Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008)

I cannot believe how truly awful and "un-Futurama" this movie was. Bender's Big Score, although lacking was still true to its Futurama roots/style and had a lot of funny moments. This one does not. The start is somewhat true to the style of humor the show is famous for, but thats where it all ends. The characters here are largely wasted and story makes absolutely no sense. The plot is simply absent. It seemed that I was watching David Cross's Freak Show rather than Futurama. Bender's storyline, which was the only thing holding interest--is completely wasted. Yivo, which I think is supposed to symbolize the Flying Spaghetti Monster is poorly written and developed. Where the writers could have imparted some great zingers about religion, it was utterly wasted. This one lacks depth, sharpness and wit of its episodic predecessors. True fans of Futurama are going to be sorely disappointed. Don't waste your money, rent it or watch it on Comedy Central (airs in mid-October).

The first Futurama movie felt like a collection of episodes strung together, "Benders Big Score" was enjoyable for fans, but like "the family guy movie", or "the Simpson's movie", it doesn't do anything the show didn't do, the same cannot be said for "The Beast With A Billion Backs", which while not as laugh a second as it could be(still multiple laughs per minute) is strengthened by being one of the strongest stories that Futurama has ever ran.My favorite Futurama episode finds Bender floating in space alone, and a tiny microscopic colony grows onto his back, and begins worshiping him as their God, in trying to help improve their lives, he ultimately destroys them all, and then encounters a large energy being in the middle of space, who for all intense and purposes is the God...who doesn't seem to know who he is or what he is doing, but knows that God can't please everyone and if his job is done right no one "should" know he exists at all.. moments like that are the reason I watched Futurama in the first place, and its the kind of thinking that produced "The Beast With A Billion Backs", which is possibly the most unique, thought provoking, and amusing love story, I've ever seen in an animated film, or maybe ever.It's a metaphysical love story, with inter-dimensional sea monsters and robotic demonic pirates, it's a story of infidelity and jealousy (not just with Fry, consider the subplot of Kif and Amy, compare Fry's first relationship with his last, Benders final monologue, etc). Is love personal or universal, can it be shared or must it be guarded, can any kind of perfect love exist within imperfect human conditions? Can/should God love everyone? Because it's Futurama you don't sit down, expecting to be challenged or even moved. "Sorry Bender...Robots don't go to heaven...", but that's just how it ends up.So no this does not feel like "The Futurama" you've seen a thousand times before, it's best moments are still there, but it has a sense of direction, purpose, and story structure, that's its never had before, and is damned commendable. The best adult cartoon movie since "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut", but as much for the story telling itself as the laughs.It's the Cthulu Love story of our times!

Better than Bender's Big Score by a thousand. The plot goes together smoothly and the jokes are much better than those of the original Futurama episodes, as they are random and steps away from it's Simpsons-side.A hole in space that has been there for months leads Professor and the Earth military to start an expedition. When Fry is successful at going inside, he meets a giant beast that Fry loves and pushes a tentacle which ended up to be gentacles in everyone to share the love. This goes wrong when Leela figures things out and the monster becomes nice and starts.. well, this is odd. The monster is going out with Earth. It's like a war strategy except it's a dating strategy for Earth. Hilarious and very unusual for this. Haha.This is a great movie. If you have seen the previous movie and if you enjoyed Futurama, you must see this. You don't have to have seen the previous movie to get this but its better to compare. I loved it and I think you will, too. I was not disappointed.

We are now halfway through the four planned Futurama feature-length films, and any optimism that was generated by 'Bender's Big Score' has most definitely been killed by 'The Beast with a Billion Backs'. The first one was well written, cute, clever, and often very funny. Sure, the jokes didn't always work, but the story was good and the writers seemed for the most part to be able to avoid reducing the characters to mere caricatures of themselves. The second one was downright idiotic. The characters aren't funny, only annoying. For instance, there's way too much Kif. Kif should never, or at least hardly ever be on screen without Zap. In the new one, he kind of reminds me of Jar Jar Binks, which I'm sure you will agree is no flattering comparison. Zap is also used way too predictably. Fry's new girlfriend is a pointless character. Fry himself contributes little in the way of humour. The writers seem to have converted him into a sniveling, sappy wimp, apparently with the aim of playing off his schmaltziness. But that trait is only endearing when it is occasional. As for the story, it lacks the delicious complexity of the first movie as well as some of the best episodes. The first hour flows like a glacier. The end of the film is the only decent bit, but it is hardly redeeming. Furthermore, the writers had a golden opportunity to make a deep, philosophical point at the end about the way humanity inevitably screws things up when it has a good thing going, but this was shamefully squandered. And finally, the league of robots and Kif/Amy wedding subplots are uninspired and nauseating, respectively, though the former does have its moments. All in all, it will be hard for the third installment to make 'The Beast with a Billion Backs' look good. Let's hope it doesn't.