One of the pleasures of flaunting bad behavior is imagining the prudes who will be easily offended by it. Curse a blue streak or showcase some risqué sexual acts in your movie, and you can be guaranteed that somebody somewhere will be scandalized—especially if it’s presented in a genre that’s usually geared toward children. Such obscenity is even funnier when you can practically hear the pearl-clutching in the distance. At least, that’s the idea with something like Fixed, an animated film about a foul-mouthed dog having one last bit of fun before he gets his balls chopped off.
R-rated and frequently filthy, Fixed relishes its ability to depict its puerile pooches as nasty, horny degenerates—just like us humans. Its scant 86-minute runtime includes so many anuses and so many ballsacks (although, tellingly, no penises; even transgressive filmmakers have to draw the line somewhere). But be warned: If you notice that Fixed doesn’t have much to say beyond its would-be shocking tone, if you don’t actually think it’s all that hilarious, then you’re playing right into the movie’s hands. Obviously, you’re a prude and you don’t get it.
The film is a passion project of sorts for Genndy Tartakovsky, the beloved animator and director who spearheaded the Hotel Transylvania franchise and is a Cartoon Network fixture. Originally pitched in 2010, and inspired by Tartakovsky’s high school buddies, Fixed is a hand-drawn feature, which gives these dogs an endearingly rough quality free of the sleek, sometimes impersonal feel of CG animation. It’s a fitting approach for a film about a mutt who’s always considered himself a loser.
Adam DeVine voices Bull, who hangs out with confident boxer Rocco (Idris Elba), dopey beagle Lucky (Bobby Moynihan), and social-media-obsessed dachshund Fetch (Fred Armisen), whose human is always dressing him up so he can go viral. (Notably, the film never shows any human’s face, with Tartakovsky treating them almost like a strange alien species just out of view.) Bull loves his human family, but what he loves even more are his testicles, which many of his pals don’t own anymore. Rocco swears he doesn’t miss his, but for Bull, they represent something integral; he wouldn’t be the same dog without his nuts, whom he’s nicknamed Ol’ Spice and Napoleon. Fixed makes sure we check them out on a fairly regular basis—occasionally, they even talk to him—but Bull’s irreverent swagger belies his insecurity around Honey (Kathryn Hahn), the elegant showdog he’s quietly adored since they were pups. They’re close friends, but how could a pureblood like her ever love a nobody like him?
Initially, Fixed tries to have a little fun picturing what dogs would be like if they resembled our baser qualities. Bull lustily humps Grandma’s leg, but when he gets interrupted, he desperately zooms around the house seeking something else that can help him get his rocks off. When the dogs are let out of their homes for a walk, they behave like any of us might if we were badly in need of a restroom. Cats and dogs hate each other as if they’re members of rival nations. And there are class divisions, with showdogs such as Honey being courted by the likes of the snooty Borzoi Sterling (Beck Bennett), who literally looks down his nose at the unsophisticated Bull. Not that anthropomorphizing animals for laughs is that inventive in the wake of The Secret Life Of Pets—indeed, we’re only two summers removed from the live-action Strays, which previously proposed that canines are actually just crass little horndogs.
The plot kicks into gear when Bull realizes that his humans are planning to have him neutered, setting in motion a 25th Hour-like story in which he and his buddies decide to have a blowout night before he goes under the knife. Sexual shenanigans ensue—as well as amusingly violent encounters with squirrels—but along the way, Bull might finally find the courage to tell Honey how he feels about her. What matters most, though, is Tartakovsky ensuring that Bull and company act as outrageously as possible at every moment. Fixed is filled with scatalogical humor, while a choice 12-letter expletive gets used routinely. And, of course, there is a lot of humping. So much humping.
But what rarely occurs is anything truly transgressive or genuinely offensive. Working with co-writer Jon Vitti, a Simpsons veteran who’s also written several animated kids movies, Tartakovsky fixates on being naughty without risking anything. As much as the animation style recalls provocative predecessors such as Ralph Bakshi and John Kricfalusi, Fixed comes across as calculated, the shocks mixed with moments of sweetness, both modes feeling forced. In some ways, Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania pictures were actually edgier, as they tried to fit adult innuendoes into movies ostensibly intended for younger viewers.
The film’s intermittent charms come thanks to some of the voice actors. Elba’s booming baritone sounds perfect coming out of a tough-guy boxer, while Armisen emphasizes his nasally delivery to capture Fetch’s nerdy essence. DeVine is certainly well-suited to embody Bull’s motormouthed attitude, but as is often the case with the actor, the performance is a little too good at convincing you that the character he’s playing is a jerk. Thankfully Hahn plays Honey with a lilting sweetness that cuts nicely against the grain of Fixed‘s tee-hee sophomoric humor. Whereas much of the rest of the film huffs and puffs to be naughty, she manages to be seductive and funny (and even a little nasty) without breaking a sweat. She’s clearly best in show.
Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Writers: Genndy Tartakovsky, Jon Vitti
Starring: Adam DeVine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Bobby Moynihan, Michelle Buteau, River Gallo
Release Date: August 13, 2025 (Netflix)
