Review of Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008) by Nicole T — 16 Jul 2008

After the movie ended, the only thought going through both my husband's and my minds was... "weird!" But that's not to say it was bad. As of this writing I've only seen it once, so my opinion may change on multiple viewings, but after processing it some I think I like it about as much as Bender's Big Score, though it had VERY different strengths and weaknesses.

My biggest complaints about BBS was too many pop culture references and too choppy of a plot, and new characters were uninteresting. I found those exact same areas to be the strengths of Beast with a Billion Backs. The plot flowed much better, and the "beast" is an interesting character, and embodies one of my favorite things about Futurama: science fiction ideas that are wacky and creative and fit very nicely in to the futuristic setting.

Although the film takes off from the cliffhanger ending of Bender's Big Score, it makes pretty much no reference to the first movie and completely ignores some of the new developments that occurred in it, like Fry and Leela's relationship. The "love" displayed in this movie is more of the bizarre and wacky variety, rather than the authentic and touching variety seen in the first movie - meant to entertain rather than invoke emotion.

As a believer, I found the topic of religion was very awkwardly addressed in this movie, which contributed largely to the "weird" feeling it left in my mouth. I love the Godfellas episode, which is one of my favorites and I thought made some good points in the end, but in this one it felt way too shallow and forced. Although Yivo was an interesting character, the diety crossed with creepy love interest didn't mesh well in my mind. One particular scene at the end felt way out of place and I would like this movie a lot better if it had been omitted.

However, I once again thought this was not a bad representation of Futurama, and thought it contained some of the funniest scenes done in either movie so far, such as Deathball, the life stages of Kif's species, and a squabble between Farnsworth and Wernstrom.