It’s the vulgarity of Seth MacFarlane’s bromantic comedy Ted that comes to mind when watching Strays. That, rather than more obvious overlaps with the more wholesome likes of Homeward Bound and The Incredible Journey. Both by Disney. Certainly, a wilfully – gleefully, even – unnecessary blitzkrieg of F-bombs within the opening ten minutes puts pay to any notion that the film might offer up family friendly canine fun. The wilderness of penis, poo and pee-ff gags that follow merely do to hammer home the point. Strays puts the ‘R’ in grrrr. Disney it is not.
It really shouldn’t be so tough to transform Disneyland’s beloved Haunted Mansion ride into a robust family spookfest. The attraction boasts a cult of kookiness, ripe and ready for the picking. There are characters decades in the fine tuning and ingenious animatronic effects primed for direct transfer to cinematic fun times. Rob Minkoff’s 2003 effort plumbed heavy on undead slapstick, casting Eddie Murphy for rent-a-mouth zane. It’s a far more fondly remembered nostalgia dump than any film with barbershop busts has any right to be but did a least enjoy a certain exuberant energy. Two decades on, Justin Simien’s reboot lands dead on arrival. The only real scare this time is a realisation that this incompetent mess comes from the man behind Dear White People.
It would be reductive, if not entirely unfounded, to one-line Joy Ride as being Adele Lim’s ‘Asian Bridesmaids’. For a film all about heritage, the Paul Feig comedy is an inescapable ancestor. Malcolm D. Lee’s Girls Trip sits too somewhere on this most scatological of family trees. It’s less mimicry than shared intention with impressive and engaging cultural specificity. The formula is as genealogical and gynaecological. Oh but Joy Ride does it so well. What’s more, Lim delivers high on thought provocation in ways Feig never has. This is fiercely funny stuff, smart as a whip, and delivered with gross abandon by a pitch perfect central quartet. In short, there’s ample riding and it’s a joy to behold it.
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