‘Boys Go To Jupiter’ Review – A Wild, Unconventional & Inspirational Animated Journey

I guarantee there will be no more inventive and imaginative film this year than Boys Go To Jupiter. A beautifully bizarre and wonderfully absurdist take on a coming-of-age story. Sprinkle in some surprise musical elements and an out-of-this-world companion, and we’ve got ourselves a party. The animation is done in a 3D stylization that is wackily and wonderfully kitsch. There are surprise laughs and tender moments, making it both a feel-good picture and one with a bountiful amount of optimism.

Set in sunny Florida, right after Christmas, we meet teen and relentless slacker Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett). After dropping out of school, he picked up a side hustle working for the food delivery service Grubster. With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, he needs to make $5,000, so he picks up more shifts in hopes of making his deadline. While delivering to the mysterious Dolphin Grove Juice Company, he crosses paths with an old classmate and school-crush, Rozebud (Miya Folick). In the meantime, an unexpected stowaway makes his acquaintance. Going by the name Donut, this creature from another world becomes a source of comfort and inspiration for Billy. However, when the CEO of Dolphin Grove Juice Company learns of Donut’s escape, she will do anything to bring the creature back. This leads Billy, who is low on funds and love-sick, to make hard choices and learn the meaning of becoming an adult. 

Boys Go To Jupiter is a film that’s hard to put into words. It is a movie that, by simply describing it, might be confusing or even a turn-off, despite its unusual yet creative animation. It is a movie to experience, in part because it instills a sense of goofy wonder. At the same time, it illustrates an illuminating point on the state of our current world. A constructive and provocative film, but it seldom preaches. This is a joy ride through our dog-eat-dog world. It mocks with playful cleverness all the backward and inverted ways the world keeps spinning. The design choice is deliberate, and the way the story gleefully unpacks and derides the capitalist system is ingenious.

Animation, let it be known, is just as valid and just as important as a live-action performance on film. Animation is cinema — bottom line. And in this film, the director (Julian Glander) is well aware that, to capture attention and hold it, particularly with a righteous manifesto, the draw must be clever. And here, traditional animation would be a dull amusement park slog. Here, in this bubbly and slightly off-kilter design, we see a world not unlike our own. There is an inherent farce to it all, but Glander is keen on telling a coming-of-age story with some teeth. This is no John Hughes-Happily-Ever-After knock-off, but an unapologetic look at the world for a teen on the cusp of entering it.

Even in the farcical attributes and inclusion of musical numbers (something Glander calls ‘fuzzy shoegaze bedroom pop’), this is not an empty ride. There is an inherent point to it all. A critique of the capitalist hustle. A look back on young love. The pangs of budding adulthood. And throw in an ET-esque creature like Donut, and the result is an out-of-this-world adventure that still stays grounded. Even as the story forces us to look inward and wrestle with facts and nostalgia. Still, the movie is a ball, and we, in turn, enjoy this wacky, fantastic ride.

As for the tunes, there is an extraterrestrial beat that keeps us humming. Between the unusual animation style and the off-kilter musical inclusions, this movie should not work as well as it does; however, the heart and passion are in this film tenfold. Boys Go to Jupiter in tandem to both entertain and engage. It swirls, dips, and never sings out of key.

Boys Go to Jupiter is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Cartuna.