Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008) (V)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Peter Avanzino

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator) &
Matt Groening (developer) ...

Release Date:

24 kesäkuu 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Planet Express crew must work to fix rips between their universe and another inhabited by a planet-sized...

Plot Keywords:

Tentacle | Robot | Alien | Sex On First Date | Duel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Billy West	...	Philip J. Fry / Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth / Dr. Zoidberg / Zapp Brannigan / Richard Nixon / Leo Wong / Moon Farmer / M-5438 / Mr. Kroker / Judge Ron Whitey / Carnival Barker / Superhero / Land Squid (voice)
Katey Sagal	...	Turanga Leela (voice)
John Di Maggio	...	Bender / Randy Munchnick / URL / Calculon's Manservant / Funkalistics Lead Singer / Guard #1 (voice) (as John DiMaggio)
Tress MacNeille	...	Crazed Fan / Bender's First Born Son / Hattie McDoogal / Linda / The Grand Midwife / Pocket Pal / Thog / Gladys Lennox / Suicide Booth / Monique / Petunia / Mrs. Kroker / Morgan Procter (voice)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Kif Kroker / Calculon / Morbo / Schlomo / SportsBot 5000 / Lrrr / Destructor / Horrible Gelatinous Blob / Hedonismbot / Fishy Joseph Gillman / Harold Zoid / King Kong / Guard #2 (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Hermes Conrad / Horse Repair Robot / Ndulu / Robot 1-X / Billionairebot / Bolt Rollands (voice)
Lauren Tom	...	Amy Wong / Inez Wong (voice)
David Herman	...	Dr. Ogden Wernstrom / Plastic Surgeon Robot / British Robot / Coffee Enema Robot / Chu / Warden Vogel / Three-Eyed Zebra / Fatbot / Giant Medium-Sized Ant / Mayor C. Randall Poopenmeyer / Pazuzu (voice)
Dan Castellaneta	...	The Robot Devil (voice)
David Cross	...	Yivo (voice)
Stephen Hawking	...	Himself (voice)
Brittany Murphy	...	Colleen O'Hallahan (voice)

Also Known As:

The Futurama Movie 2 (USA) (working title)
Futurama: Moniniskainen monsteri (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

Argentina:90 min | Greece:90 min | Spain:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:12 | Finland:K-7 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Ireland:12

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The video game Fry is playing in the arcade after seeing the psychiatrist is "Normal Combat" Also seen in the arcade are games entitled "Honkey Kong", "Exlaxian", "Coin Vacuum", "Extreme Flosser", "Shovel Command", and "Ms. Marple Madness".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Fry and Colleen are lying in bed, post-coitus, his hand is around her shoulder but it is the same colour of Colleen's skin. (And not his own flesh tone-- it vaguely looks as if she has three hands.)

Quotes:

[from trailer]
Bender: Bender to crew: I have reached the gateway to another universe. I feel awed and strangely humbled by the momentous solemnity of this occasion.
[turning away from the gateway]
Bender: Hey, other universe, bite my shiny metal ass!
[gets his ass zapped by the gateway]

Movie Connections:

References Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Tedious and Bemused..

I set out watching this movie with the rather low expectations a person should have for a straight to DVD feature and found I was not disappointed, in my expectations that is.

Being a long time series fan as I am, I was somewhat turned about by the previous straight to DVD feature churned out under the Futurama nomenclature and I had expected the lazy writing and derivative humour would soon be replaced by the clever and witty stylings many fans have come to expect from Futurama. Sadly, this has not been the case.

This latest release shows, if anything, an even greater tendency towards the lackadaisical writing form so insipidly stereotypical in nearly all animated comedy. For me, the originality is what had set Futurama apart from the competition. Technical 'in jokes', while still present, have taken back seat to nonsensical pop culture references and non sequitur ala Family Guy. Character comedy is reduced to half hearted one liners and abstract physical comedy. While this may appeal to the new, younger generation of viewer, it leaves the old series fan like myself out in the rain.

While the voice acting is generally good, Billy West is excellent as always, it suffers from generally poor script and writing that in areas completely eschews the character's previously constructed idiom(s) for the sake of making a certain joke work (also generally poorly).

While viewing the feature I found myself mostly bemused. While it does have moments when the brilliance of the original series shines through the tedious intellectually unstimulating doldrums, these are, by far, few and far between.

If you are a long time fan of the series and enjoyed it for more than the novel setting and Bender's byplay then you may well find yourself more irritated than amused with this feature. I'd slate this for a one night rental, as it is really not worth more than one viewing.

However, I once again hope the creators of the series will rediscover their stride in the next feature.. here's hoping.