Animation legend Genndy Tartakovsky is beloved by audiences of all ages, thanks to his work on Cartoon Network shows like Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack, along with the Hotel Transylvania film series. However his latest project, Netflix’s Fixed, is decidedly aimed at adults only.
The R-rated comedy follows the story of a mutt named Bull (voiced by Adam DeVine), who makes the horrifying discovery that he’s going to be neutered in a day. That gives him one last night of debauchery with his friends — and his balls. And yes, Bull’s balls are visible throughout the film. In one trippy sequence, he even hallucinates that they’re talking to him!
Tartakovsky stopped by Mashable’s Say More to chat all things Fixed, and to draw some of his most iconic characters, including Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory. In the above clip from the full interview, he delves into the 2D animation of the film.
“[Fixed] is everything that I loved in animation, but bringing it to be modern and contemporary, and still using the same techniques that they were using in the ’40s and ’50s,” Tartakovsky told Mashable.
Inspirations from this era included Warner Bros. cartoons, like Looney Tunes and Tex Avery cartoons, all staples of the golden age of American animation.
“A nerdy animation thing that I loved about those old Warner Bros. and Tex Avery cartoons is all the very specific character animation,” Tartakovsky said. “Because the movement wasn’t realistic, that’s the thing, that’s what I fell in love with. It was very specific to what the characters and what the animator could draw.”
He continued: “So when I started doing animation, and when people laugh at a movement that you created from nothing, that was like, ‘I’m hooked.’ It’s like me doing stand-up on stage, without having any of that pressure and all that stuff. I could do the stand-up through the movement that I create.”
For more from Tartakovsky, including the logistics of animating dog balls, check out our Say More full interview on YouTube, where he also whips up gorgeous drawings of Samurai Jack and Bull.
Fixed is now streaming on Netflix.
