Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

The Beast with a Billion Backs, the very title is an adult joke that kids won't understand which pretty much sums Futurama as a show up.

It follows on from the events of Benders Big Score (2007) and see's Earth under attack from a multi-tentacled entity whose intentions are anything but PG. Not quite Japanese anime level but still pretty questionable stuff.

Failing to hit the emotional heights of the previous movie it is thankfully loaded with a few more jokes. Sadly I still don't find it all that funny, it's like the Simpsons just without the charm.

I'm yet to binge Futurama and still have a couple more feature films to view, but can confidently say that though I don't dislike it the adventures of the Planet Express do little for me.

The Good:

There are laughs to be had

The Bad:

Story is a tad uncomfortable for a light hearted show like this

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I was told there would be sugar syrup!

When you have one eye winking and blinking are indistinguishable

Nixon was known for his class

Network: None; Direct to DVD movie; Genre: Animated Comedy, Sci-Fi; Content Rating: Unrated (contains animated violence, gore, scatological humor and suggested sex); Available: only on DVD; Perspective: contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

The surprises of "Futurama's" 2nd direct-to-DVD feature-length movie adventure start right from the beginning, when it picks up mere days after the events of "Bender's Big Score" turning what appeared to be a throw away gag at the end of that movie into the catalyst for this one.

Like an average episode of Fox's red-headed stepchild of a masterpiece, "The Beast With A Billion Backs" starts out as one thing and goes some pretty outlandish and unpredictable places. Places sick, twisted and wildly imaginative. Places only "Futurama" with all of it's delirious cynical sacrilege can go. To describe the unfolding plot in detail would do a disservice to it, but suffice to say it involves a new love (guest star Brittney Murphy) for Fry (Billy West) - welcome after the labored Fry/Leela (always reliable Katey Sagal) story - Bender's (John DiMaggio) quest to prove the existence of The League of Robots, the marriage & death of a major character and a rip in the universe that unleashes the title monster.

But here's the answer to the real question: for my money, yes, "Billion" is better than "Big Score". A lot better. The giddy excitement to be back that bubbled out of "Score" and made that movie passable has now settled down into the business of actual storytelling and laugh generating. This time, instead of simply parading out favorite characters to have their random moment, the likes of Calculon, the Robot Devil, Zapp Brannigan and Richard Nixon all appear in service of the story. A story, such as it is, so crazy it will send eyes rolling to the back of the head of anyone but the most hardcore "Futurama" fan.

When the multi-tentacle beast (voiced by David Cross) shows up it affords the show opportunities to dig deep into some of their favorite red meat sacred cows - dating and religion - in addition to the monster movie mayhem. This movie and it's metaphors may not appeal to the young fan who stumbled on "Futurama" on free TV, but I loved every insane second of it. If you go in expecting anything less than absolute lunacy you will be totally lost with "Billion". It's probably a blessing in disguise that this movie was never pitched for the big screen. Direct to DVD gives Matt Groening, David X. Cohen and crew the chance to pitch the movie straight to the fans. They go absolutely wild, bouncing around the feature, indulging and expanding in some of their most twisted desires. Like the best "Futurama" episodes, "Billion" is unpredictable, alive with imagination and far too original for mainstream consumption.

The jokes are back with that same nonsensical, but sharp and on-story wit we've come to expect from this show. "Futurama" was never the funniest thing around, but "Billion" has a high ratio of landed jokes and real laugh-out-loud moments. But best of all, director Peter Avanzino (of some of the show's best episodes: "X-Mas Story", "Parasites Lost" and "Fear of a Bot Planet") ropes this madness into a strong, cohesive story that fills feature length without feeling like 4 episodes cobbled together and makes sense in it's own wonderfully weird way.

Let me repeat that: "The Beast With A Billion Backs" feels like a real movie instead of 4 episodes. Few TV shows can nail this and "Futurama" gets it right on the 2nd try. "Billion" doesn't have a big movie ending and that ending comes about 20 minutes longer than it feels like it should, but it does work.

Here is an epic adventure for the Planet Express crew worthy of a movie format. Now we've got a struggle for the fate of the universe, multiple story lines balanced to give every character something to do and the show's sense of humor, disgusting pension for gross-out gags, combustible originality and razor sharp satirical wit back on it's game. I love it. This is, in just about every aspect, the "Futurama" movie I've been waiting for.

* * * * / 4

The problem with "Beast With A Billion Backs" isn't the writing, the storyline, the gags, or the inside references. Those are all just fine. Not great, but a decided improvement over the convoluted and fanservice-heavy "Bender's Big Score."

The greater problem -- one that all four DVD movies will face -- is that Futurama's fantastic worlds and crazy plots just plain work better in 22-minute episodes than as 90-minute stories. It's hard to keep up the energy and the gags for that long, while also involving all the characters and hitting all the notes Futurama fans want to hear.

"Billion Backs" had its share of slow spots, and gags that should have never escaped the Deleted Scenes part of the DVD. (The "schkler" and "schklee" thing was painful.)

The Yivo storyline could have been done in one focused episode (a la "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid"). The Bender/Calculon story would have been an okay B-story for a 22-minute episode, but it was weak for a feature-length movie. The other subplots weren't any deeper than you'd see in a single episode.

I realize that the movie will be broadcast as individual episodes. They should have made them that way in the first place, and cut out the dull stuff.

If you don't believe me, watch the "lost episode" bonus feature on the DVD. It's a compilation of cut-scenes from the Futurama video game, made into an "episode" of about 30 minutes. While it's nothing special, its fast pace and simple plot work a lot better than the padded-out, hit-and-miss main feature.

Having said all that, "Billion Backs" is a fun story that should appeal to all Futurama fans. There are some great gags, some beloved characters we missed in the first DVD movie, a Futurama-quality plot, and a fun homage to 1950s-style monster horror flicks.

The first movie to come out from the TV show felt a little shaky and unsure of itself. This is much better, it feels stronger and more confident and doesn't suffer from the over heightened expectations of fans like myself that the first film did.

The plot is quite sophisticated for a cartoon but not for a Futurama, the characters are back in their tried and tested roles and it is a great way to spend 90 minutes.

As I have said before I don't think the cartoon format transfers that well to feature length. There are more laughs than in a normal episode but they are spread further apart making the film feel less funny than it actually is.

I am ecstatic that the series of feature lengths are continuing and treasure my copy.

A rip in the very fabric of time and space sees another universe potentially linked to the one more familiar to the crew of Planet Express. However, it has been there a while and the initial panic and fear has sapped into acceptance with a bit of fear. The intension is to launch a scientific mission to travel to the rift and study it, a mission that Fry decides not to go on as he thinks he has found love in a new relationship. The expedition doesn't bring back much in the way of information but very soon it becomes clear that something is coming through and taking over the world – but what are its intentions?

I came to the first Futurama film hoping for it to be just as good as the TV show – not brilliant but just funny and creative. I was disappointed there but I wanted to watch the next film regardless. The improvements are obvious because the narrative is slightly more focused and does feel like it is all part of the same film. Of course it is not perfect and for stretches it does feel fragmented and unsure of itself – but just not as bad as the first film. What it feels like though is that they are filling the time with plot rather than anything else, so instead of having one central story, the threads are expanded to fill time even if the material or substance isn't really there to do it. As with Bender's Big Score, this film doesn't ever convince that it has enough about it to justify being 80 minutes long – and that is not even that long for a film. So Amy and Kif relationship appears to be there just to fill time, likewise Fry's relationship and, although funny, the League of Robots feels dropped in as well.

It is funnier though and for that I am grateful but it is not funny enough because the writers do seems to have focused on filling the film with plot rather than laughs. The cast do as well as one would expect, given that this is hardly a testing film to act in. West and Di Maggio have the lion's share but the other cast (Tom, Sagal etc) are also good and the additions of Cross, Castellaneta and Murphy are good in their voice work. In terms of animation you can see more money has been spent on it and it does look good while also keeping the feel of Futurama.

Beast with a Billion Backs is better than Bender's Big Score but it still suffers from many of the same problems. The script is not loaded with laughs and gags but rather lots of plotting to try and fill the long running time. However it is not "one" story but rather lots of bits pieced vaguely together and the feel of time being filled is unavoidable. So an improvement but still not great – hopefully the next few films over the next few years will be better.