Review: Florida's weirdness shines in Boys Go to Jupiter

I've only just met the man (I haven't met the man), but I'm already in love with Julian Glander's bizarre and beautiful brain. The director's Boys Go to Jupiter is one of the most singular and fascinating animated features of the year, full of pleasant weirdness and lo-fi vibes. It has a really specific and strange wavelength that feels like it could be an acquired taste, but honestly, I would easily recommend this to a lot of people. Its quirkiness is really charming, easy to swallow, to just chill with. It feels like you're in the room with a bunch of cool kids from school who are bouncing various inside jokes off of each other, and even if you don't necessarily get each one, it feels good to be included, and the laughs come regardless. It's a cozy feeling it its odd way.

The year's unlikeliest Christmas movie finds teenager Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett giving one of my favorite voice performances of the year) hustling to try to raise $5000. His main way of doing so is delivering food to various weirdos around town through the Grubster app, and using a glitch in the system to multiply his in-app income. Between deliveries, he hangs out with his group of oddball friends, meetings a cool girl at the local juice mega-company, and becomes the unwitting parent of a round alien he affectionately (and, it ends up, accurately) calls "Donut."

Hey, it's Florida.

The Florida weirdness permeates this thing in a way that's more loving that the bizarre headlines or hateful politics that usually come to mind when you think of the state. Here, it's the blue-pink-orange-yellow-green ennui and restlessness of small-town, sun-soaked life that feels like it could be so much more but probably never will be. But even if you never make it out, at least you can go take a gander at the world's largest hot dog. Or lock your friend in a port-o-potty as a sick initiation game. Or sing a trippy musical number.

Yeah, there are musical numbers in this thing. And they're awesome. And funny. And very vibe-y, as is the rest of the music. And everything else here.

I love how this movie looks. Almost like toys come to life. The characters look kind of like Playmobil figurines, and some of the sets look like carefully constructed cardboard dioramas. There's something so loving and handmade about the visual styles. The long shots that really display the buildings especially popped for me. With the vibrant colors and great character designs, it really just pops. Very cool-looking movie.

And I love how the playfulness of the visuals speak to the time in Billy 5000's life that this movie captures: that fuzzy border between childhood and adulthood. When suddenly, your friends might seem a little childish. When love is on your mind for the first time. When you start thinking about other people's needs, not just your own. When you have to start navigating the capitalist hellscape (here, epitomized by the scam of the gig economy). The characters might look like toys, but the things they're dealing with aren't so fun, so easy.

I have to shout out the cast here, too, which is packed with a lot of the new generation of comedic powerhouse voices. I was especially excited to hear Grace Kuhlenschmidt (RIP to the Finally podcast, I love you forever) and Julio Torres in the cast. Cole Escola, Sarah Sherman, Elsie Fisher, and many more are also among the ranks, and all doing great work (some in multiple roles!).

I loved spending 86 glorious minutes in this weird little world, which feels destined to become a cult classic. And I can't wait to follow Julian Glander wherever he goes next.