Hell and Back

Hell and Back is a foul mouth R rated animated film which was in theaters for only a small limited released. Given its profusion of raunchy, R-rated, largely sex-focused jokes. Several of the jokes are not particularly clever enough to stick with. There tends to be little opportunity for Hell and Back to strike even a fleeting chord with viewers. And this brings us back to the inherent limitation of American adult animated films.

Starring as the lead voices of the film are T.J. Miller, Rob Riggle, and Nick Swardson . Bob Odenkirk is animated as the lead devil. Mila Kunis and Susan Sarandon get in on the action, as Deema the demon and Barb the Angel, respectively. Danny McBride plays Orpheus, one of the few other humans to cross the plane into the underworld. The film's plot is rather weak and seems to have been something we would see from a television series plot. There just is not enough great jokes, but Hell and Back is quite entertaining to watch. Although predictable.

I really wanted to like this film a lot, but as the film progressed that got harder and harder to do. Every step of the way the film tries to be as raunchy and as inappropriate as possible. Which would have been fine if the Raunchy/Inappropriate humor was funny, but about 85% of it just isn't. It's the kind of jokes that I use to make with my friends when I was in middle school, when I first started understanding what all those dirty words meant. That kind of humor is just not amusing enough to carry an 1 & 20 minute film.

The one thing that the film did have going for it is the animation, the settings all looked really good. Hell was cool, Satan looked awesome, and characters were all very well done. Unfortunately the voices for the most part just don't seem to fit. There were a few times where I kind of felt like I was watching one of those you tube videos where people dub over children's cartoons in an effort to be funny.

I enjoy animated stuff aimed at adults, however it seems like for the most part it just doesn't work when it comes to films. There are plenty of great animated TV shows for adults (Archer, South Park, Bob's Burgers, etc) but when I try to think of great animated movies for adults the only one that really comes to mind is South Park: Bigger, Larger, and Uncut. "Hell & Back" had a lot of promise, it's filled with very funny people doing the voices for the characters and the premise seemed like it opened up a lot of room for very funny situations. However, the previous reviewers were not wrong about this one.

This wasn't absolutely horrible, but it just wasn't good. It was entertaining enough to keep me watching but most of the jokes just fall flat and the comedians who lended their voices to the film are mostly wasted on a very poor/unfunny script. I wanted to like it, but I just didn't.

4/10

This is a highly underrated film! Pros: hilarious dialogue, gorgeous clay animation, a strong attention to detail, and fun vibe. Cons: the humor will not be for everyone, you really have to have an open mind to intentionally offensive comedy. I love that it is a mix of high brow and low brow comedy. You have semen jokes immediately following an obscure Greek mythology snide. The demons (especially Pena and Nanjiani) and Odenkirk's devil absolutely make this film. Their attitudes to working in hell combined with clever one-liners play very well to the right audience. There is a lot more to appreciate to this film than what is above surface. I call it the funniest, most original comedy I have seen in years! My favorite piece of the film is the atmosphere. Give it a half chance. I consider this smart people making a dumb comedy for smart people. I also have not seen such beautiful and painstakingly detailed claymation since Nightmare Before Christmas. I wish I could compare it to another film, but I really can't. 10× better and more original than Sausage Party. Sorry for any typos, typed this on my phone. Bottom line: some very talented, very funny and very dedicated people made this film and clearly enjoyed making it, you should watch it and if you don't appreciate the story, appreciate the zany world, voice acting, quotable lines (welcome to hell) and incredibly detailed claymation atmosphere. Phew.

What does that mean? Well, I jump from enjoying it to not enjoying and back again.

The animation is exquisite, the acting is exquisite, the characters are distinct and fun, the story is really clever and the music is awesome...

But the one-liners! Oh my God, the characters cannot go anywhere do anything or barely move the story along without saying something obnoxious. For every funny joke in the film there's like 20 obnoxious ones! I would have loved this in middle school when we were hitting puberty and learning how to be radical, so maybe this movie is for them.

That being said i've watched this movie a lot. There was so much atmosphere and passion in the thing that it was my go to during an emotionally trying time. It just seemed to have that very strong distracting quality you look for in good entertainment.

But it's still a 6 because there is A LOT of stupid, pointless, strangle the bobble head one-liners! It's going to kill it for most people.

Roll up some of that good good with a few of your degenerate friends, crack a beer, and roll this film. It's entertaining and funny. Don't expect an academy award. Watch willy's wonderland with this and your friend won't leave the couch.