A kinder, gentler South Park of sorts, Boys Go to Jupiter employs a lo-fi animated aesthetic and beguiling sense of humor to capture the layabout days of a group of teenagers in suburban Florida.
While his friends mostly hang out in parking lots, Billy 5000 speeds around town on his hoverboard delivering food for a service called “Grubster,” hoping to save up enough cash to move out of his older sister’s garage. Hustling for small tips while hardly sleeping a wink has the air of desperation, but for Billy the promise of “easy” money seems to offer his only salvation, especially given the tenuousness of his family life (there is a heartbreaking aside when we briefly meet Billy’s mom) and the oppressiveness of condemning religion all around him (fire-and-brimstone billboards dominate the landscape).
Written and directed by Julian Glander, making his feature debut, Boys Go to Jupiter doesn’t boast groundbreaking animation, but the blocky, choppy style is a good stylistic match for the story—something like a mobile game Billy might play while zipping down the street. And there are visual grace notes—palm trees glowing at night, soap bubbles floating by during a rare moment of encouragement—that will bring a smile to your face.
Perhaps it’s a good thing that the animation isn’t operating at a Spider-Verse level of speed and sophistication, because there is so much other stuffing coming at you already: funny asides (“God doesn’t watch gas stations”); comic absurdities (you’ll have to see Dr. Dolphin to believe her); and a treasure trove of mini-songs, written by Glander. Foremost among them is “Winter Citrus,” a stripped-down electronica earworm sung by Miya Frolick.
Most of the other songs are sung by NPR Planet Money personality Jack Corbett, who also provides the voice for Billy. (The talented vocal cast includes Sarah Sherman, Cole Escola, Julio Torres, Eva Victor, Janeane Garofalo, and Frolick in a character part.) Billy’s songs are somehow both self-aware and naive (“I just turned 16 / I know everything,” he sings on “Batteries”). Corbett brings this willful ignorance to the dialogue scenes, giving Billy’s corporate-mandated signoff—“Have a Grubby Day!”—a sad enthusiasm that’s all the sadder for the tinge of earnestness in Billy’s voice. At once a time-capsule snapshot of the economic despair of American youth and a larger, existential consideration of how to find meaning in a seemingly callous universe, Boys Go to Jupiter is sharp, knowing, realistic, and yet somehow uplifting. It’s a movie that manages to have a happy ending, even if it has to go somewhere bizarre to find it.
(12/26/2025)
