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.

You wonder what the attraction is for the makers for "Chicken Run", "Box Trolls" and for the Bro Comedy "Hell and Back" to stop motion animation. It's not as if going through the painstaking and laborious process automatically yields a visual character superior to less labor- intensive production methods. So why not just make it a cartoon? Anyway, the plainly descriptive-titled "Hell and Back" lifts the way Satan from South Park is rendered whole, gives him "Breaking Bad's" Bob Odenkirk's voice and drops him in a bro comedy. There he trades the standard bro jokes (mostly homosexual panic quips) with the slackers who inadvertently fall into his underground realm. None of it is terribly entertaining but there are enough laughs to make it all fairly innocuous.

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.

This film is very well done. Its a dumb comedy for smart people. The people writng the bad reviews are also the ones that review local soup kitchens and taco bells. There are big names in comedy and people think this is not funny? The IQ of the country has plummeted over the last 20 years, so I'm not surprised people complained about this one. I love how offensive this is and i really really love how badly it upset people! That's actually the best part of the movie.

This film is very well done. Its a dumb comedy for smart people. The people writng the bad reviews are also the ones that review local soup kitchens and taco bells. There are big names in comedy and people think this is not funny? The IQ of the country has plummeted over the last 20 years, so I'm not surprised people complained about this one. I love how offensive this is and i really really love how badly it upset people! That's actually the best part of the movie.

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.