STUDIO: Fox
RELEASE DATE: June 24, 2008
STARRING: Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Kenneth Mitchell, Ashley Scott, Brad Beyer, April Parker-Jones, Alicia Coppola, Sprague Grayden, Esai Morales, and Michael Gaston
WRITTEN BY: Michael Rowe
DIRECTED BY: Peter Avanzino
FEATURES: Commentary by Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz, Peter Avanzino and Lee Supercinski
The Lost Adventure in 3-D, Sort Of!
Deleted Scenes
Storyboard Animatic
David Cross eating popcorn
Blooperama: The Futurama Cast at Work
3-D Models with Animator Discussion
A Brief History of Deathball
And as if that weren't enough... Bender's Game: A Sneak Peek at the Next Futurama Epic!

If Stewie Griffin can come back from animation purgatory, why not Bender? That was the thinking behind Comedy Central's instinct to talk to the producers of Futurama about bringing the notoriously mishandled-by-Fox show back to life. The network was originally going to fund new shows, but instead decided to finance four feature-length movies for DVD that will then be broken apart into 16 episodes for endless airings on the network. Bringing a show back from the dead worked well for Family Guy, why not try again? Well, did it work well for Family Guy? Check out the message boards and you'll see many dissenting opinions on that topic. Family Guy has undeniably been a little hit and miss since its return (although I'd personally take subpar Seth MacFarlane over most shows). So, especially after the excellence that was Bender's Big Score, the first DVD that hit last November, fans were a little concerned that the Futurama movies might follow the same pattern of diminishing returns. I've got bad news. They might be right. Despite a few funny ideas and some great voice work, Beast With a Billion Backs just isn't nearly as funny as Bender's Big Score. At this rate, four movies will be more than enough.

Beast starts strong, if just because it actually picks up right where the first movie left off (continuity is pretty rare in animation from episode to episode, much less movie to movie). A giant tear in the universe has allowed a massive squid-like creature named Yivo access to Earth. Voiced brilliantly by David Cross, Yivo controls everyone on Earth by sticking one of his massive tentacles into the back of their necks. It's a vaguely sexual thing that even turns Fry into the Pope of this new tentacle world. Most people fight the tentacles, but eventually have to give in and evacuate Earth for Yivo's universe. (Of course, the God/religion/Heaven jokes come naturally.) Meanwhile, Bender joins a secret robot society that feels a little left out by not being a part of the tentacle revolution (they actually can't cross over into Yivo's world), so they plot their revenge on God, I mean, Yivo. Brittany Murphy uses her great voice to play Fry's new girlfriend, Colleen, and Dan Castellaneta returns as the Robot Devil. Even Stephen Hawking makes another appearance.

Bender's Big Score was pretty consistently funny but Beast with a Billion Backs is incredibly hit-and-miss. It feels a lot less confident and more scattershot than its predecessor with a plot that goes in too many different directions simultaneously. Big Score felt like a movie but Billion Backs feels more like watching four episodes in a row. And it's not the best four. Still, in the same way that I'm happy to have Family Guy back even if it's not quite as good, Futurama fans should be satisfied just by being able to spend time with Fry, Bender, and Leela. And there are moments that definitely work. David Cross rules nearly everything he does and there's a scene around a fireplace with Bender's robot society that's pretty hilarious. Casual fans may just want to wait and watch the four episodes when they air, but hardcore Futurama fans are unlikely to be disappointed.

Anyone who picks up Futurama: Beast with a Billion Backs will be impressed by the collection of special features and the technical treatment given the film. It looks great and the sound isn't half-bad either. Most interesting is the "Futurama Video Game", a half-hour adventure in 3-D of a proposed console version of the show. Grand Theft Auto this ain't. It's actually pretty horrible, but should be interesting to fans who want to see what might have been. The commentary track, as often happens in the Groening-verse DVDs, is way too crowded, but still has its interesting moments. The behind-the-scenes featurettes are a little disposable. The real highlight might be the preview for the next DVD, Bender's Game, which looks pretty surreal and kind of awesome. It appears that the step down from Bender's Big Score to Beast With a Billion Backs might have just been a fluke and things will turn around with the next movie. Let's hope so.