HBO Max Just Added a Criminally Underrated 2024 Adult Animated Movie

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You probably haven’t seen, and maybe haven’t even heard of, Boys Go to Jupiter, but that needs to change after the 2024 animated coming-of-age film arrived on HBO Max on February 6th. The animated gem was written, directed, and produced by Julian Glander and centers around a Florida teenager, voiced by Jack Corbett, as he hustles to make $5,000. It premiered at the Tribeca Festival in June 2024 and went on to earn a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Chicago Film Critics Association. Boys Go to Jupiter also earned a “Certified Fresh” badge on Rotten Tomatoes with a 93% critic score based on 59 reviews, but is so underrated that it hasn’t even yet garnered enough audience reviews to earn a Popcornmeter score.

Boys Go to Jupiter Is a Quirky Coming-Of-Age Hidden Gem

The plot of Boys Go to Jupiter is pretty simple – Billy 5000, a teenage boy in suburban Florida with a rise-and-grind mindset, attempts to earn $5,000 to leave home – except when you take into account the mutated dolphin scientist Billy encounters and the mutated alien creature named Donut he discovers as he works his food delivery job. The film is a vibe-driven coming-of-age story that is as surreal as it is poignant in its focus on the struggles of modern adolescence while navigating a bizarre, almost hallucinatory, portrait of the Sunshine State and exploration of teenage aimlessness, the gig economy, and finding meaning in the mundane.

The movie is unlike any mainstream animation that has come out recently, and it’s the perfect streaming option for those who enjoy experimental, offbeat cinema. The film’s episodic, vignette-style storytelling drives home the fever dream feeling of the film and the fragmented reality of Billy 5000’s life, and the film achieves its melancholic exploration of suburban stagnation. Boys Go to Jupiter is also a film that is worth watching for the visuals alone, its video game 3D animation style and unique, sometimes abstract, character designs both whimsical and absolutely captivating.

What’s New on HBO Max?

Boys Go to Jupiter is far from the only new movie available to watch on HBO Max. The streamer has already stocked dozens of fresh titles in its library this February, giving subscribers the opportunity to watch everything from Insidious: Chapter 3 to Life of Pi. Other new-to-HBO Max titles include 2073, MacGruber, Open Water, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and the original 1939 Wuthering Heights, now streaming just after the release of the Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi-starring 2026 iteration.

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