Talking-animal movies are a genre all to themselves. The class of the group probably belongs to Homeward Bound, a very sweet story of survival as three domesticated animals try to get back home to their family. It’s one of the best dog movies available on Disney+ at the moment. Other times, the “talking animal” concept is used for laughs, like in Zookeeper with Kevin James, or the Brendan Fraser feature Furry Vengeance. Those were aimed at kids and families. Strays most certainly is not. The upcoming feature by Josh Greenbaum follows a stranded dog (voiced by Will Ferrell) on an unusual mission that gets discussed in the new, hilarious trailer. Press play and see.
Josh Greenbaum is a red-hot director. Coming off of the smash hit Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar, built around the sharp combination of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Greenbaum could have parlayed that success into almost any project he’d choose. And he told CinemaBlend that he had a stack of scripts at his fingertips. But there was something about the logline for Strays that caught his eye, and wouldn’t let him move past it. Greenbaum told us:
After Barb and Star, it was a nice turn where it was a lot of incoming calls and incoming projects. But the challenge I think – certainly for my career in general, and for any filmmakers – is picking that next thing, and that's a hard thing to navigate. I just felt very lucky that… I remember the weekend I was sent a bunch of scripts from my team, my agents and managers. I get the log lines, you know, and who's involved. And I remember reading the log lines, and as soon as I read ‘An R-rated talking dog movie. Revenge. Wants to bite his owner’s dick off,’ that script went right to the top of the pile.
To me, the lure of Strays is the vocal talent involved. The upcoming Will Ferrell movie casts the former SNL star as an adorable and faithful pup who teams with Jamie Foxx and Isla Fisher to get revenge on his terrible owner (Will Forte) for stranding him somewhere far from home. Greenbaum let his cast record their comedy together, and play off of each other, to put some hysterical improvisations into the actions of animals on screen.
Strays won’t be coming to theaters until June, meaning you will have to use our guide to upcoming 2023 movies to find something else to watch while you wait for it. And if you have a Hulu subscription, make sure that you have caught up on Greenbaum’s Barb and Star, because that contemporary comedic classic shows exactly the type of humor that he can bring to the time-honored talking-dog template. And with the cast he has in tow, I can’t wait to see the full-length version of the story we got in that trailer today.
