If you’ve seen the trailer for Strays, then you already know what to expect. A foul-mouthed spin on the The Incredible Journey brand of films, Strays follows an abandoned Border Terrier called Reggie (Will Ferrell), who sets out on a long and perilous journey home in the company of his fellow stray dogs Bug (Jamie Foxx), Maggie (Isla Fisher) and Hunter (Randall Park). His mission: to take revenge on his abusive owner Doug (Will Forte) by biting his penis off (yes, really).

To the film’s credit, Strays fully commits to that central joke and finds plenty of comedic wells to mine as it apes movies like Homeward Bound or A Dog’s Purpose, tackling the tropes and story beats most associated with talking animal movies and sending them up to the extreme. The characters may be sweet and fuzzy, but the humour is a far cry from the realms of fluffy family entertainment.

Said humour doesn’t always land the way the filmmakers intended, but on the few occasions it does hit the mark, it’s incredibly funny. A couple of cameos, one involving a narrator dog, are particular brilliant, as is the big mushroom-induced freakout briefly glimpsed in the trailers. There’s a lot of low hanging fruit here though, and more often then not the film savagely goes for it, plumping for jokes about poop, pee, puke and humping over genuinely inventive, subversive humour like those other examples we previously mentioned.

Thankfully, the film contains plenty of genuine heart at its core and the central characters are likeable enough to elevate proceedings beyond just a conveyor belt of gross-out gags. Whilst they may be cuddly and cute (always an instant shortcut to our sympathies), the script by Dan Perrault ensures that the characters are defined, rounded and sympathetic, especially in the case of the naive Reggie and the street-smart Bug, which makes for many a heartfelt moment in the film’s final third.

So ultimately yes, the trailer for Strays tells you mostly everything you need to know about the movie. But amid all the toilet humour and black comedy is a film with a lot more heart and soul to it than the advertising currently suggests. When the laughs come, it’s big gross-out grins all round, but a surprising amount of pathos ensures this puppy isn’t one for the pound just yet!

Strays is out now in UK cinemas