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Futurama - The Beast With A Billion BacksThe latest feature-length DVD spin-off from Matt Groening's terrific Futurama, The Beast With The Billion Backs picks up directly after the recent Bender's Big Score, and the momentum and fun from that production comes along with it.
The story of The Beast With The Billion Backs follows, as you may have guessed from the title, the arrival of a strange creature on Earth. Said creature then takes control of Fry, who becomes the Pope of a brand new religion that soon begins to exert its grip on the planet. And without giving too much away, the panic and paranoia becomes just one part of an ambitious animated adventure, that makes a fair few points among its many, many laughs. The good news for fans of Futurama is that The Beast With The Billion Backs really delivers, with more guffaws and a better all-round script than the mightily enjoyable Bender's Big Score. It's not without the odd problem, and still doesn't quite manage to match the highs of the TV show at its finest, but it's a very welcome fresh addition to the Futurama universe. Two further direct-to-DVD movies are in the works at the time of this review being written, and with them comes continued hope for a full-on revival of one of the funniest animated programmes of the past ten years. It may not make suitable family viewing, but Futurama is brilliant television, and The Beast With A Billion Backs offers plenty of evidence as to why. Strongly recommended. --Jon Foster |
Average User Rating: 80% (30 Reviews) | |
| 3 / 5 | Groan... should have known it couldn't last...
Dick Grayson "NW" (Gotham, USA) - 10 June 2008 Well, obviously I loved the previous Futurama movie, Bender's Big Score, but this second return outing, which I have just now finished watching, has left me incredibly cold in comparison. Picking up a month after the end of the last movie, the rip in the universe caused by Bender has become a problem that has to be sorted out by our hapless Planet Express heroes, who discover it is actually a portal to another universe which is home to... well, that's actually quite far into the movie to reveal here I guess, but needless to say, the plot of this movie is bizarre to the point it is often baffling. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but needless to say, the plot is heavy on the nature of relationships and outlooks on life between man and robot, as Futurama often tends to do. There subplots about Fry getting a new girlfriend who happens to live with four other boyfriends, Bender joins a secret league of robots after stalking hero Calculon, Professor Farnsworth is forced to team up with old enemy Wernstrom to tackle the problem of the rip in the universe, and one of the cast is actually killed into the bargain. None of it is overly funny to be honest, aside from excellent appearances by Stephen Hawking and the Robot Devil and a few great Bender moments, and the plot isn't nearly as clever as the last movie. This is the movie equivalent of the weaker episodes of the TV series sadly. It just isn't nearly as fun or gripping as the last outing, and given that that was only out a few months back, that's a hard pill to swallow. You'll get some laughs sure, but you'll be so so sure you could and should have been getting so much more.... Read Full Review » |
| 5 / 5 | Probably even better than the last
Joshua Turnbull "Poncho the Wise" (Bristol, Britain) - 30 June 2008 I was laughing constantly throughout watching this. The funny bits come at regular intervals, and I don't understand those reviews that have said there were too few of them, perhaps they just don't like/get the humour? I would like to remind naysayers in particular of the science conference scene which floored me with the stream of fantastic lines, and of course, most other scenes are no different. These lines are all in the futurama vein that we know and love of surrealism, linguistic oddities (usually from Fry) and general stupidity. The differences between this and the last film are as follows: there was no seriousness or tearjerking to it, allowing for greater laughability but not being detrimental to the film. The plot wasn't as intricate as the last and wouldn't 'confuse' you if you got confused by BBS and consists only of the main story and a couple of linked sub-stories. Unfortunately, there is a lack of nerdish science, maths and Star Wars references that were so abundant in BBS, but this is the film's only weak point. A host of new characters, objects, events (for example, deathball) and rules to the Futurama universe develop our knowledge and make this a truly worthy edition to the Futurama saga. An abundance of extras as well proves this dvd to be of very reasonable value and Futurama votary or not, there is no reason you shouldn't add this to your collection. NO REASON.... Read Full Review » |
| 4 / 5 | Getting better but still not the TV series
S. J. Koral "korally_boy" (UK) - 18 June 2008 This was without a doubt better than "Benders Big Score". There were atleast some half decent jokes through out it and the plot wasnt all over the place like BBS. However, it is nowhere near as good compaired to the brilliant TV series. The jokes in this are funny but largely rely and grossing you out for the laughs whereas the TV series often used more wittier humour. Although it certainly is enjoyable you will might find that it drags on a bit too much with the last 2o minutes or so. Sadly this 1h 30 min format does not work for futurama. Overall, its not a bad watch and you'll certainly feel better if you were left sour from BBS. ... Read Full Review » |
| 3 / 5 | Futurama: The Beast with A Billion Backs Review
Sir Twilight King (London, UK) - 14 July 2008 The film starts off where Futurama: Bender's Big Score left off, the universe has a giant rip and people are freaking out. The Professor (Billy West), Hermes (Phil LaMarr), Leela (Katey Sagal), Bender (John DiMaggio), Amy (Lauren Tom) and Zoigberg (Billy West) are trying to figure out what to do about the space anomaly. During the meeting, Fry (Billy West) introduces the Planet Express crew to Colleen (Brittany Murphy), his new girlfriend. Amy and Kip announce they are holding a Fonfon Ru ceremony (joining of families ceremony). The Planet Express crew join the ceremony and "The Grand Priestess" performs the ceremony in Kip's home world in the swamp. She also has five other jobs, also grand and she lives there. Colleen catches the bouquet that Kip throws, which makes Fry and Colleen believe it is meant to be with one another. Later, Professor Farnsworth and Professor Wernstrom (David Herman) are unable to agree on who is going to lead the expedition into space at the University and have the Planet Express crew battle it out in a game of "Deathball" against grad students eager for a letter of recommendation. After the game of Deathball, Fry finds out that Colleen has a boyfriend on the opposing team as well as three other boyfriends. Fry decides not to go on the expedition to investigate the space anomaly and to move in with Colleen. Fry unable to deal with not being treated equal in a five-way relationship decides to immediately break up with Colleen. This leads to a big theme of the film with Yivo (David Cross) - a lonely planet with a billion tentacles and one eye. Bender goes to the space anomaly with the rest of the Planet Express crew to investigate the space anomaly, but due to the fact that he is not human and the electro-magnetic field factor, he blasts the crew back to earth. Fry frustrated with his love life decides he needs to get far away and hides in the bottom of Zapp Brannigan's ship. Fry later escaping from the lint compartment takes his spacesuit up to the anomaly and says goodbye to everything he knew and cared about and goes through the anomaly where he meets Yivo. Fry desperate for love and Yivo wanting to be cared for, come together. The tentacles begin to break through the space anomaly and eventually reach earth. Fry as Yivo's host speaks to New New York and tells everyone that he loves the tentacle and they need to love it too. Eventually, Fry becomes the pope, has the rest of the world invaded and everyone with the exception of Leela are invaded by the tentacle. The rest of the film explores on Yivo's need for love and wanting to be in a serious relationship with everyone. I found this film less exciting than Futurama: Bender's Big Score for several reasons, the film has three different "feels" to it: 1/3 feels like a film, 1/3 feels like the TV series, 1/3 feels like and episode of "Tales of Interest". I felt the section with Bender and the League of Robots was just used as filler to make the film longer and to have a purpose near the end of the film. There is a lot of American humour throughout the film, but none of it was good and are all one-liners. The only decent humour in the film was more European humour and by that I mean, fans of the series that will see things from the original series and laugh at the guest appearances by certain characters that appear in the film. Some of the other humour comes from Bender, knowing his personality and how he reacts in certain situations. Whilst Futurama: The Beast with A Billion Backs was not a horrid film, it was very average and to a good degree, the ending was almost predictable as well as partly using an event that happened in the TV series. 3/5 Picture: The film is presented in the 1.78:1 (16:9) format. The picture was crystal clear throughout the film. There were only one or two times when some of the cells seemed a bit blurry, but it is nothing that is noticeable or would deter you from watching the film 4.5/5 Sound: The film is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Unlike Futurama: Bender's Big Score, this film actually takes advantage of all five speakers. Whilst I would have appreciated a few more sounds coming from the rear left and rear right speakers, as it would have given a more cinematic feel, I found that during action sequences the music really made use of all five speakers. The voice actors voices were always clearly audible in the centre speaker during the talking scenes, which for some films can sometimes be problematic. 4.5/5 Special Features: The DVD includes: Commentary from the producers and cast, Futurama: The Lost Adventure (A Full-Length feature adventure produced for the video game), Storyboard Animatic, Deleted Scenes, David Cross Featurette, Blooperama, 3D Models with Animator Discussion, A Brief History of Deathball and Bender's Game Trailer. 4.5/5 Review Round-Up: Movie: 3 Picture: 4.5 Sound: 4.5 Special Features: 4.5 Overall: 4 Final Thoughts: Futurama: The Beast with A Billion Backs was entertaining enough. However, I can honestly see this as three episodes of Futurama if the script was changed slightly. Fry and Colleen's relationship could have been an episode, Bender and the League of Robots its own episode and lastly Yivo and Earth could have been another single episode. There are many video game jokes in this film which are funny if you are a gamer and it was in Futurama taste. Overall, I would say if you are a Futurama fan you will want to see this because of the guest appearances from characters from the show, but if you are a casual Futurama watcher I would just say rent it. Last thing I will say is, I watched the trailer for "Futurama: Bender's Game" and it looks like rubbish. It looks like a hour and a half version of "Tales of Interest" that is Dungeon's and Dragons themed. Yet, you never know it could be good, but I will post a review of that when it is released.... Read Full Review » |
| 4 / 5 | Way better than the first one
A. Barnard - 16 June 2008 And it is. Still not up to the standards of the series but there are many moments which come close. The plot does become increasingly bizarre towards the end but at least I didn't turn this one off half way through like 'Benders Big Score'. Still think it was a bad idea to make these into movie length episodes- it becomes almost impossible to keep the jokes coming as thick and fast as in a half hour slot. Definitely worth a watch though.... Read Full Review » |
RRP
£16.93
Release Date
30 June 2008
Price Range
£9.97 - £16.93