USA.
Voice Cast: Nick Swardson as Remy, Mila Kunis as Deema, Bob Odenkirk as the Devil, Susan Sarandon as Barb the Angel, Danny McBride as Orpheus, T. J. Miller as Augie, Rob Riggle as Curt, Kerri Kenney-Silver as Madame Zonar, Jennifer Coolidge as Durmessa.
Directed by: Tom Gianas, Ross Shuman. Written by: Hugh Sterbakov, Zeb Wells, Tom Gianas.
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| image courtesy of TMDb |
The initial tableaux:
Remy and Augie work at a run-down carnival, Remy as a hawker, and Augie as the handyman/fixer. The biggest attraction is called 'Gates to Hell' and it breaks down recurrently. The budget is limited for spare parts and safety features, 'run-down' is probably a stable state, especially after the bank foreclosure. Their life-long friend Curt has responsibilities at the park, but no authority. Curt's boss is a dedicated zoned-out doper. Will there be upgrades to make the park competitive, or even safe? Probably not.
Remy looks for some hail Mary action to save the park, but instead settles on a book of Madame Zonar's concerning Beelzebub. Curt asks Remy for a mint, and Remy gets Curt to seal a blood oath on the book that he will pay back the mint. Curt openly admits that he lied. This breaking of the oath activates the dormant Gates of Hell ride. Curt gets pulled down. While the vortex is still active, Remy and Augie follow into Hell, so as to find Curt and save his sorry self.
Delineation of conflicts:
The Devil would like to have sex with Barb the Angel. Barb knows this, and leverages it into having the Devil find Remy and Augie, so that she can get 'save the misplaced mortals' off her To Do list.
Remy and Augie are looking for Orpheus, since he was able to walk out of hell with a person who was condemned. Deema the half-demon is looking for Orpheus for her own reasons.
One of the demon unions is pissed that there have not been enough sacrifices lately. Curt gets nominated, largely to his ill-considered speech, and his sacrifice becomes a big event in Hell.
Curt tries negotiating directly with the Devil, who has to deal with the demon union.
Resolution: Can the protagonists save Curt? Will Curt save himself?
One line summary: WTH meets WTF.
Statistics:
Cinematography: 8/10 I've been watching stop action animation for a number of decades, and this looks rather good.
Sound: 9/10 For many sections of the film, the incidental music is choreographed precisely with the movements of the characters to good effect.
Voice Acting: 10/10 Full marks.
Screenplay: 1/10 Rude, crude, and barbaric. The story line is competent. However, the vileness of the speech is next to incomprehensible. Early on, I hoped Hell would contract to a point with all characters trapped there forever. I never lost that feeling.
Final rating: 6/10 Neutral. Proceed at your own risk. Not for the faint of heart, or for anyone with virgin ears. If you like relentlessly grinding irreverence, this is for you.
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