Paul’s calculator explodes in the office. He suffers an overwork burnout and suddenly quits his safe job of an accountant in a big company. Paul shocks his family further when he announces his plan to follow his dream to become an actor. His wife is now the only source of income, arranging sales of Belgian chocolate to overseas. However, Paul gets unexpected support from his otherwise misanthropic daughter Zoe (12), who accompanies him to auditions and acting training. When Paul gets his first gig, playing in a costume of a sausage in a commercial, his wife wants to separate from shame. Paul auditions for his dream role, Cyrano de Bergerac, but doesn't get it, and thus reconciles with his wife and starts working as an accountant for her new chocolate company.
Family film "My Dad Is a Sausage" is a gentle comedy tale about people who have the courage to quit their comfortable lifestyle to pursue their dream despite all opposition, and works mostly thanks to its great little cast, including Johan Heldenbergh and Savannah Vandenriessche who have that warm chemistry while playing Paul and his daughter Zoe who were distant while he had a formal job, but suddenly bond when she identifies with his plight to be honest while trying to be an actor. There are some good jokes here. In one of them, the film's first scene starts off with a "seize the attention" of the viewers by presenting Paul, in his giant sausage costume, driving a bicycle with Zoe on the street, but then Zoe's narration is heard saying: "We first need to explain how we got here...". Cut to a humorous paper-cut stop-animation of the Bing Bang, Dinosaurs and prehistoric Earth, until it arrives to their family house. Paul's auditions are amusing, but also have an emotional subtext when he delivers an awful audition for a role of a doctor, but suddenly becomes better when Zoe enters the scene and talks the role with him, showing her support and sympathy for his artistic weakness. Still, the movie is rather flat narratively, and could have used more humor or ingenuity. It does not manage to go to a higher amplitude of events, settling for a safe entertainment. It is an easily accessible fun, and offers a somber message that not everyone can live only from their dreams, no matter how hard they try, which is honesty you don't see that often.
Grade:++
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