Boys Go to Jupiter
It's the day after Christmas and Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett) has quit high school thinking he can set his path in life if he can just make $5,000 by New Year's Eve, but he'll be tested morally and ethically along the way as he makes deliveries for Grubster while caring for Donut, an alien baby coveted by Dolphin Groves Juice Company CEO Dr. Dolphin (Janeane Garofalo) in "Boys Go to Jupiter."
Laura's Review: B+
Adult Swim animator writer/director Julian Glander makes his feature debut with the free open-source 3D modeling program Blender and has created a trippy coming of age story that looks like the SIMs were given Lego heads and abandoned in Florida. Featuring an eclectic voice cast and a story that gains momentum as it goes along, "Boys Go to Jupiter" may be best enjoyed accompanied by recreational substances.
We'll meet Billy hanging out with his friends Freckles (Grace Kuhlenschmidt, TV's 'The Daily Show') and Beatbox (Elsie Fisher, "Eighth Grade") along with his little brother Peanut (J.R. Phillips) at the beach where they are all alarmed when a weird, wormlike creature washes up on the shore. While his friends while away their vacation with such antics as Freckles pretending to get hit outside a liquor store in order to procure beer (the liquor store owner (also Torres) and targeted car's occupants are rendered as eyes, noses and mouths within the door and window respectively), he focuses on his job, first making a delivery to 87 Coral, whose occupant, an old woman, tells him she didn't order anything and whose chickens' 'eggs' are actually brightly colored balls from the nearby miniature golf course.
But it will be his entry into Dolphin Groves which introduces Billy to life changing events, like discovering his client is a former high school crush.
Rozebud (singer/songwriter Miya Folick), who is facing her own challenges with her mother, Dr. Dolphin, presented as a face on a rolling monitor screen attended by her security man T-Bone (Julio Torres, "Problemista"). Billy, who has been exploiting a bug in the Grubster app, will be admired by Rozebud as fighting capitalism from within it. She gifts him with an economics book.
Billy's adventures will include weird requests, like the client who offers him a $20 tip to prechew his hot dog order and another demanding spaghetti be delivered through a mail slot; a lonely mini-golf operator Herschel (standup comic Joe Pera) and a sad return to 87 Coral Drive, one which foreshadows Billy's own misadventure in a bathtub. He'll save Peanut when Freckles and Beatbox lock him in a Porta Potty as a hazing ritual, much to the relief of his older sister Gail (Eva Victor, "Sorry, Baby"), but everyone will be saved in a fashion when that odd looking alien worm, Glarba (Tavi Gevinson, TV's 'American Horror Story'), reappears to gather her children.
The title is a double entendre, a town in Florida also the possible home planet of Glarba and Donut (although in the press notes, Glander also references an (unknown to me) schoolyard taunt 'Girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider.'). One can see influences from Pee Wee's Playhouse and the animated simplicity of 'South Park.' The film is also a musical, the first number, 'Winter Citrus,' an ode to oranges which taste like honey and bring in lots of money sung by Miya Folick (Corbett handles the male performances). Billy's 'Have a grubby day!' may enter the catchphrase lexicon.
Smooches!
Robin's Review: C+
Captuna releases "Boys Go to Jupiter" in NY on 8/8/25, expanding to other cities. Click here for theaters and play dates.
