Parents' Guide to Strays

Rude, lewd, and absolutely hilarious, director Josh Greenbaum's subversive comedy (with perfect voice casting) is effective at delivering its message: Be nice to animals. Owners who often "forget" to walk or feed their furry family member(s) are likely to start remembering after watching Strays. But parents may want to take a look before saying yes to what will undoubtedly be a "paw"-pular movie among teens, because it also has iffier takeaways. For instance, the dogs unknowingly lap up beer, leading to wild fun and Reggie's enthusiastically declaring "I like it!" Later, the dogs unwittingly eat psychedelic mushrooms and have a raucous, rowdy time. Both scenes drive home the idea that alcohol and drug use can help form and deepen friendships. And then there's the nonstop profanity -- let's just say it's pretty ruff.

Many of the people involved in making Strays are veterans of making kid-friendly entertainment: Ferrell is the Elf himself, producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the creators of the Lego and Spider-Verse movies, and writer Dan Perrault was the host of a digital kid movie review series for Fandango. But that may be exactly why Strays is so funny: It converts the kid-friendly genre of dog movies into raunch, which shocks viewers into laughing -- kind of like South Park and Sausage Party did. The filmmakers are publicly (and responsibly) positioning Strays as entertainment for adults, but the question is: How many will heel to their warning?