The crowd of excited animation fans didn’t quite know what to expect at the Cult Cinema Club’s screening of “Fixed,” the new film by animation powerhouse Genndy Tartakovsky– creator of “Samurai Jack” and “Dexter’s Lab.” Throughout the screening on Friday, Aug. 29, students were gasping, laughing—and walking out.
“Fixed” is a 2D-animated, R-rated comedy about a dog named Bull, played by Adam DeVine (“Pitch Perfect”), who decides to have one last night out as a wild, “off leash” dog after learning he’s going to be neutered the next day. It’s as crazy as it sounds.
What follows is an uncensored attack on the senses. There are little to no shots without a dog’s testicles or buttholes present, animals rip each other apart, and nearly every line includes some sort of expletive. According to Cult Cinema’s Club president, junior film and television major Alex DeCroix, this made “Fixed” the perfect film to start the semester.
“We here at Cult love those movies that make you want to throw yourself out a window, and the beauty about ‘Fixed’ is that it’s exactly those two things. It’s both art and also trash, which is what we sort of specialize in,” he said.
“We also really, really enjoy the movies that make people angry or that get a certain reaction.”
The humor in the film was inspired by Genndy Tartakovsky’s group of friends he made while he lived in Chicago, where the film is set, which he told the Chronicle in an interview on Zoom.
“The whole thing was inspired by my group of friends since high school, and I wondered, could I get our dynamic and our chemistry, which we all laugh at each other to everybody? So it’s not just inside jokes, it’s jokes that everybody would get and caricature their personalities. So they’re more extreme, that was kind of the inspiration for the whole thing for sure.”
The film was initially pitched in 2008 and has been on a 16-year journey to get made. Tartakovsky stuck with it as he thought the premise had a lot of potential.
“I feel like, you know, back in the day, this was 2008 when I first started to develop it. I think trying to pitch an action or dramatic thing was completely out of school, even for a TV show back then,” said Tartakovsky. “But the broad comedy, I thought, would maybe have a chance of getting made.”
Many students left the theater in awe, some laughing in joy, others in horror. Cult Cinema Club’s treasurer, Leon Rosati, a sophomore comedy writing and performance major, illustrated his problems about the film through panicked gasps.
“It’s funny in the way where it’s not funny. It’s beating you over the head. I feel like I got fixed, I feel like I was neutered,” he said. “I feel like every joke is just that they said a swear word or they said balls. There wasn’t any substance.”
On the other end, however, was a junior film and television major, Maroon Jewels, who decided to see the film a second time after initially watching it on Netflix, where it was released on Aug. 13, 2025.
“I like what it does for modern adult animation. It pushes the bounds of what can be shown in animation on TV. And it’s also a great watch overall that I feel like is kind of lost within the modern day of big studios like Disney and Pixar, constantly pumping out 3D animated movies that kind of follow the same tried and true method, where they just kind of produce the same thing over and over and over again with slightly different visuals.”
While “Fixed” is far from the first R-rated animated comedy, it’s notable due to its place in the current animation atmosphere. After initially being shelved by Warner Bros. as an attempt to cut costs, it was eventually acquired by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix.
In an era where less grotesque animated content is being erased from streamers, notably most of Cartoon Network’s library from HBO Max, “Fixed” speaks to the resilience of the art form’s creators.
Cult Cinema Club’s secretary, Laura Hammer, a sophomore film and television major, said AI has no place in the film industry, speaking to the technology’s environmental effects.
“I feel like the part of AI that doesn’t get talked about a lot is its effect on the environment,” she said. “I feel like even if you do believe that it’s this innovation in art making, which I don’t, I believe we first need to have that discussion about how it affects the environment and find ways to limit that.”
This sentiment was repeated by Tartakovsky, speaking to how the wonder of art comes from people’s ability to make it themselves, He spoke about going to mini comic book conventions in Chicago, where he would watch in awe while artists drew superheros such as the Hulk and Superman
“It was so unbelievable,” Tartakovsky said “And I feel like that’s never going to go away. You know, I think there’s always room for hand-drawn stuff. And so I think they shouldn’t worry so much about AI and just be the best version of what you do of yourself.”
In an age where even giant franchises like the “Looney Tunes” films are being dropped by Warner Bros. and being released by much smaller distributors, “Fixed” stands as an example of a film unafraid of the industry’s pressure for 3D-animated franchise content aimed at children. The film yells, barks and swears its way into the spotlight–perhaps not intended for everyone, but undeniably getting people’s attention, whether they like it or not.
Tartakovsky advised aspiring animators to keep pushing with their ideas and to keep unique animation alive.
“We’re in the business of selling ideas and telling stories, so my advice is just make shit,” Tartakovsky said. “That’s really the best thing to do right now. Even if you can’t get a job professionally, get a job paying the bills and at night, if you really love it and if you’re really driven, make stuff.”
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
