Review of Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009) by Sol H — 13 Feb 2009

I think this is possibly the first Futurama anything that I haven't loved. I only like it... and frankly that breaks my heart.

I'm hoping that I'll change my mind when I give it a re-watch.

I honestly loved all 3 other Futurama movies. The first one was the best and the only one I'd consider "movie quality". The other 2 were very messy in terms of movie-structure, but I still enjoyed them as much as I'd enjoy watching 4 episodes of the show back to back. This one just leaves me uneasy.

This film suffers from a problem that the first (and best) movie has. It's not very funny. However, Bender's Big Score had a brilliant plot and a hell of a lot of heart which made up for it's comedic shortcomings. Whilst this film is probably mildly funnier, it lacks a satisfying plot, many of the jokes are Family-Guy-ish and often really out-of-character. On top of that, whilst it sort of finalises the ongoing Fry/Leela thing, it just crams it in in the final minutes with only one 2-minute scene setting anything up between them. In short, it just comes out of the blue and as fans of the series who know their history, we're expected to take it.

And whilst not as bad as The Beast With a Billion Backs or Bender's Game, the structure still is clearly that of a movie written to work as 4 to-be-continued episodes of a TV show as well.

The VERY ending of the film is great. It's basically the reverse of the self-referencial opening to Bender's Big Score about how they'd been uncancelled. However, it'd be a crying shame if they ended the film on what is probably the weakest Futurama anything ever. I hope to God they get another season commissioned or at least a theatrical movie so they go out on a real bang. Thankfully though, going by sales of these films and interviews with the likes of David X. Cohen and Billy West, I think the show's return is very likely.

Don't get me wrong, this film is enjoyable. I just expected more. Even bad Futurama is better than pretty much everything else.

Personal enjoyment: 8/10 (I gave the other three 9).

Actual quality as a film: 7/10.