SPERMAGEDDON -- Ridiculous Adult Animated Film Wonderfully Balances Raunch and Heart

Review by Sean Boelman

Filmmaker Tommy Wirkola is no stranger to boundary-pushing films, with the Nazi zombie comedy Dead Snow putting him on the map. His latest effort, in collaboration with animation director Ramsus A. Silvertsen, is probably his edgiest yet. Feeling like the evil twin of Inside Out, Spermageddon is an edgy, often hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt adult animated flick. Although it isn’t without flaws, this is an enjoyable and provocative movie (mainly in the right ways), which is more than can be said about many entries in the genre.

The film tells two stories: one of a duo of awkward teens who decide to have sex for the first time and the other of the sperm cells on the journey to (potentially) create life. It’s an animated blend of a sex comedy and an inner-body adventure (like a raunchier Fantastic Voyage), and the result is a lot better than many adult animated movies as of late.

As far as characters go, Spermageddon is pretty rudimentary. On the human front, we have the nerdy virgin and his crush; on the cell side, we have the slacker and the overachiever. These are conventional dichotomies, but because the movie uses these coming-of-age beats in such a satirical way, it is easy to forgive it for its conventionality.

Furthermore, with a runtime of around 80 minutes, the film moves along at a nice pace. The writers do a good job of balancing the two parallel storylines, and it never feels like we’re merely waiting to get back to the other. Viewers will be pretty invested in all of the characters’ arcs, even if their eventual end is incredibly obvious.

It will come as no surprise that Spermageddon constantly seeks to push the envelope. While many of the edgy moments are funny — some even hilarious — there are some points at which it feels like it goes too far. It can be hard to get past some of the graphic sex scenes. Even if they are animated and by no means intended to titillate, it can still be difficult to get past the fact that we are watching two teenagers have sex. These are far from the funniest moments in the movie, so it could have spared to be a bit less gratuitous in this department.

Still, for all of the moments in the film that feel raunchy for the sake of it, some parts feel incredibly sincere. The movie even gets highly political in its final act in a way that will undoubtedly alienate some conservative audience members — but in true adult animated fashion, it’s a satirical message that really makes the well-meaning, progressive political point hit much harder.

The animation style is done in a way that is clearly meant to mimic the aesthetics of mainstream animation — namely Pixar — and it mostly works well. Admittedly, the human sequences are lacking, both in terms of character design and environments, but there is so much fun detail in the microscopic world that it’s easy to forgive the shortcomings of the other storyline. Beyond that, the amount of emotion that the animators achieve out of mere gametes is impressive.

Spermageddon isn’t perfect, but it is pretty consistently funny and mostly impresses with its sense of heart. It does go too far at times, but there’s so much authenticity and genuinely excellent satirical humor that it compensates for some of the moments that fall flat.

Spermageddon screened at the 2024 Annecy Animation Film Festival.

​Rating: 4/5