As the childhood rhyme goes, “boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider.” However, in the hazy, nostalgic yet futurist world of Julian Glander’s film, ‘stupider’ is not quite the right word for the absurd, abstract, possibly interplanetary voyages that unfold for its protagonists.

BOYS GO TO JUPITER is set in the liminal time between Christmas and the New Year. In suburban Florida, of course, the very un-wintry weather feels much the same as any other time of year, exacerbating the feeling of unreality. Add in a close-knit group of bored youths with endless time on their hands and a visitor from another world, and anything can happen.

However, BOYS GO TO JUPITER has an adventure in mind, as Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett) soon becomes the story’s focus. As a high school dropout (echoing the flip side of that rhyme, about going to college to get more knowledge), he is the one member of his aforementioned friend group with an inter-holiday job as a food delivery driver. But Billy is no slouch; he is technologically savvy and something of a maths whizz. In all his time looking at his delivery app, he finds a glitch in the payment system that – if his calculations are correct – will make him a cool $5,000 in no time at all. He just needs to deliver everything before anyone else notices. But when he picks up a strange little hitchhiker from another planet and finds himself in cahoots with an orange juice scion (and at odds with her powerful family), he might have bitten off more than he could chew.

But any peril and mystery in BOYS GO TO JUPITER – not in the least the capitalist exploitation driving Billy’s mad quest – are secondary to the fact that it is a hangout movie at heart, and friends new and old are the cornerstones of discovery. Billy’s open-eyed yet open-hearted approach to the world’s drudgeries and mysteries makes him an ideal guide and audience surrogate.

The film is brought to life in a charming, deliberately simplistic animation style, and the world’s definition comes through in hyper-saturated pastels (an oxymoron, until Glander’s team proves otherwise here) and its stellar voice cast. Its members include Elsie Fisher (EIGHTH GRADE) as well as stalwarts of the alt queer comedy scene including Cole Escola, Julio Torres, and Demi Adejuyigbe, with many popping up in multiple roles.

An oddball delight, BOYS GO TO JUPITER is not all fantastical. Using its surreality and dreamlike exaggeration, it captures the fact that, with the future looming in terrifying, undefined finality ahead of you, the real world often feels like an absurd adventure full of dead ends and the never-ending grind. If only our world were this colourful and whimsical.