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Welcome to the weird world of Boys Go to Jupiter, where aliens hang out with delivery boys, juice factories house mutant fruits grown from moon rocks, and funky electronic songs lurk around every corner.
This world isn’t some new planet or alternate dimension: It’s just suburban Florida. Yet in the hands of director and 3D animator Julian Glander, Boys Go to Jupiter‘s Florida becomes a strange, magical place where the absurd and the mundane co-exist as nonchalant bedfellows. Bizarre, hilarious, and boasting refreshingly distinct animation, Boys Go to Jupiter is a wonderfully absurd experience.
What’s Boys Go to Jupiter about?
Credit: Tribeca Film Festival
Boys Go to Jupiter centers on high school dropout Billy 5000 (voiced by Jack Corbett), who’s hustling his way to $5,000 by delivering food through the app Grubster. Along the way, he befriends Donut, a gelatinous, blue, donut-shaped alien who’s being hunted by juice mogul Dr. Dolphin (voiced by Janeane Garofalo).
The pieces are in place for a boy-saves-alien film in the vein of E.T., but Boys Go to Jupiter take a more chill, meandering approach. Billy often stumbles into strange vignettes, including an unexpectedly philosophical encounter with a hot dog stand manager on the side of a highway, or a mini music video about the power of eggs. Glander holds on these vignettes for a while, painting Billy’s world as a collage of oddities he’d rather avoid entirely in favor of getting back on his grind.
Of course, that grind comes with its fair share of setbacks, as Boys Go to Jupiter takes a staunchly anti-capitalist tack. Small details like how Grubster workers are not allowed to engage with customers and must repeat “grubby” catchphrases paint Billy’s job as a dull dystopia. Elsewhere, Glander gets less subtle, such as when Dr. Dolphin’s daughter, aspiring radical Rozebud (voiced by singer Miya Folick), hands Billy a book all about capitalism which he promptly absorbs.
Boys Go to Jupiter is strange, and proud of it.
While Billy exists as a cog in the hustle culture machine, the movie he’s in works to break out of any mold and establish its own individuality. Take the voice cast, which includes singular comedians like Sarah Sherman, Julio Torres, and Cole Escola. Then there’s Glander’s signature animation style, a series of neon CG renderings ranging from blobby to plasticky. Characters and locations come to resemble toys or video game settings. The intentional artifice is welcome, creating a sense of play that sets Boys Go to Jupiter apart from other more photo-realistic CG animated movies.
Glander builds on the distinct look of his film with some lo-fi musical numbers, like an ode to side hustles or a catalog of an alien’s favorite Florida delicacies. These add to the winding quality of the film, building out space for diversions that are often unexpected but never unwelcome. While you could fault Boys Go to Jupiter for a loss of focus as it nears its finish line, the journey to get there remains worth taking.
Boys Go to Jupiter was reviewed out of its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Its release date is TBD.
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Artist Julian Glander directs this strange Florida odyssey, featuring the voices of Jack Corbett, Janeane Garofalo, Julio Torres, and more.
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