A Delightfully Idiosyncratic Indie Toon

Extraterrestrial influencers making social media content about human food, a scientist producing genetically modified fruits and the soul-sucking dangers of capitalist hustle culture all come together in “Boys Go to Jupiter.” Inherently unexpected in the landscape of American independent film, Julian Glander’s idiosyncratic delight is the rare animated feature made outside of this country’s major studios. With his hilariously offbeat, uniquely stylized and surreptitiously profound debut, Glander joins a small but notable list of directors daring enough to try their hand at indie animation in the U.S., joining the ranks of Bill Plympton, Dash Shaw and Don Hertzfeldt.

Billboards preaching threatening Bible verses and orange groves with sinister origins proliferate in the Florida beach town where “Boys Go to Jupiter” unfurls. There resides brooding 16-year-old Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett), who has left his childish interests behind to become preoccupied with making money delivering food via an app called Grubster (the reference to a real-life service couldn’t be more intentional). He’s dropped out of school without telling his older sister (voiced by “Sorry, Baby” director Eva Victor), and ditched his younger, rowdy friends Freckles (Grace Kuhlenschmidt), Beatbox (Elsie Fisher) and the adorably inopportune Peanut (J. R Phillips). Hoping to make $5,000 in order to move out, Billy travels tirelessly from one address to the next day and night on his hoverboard.

Each delivery unveils a new revelatory interaction with custumers or food service workers, all of whom are eager to unload the burden of their lonely thoughts on Billy. But it’s also thanks to these transactional exchanges that he comes into contact with Rozebud (Miya Folick), a possible romantic interest who is oblivious to her privilege as the daughter of an orange tycoon. But first, and with no clear reason, a couple of alien creatures — blue blobs that mimic human speech — also pop their smiley faces into Billy’s industrious fund chasing.

The computer-generated world of “Boys Go to Jupiter” charms with its inviting plasticity. When observed up close, the characters almost resemble Playmobil figurines moving inside backdrops that look as if made of pristine digital clay. The way the lighting hits surfaces paired with the vibrant colors tricks the eye into thinking these scenes are real. That’s how Glander’s 3D aesthetic distinguishes itself from the humdrum designs of most big-budget CG animation. There are limitations to the characters’ movement and expressiveness here that don’t read as shortcomings, but rather the built-in quirks the filmmaking is creating around.

The film’s smooth textures, bubblegum-hued veneer and cheeky quips could seem in contrast with its big-issue themes — namely the exploitation of workers and the commodification of labor. Yet, one sequence that looks at the town from above, likening the lives of locals to how an ant colony operates, illustrates how Glander’s chosen form often complements the substance.

Central to Glander’s narrative is the notion that capitalism corrodes every aspect of existence, forcing people to think about whatever they do in terms of its market value. In order to succeed, citizens’ every waking moment must be spent striving to earn more income. Thus, for a working-class boy of Billy’s age, $5,000 feels like a life-altering sum that may open the door to a modicum of independence— that’s how much he’s offered to betray a new friend.

The crushing truth, however, is that the videos Billy watches on how to “manifest” financial abundance as a way for upward mobility ignore the specific circumstances and systemic obstacles that keep him and most people away from wealth. In one of the film’s most piercing scenes, an employee of Dolphin Groves (owned by Rozebud’s mother) confesses he buys lottery tickets not because he thinks he’ll ever win, but because up until the moment the winner is announced, he’s able to fantasize about what he would do if money was no longer scarce in his life.

This futile pursuit of a streamlined path into a better life has robbed Billy not only of his carefree youth but also of his academic potential: He’s a math prodigy who won’t pursue a college education. That Jack Corbett, popular online for making TikTok videos about the economy for NPR, voices the teenage protagonist adds a metatextual quality of the film. (The impressive cast also includes comedians such as Janeane Garofalo, Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman and Joe Pera.)

On top of its many visual pleasures and fantastical musings, “Boys Go to Jupiter” is also essentially a musical, where Billy and other characters break into songs whose lyrics provide humorous insight into their emotional concerns (Freckles’ track praises the culinary versatility of eggs). Created by Glander himself, the tunes sound as if hand-picked from alternative rock albums from the 2000s and 2010s. These musical moments turn into flights of fancy where the director fully embraces the medium’s aptness for whimsy.

What could have resulted in a mishmash of kooky concepts instead comes together as a strangely cohesive testament to Glander’s writing and imaginative world-building. As wonderfully funny as “Boys Go to Jupiter” is, what makes this micro-production superior to macro-budget studio features is the heartfelt melancholy about the future the hero conveys, which it provides with class consciousness to boot.