The Charlie Sheen & Hilary Duff Comedy That IMDb Users Consider One Of The Worst Movies Ever

When "Toy Story" was released in the fall of 1995, it not only established Pixar Animation Studios as an upstart studio worth paying attention to, but it also made clear to the entire animation industry that there was a new way to tell stories. Nothing against hand-drawn animation, of course, but now there was proof that computer animation could bring a wonderful, funny, exciting tale to life just as well as other styles within the medium of animation. 

That was both good and bad news. It was good news because it allowed for competition to spring up in places like DreamWorks Animation and Illumination Entertainment. But the bad news was that, as was also the case with hand-drawn animation, there would be always cheaper options available. Yes, computer animation was in its nascent years, but it would improve. What if, though, some studios weren't able to progress technologically and had to use old-school-looking computer animation?

Thus, we arrive at the topic of this article: the infamous and reviled computer-animated movie "Foodfight!" In some respects, the film may seem like a weird predecessor to the much more enjoyable, raunchier, and vastly more adult Sony Pictures animated comedy "Sausage Party." But "Foodfight!" is, in the worst ways possible, a very special film. The image above these paragraphs should be enough of a sign that the finished product is a hideous, nightmarish piece of animation. 

It shouldn't surprise anyone, then, that the film has an astronomically low IMDb rating of just 1.3, and is thus on the website's Worst 100 Movies list. But when you consider the talent involved, including a pre-"Winning!" Charlie Sheen and Hilary Duff, it's almost more amazing that this movie even exists.

Just as "Toy Story" made us wonder what happened to the toys we all owned as children when no humans were around, "Foodfight!" attempts to make its audience wonder whatever happens to all the mascots on various food items in your local supermarket after closing time. To be fair (at least a bit), it's not untrue that many famous mascots emanate from food, whether it's Tony the Tiger of Frosted Flakes or Toucan Sam of Froot Loops. But the way in which the filmmakers attempt to stretch this idea, in which the supermarket where the film takes place turns into a city at night populated by "Ikes" (which is short for "icons," because that makes perfect sense), is pretty shaky and loose. 

"Foodfight!" focuses on Dex Dogtective (Sheen), a name that truly rolls off the tongue. Dex, like the aforementioned Tony and Sam, is a cereal mascot who's also a detective and has to fend off the evil advances of Brand X, which wants to take over the supermarket and all its Ikes. The images you've seen so far in this article suggest a level of computer animation that's so basic that it's almost insulting to the word "basic." As such, it will come as no surprise that "Foodfight!" had a very troubled production. It was initially meant to be released over the 2003 winter holiday season, but was eventually delayed so many times that it was released in mid-June of 2012. (One of its purported delays even involved the film's director, Lawrence Kasanoff, claiming that the hard drives with the animation were stolen in a case of "industrial espionage.")  

And yet, somehow, this movie's got a voice cast of some notable players, if not A-Listers. Aside from Sheen as Dex and Duff as Sunshine Goodness (Dex's love interest and also a cat mascot), there's Wayne Brady as Dex's sidekick Dan, Eva Longoria as the leader of Brand X, Christopher Lloyd as the spokesman for Brand X (who is also a talking clipboard), Ed Asner, Jerry Stiller, Christine Baranski, and Chris Kattan. While there have been notably unpleasant animated films over the years with impressive voice casts, considering how cheaply made this movie appears to be and how checkered its production was, it's a shame we don't know what compelled any of these actors to take part in it.

If you want to, you can somewhat see a bit of prescience in Kasanoff's initial idea. The "Toy Story" films do feature real-life toys among the characters, such as Mr. Potato Head and Barbie, and yet audiences and critics don't get frustrated at the naked examples of product placement. (Check out our ranking of the "Toy Story" movies here.) It's not just because the animation in the stalwart Pixar property is better (although it clearly is), but it's also that the films aren't nakedly about how wonderful it would be for each audience member to buy these specific toys. And although "Sausage Party" is perhaps not quite as subversive or funny as it wanted to be, it at least pokes fun at the notion of featuring real foods as major characters in an animated film. So, while it, too, may use recognizable product placement, it does so with its tongue planted firmly in cheek (or in bun, if you like).

The brave few critics who saw "Foodfight!" when it was released, on home media and first in Europe, didn't have much in the way of kind words to spare for it. Though sometimes IMDb users are harsher than critics, or much kinder than them depending on the title, this is a rare case of everyone seeming to agree. Multiple outlets have dubbed the movie one of the worst animated films ever, including IndieWire and Time Out. And Esquire once wrote that "Foodfight!" was "easily the most horrifically ugly, confusing, and unsettling animated film ever made." (It's telling that the film is called out in a list of the best films to watch while you're stoned.)

So, it sounds like you should only watch this film if you're a completist when it comes to one of its stars (and even then, you might want to reconsider your choices) ... or if you're just in the mood to punish yourself for about 90 minutes. This is one movie that very much seems to have earned its terrible reputation.