Beast with a Billion Backs...Better!

After the first Futurama movie proved pretty disappointing, I wasn't getting my hopes up for the second in the series of four, The Beast with a Billion Backs. So I don't know if it's just because I had lower expectations, or if it's because it really was the better "movie", but I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

The plot revolves around the age old story: rift opens in our dimension, giant monster falls in love with and tries to mate with our entire universe, they break up but decide to continue dating...you get the picture. The first movie mucked about in time, whereas this movie mucks about in space. There is at least a bit more of a plot to this one, which was encouraging.

Each character gets about the same amount of face-time, too, which I enjoyed. Like the first movie, there are a lot of references to the TV show, but they weren't quite as distracting this time around. All in all, I found myself laughing and enjoying TBWABB a lot more. But full disclosure: Meine Frau hated it. I doubt I'll be able to get her to watch any of the other movies, and she loved the TV show.

Special features on the DVD are OK. There's a "lost adventure" cobbled together from a defunct video game, a brief featurette with the oft-amusing David Cross (who voices the titular Beast), and a little video of a few of the voice actors. Speaking of which, Billy West, who does most of the voices on Futurama, is quite a character. The Onion A.V. Club interviewed him recently and it's an entertaining look at a very underrated talent.

So I'd certainly recommend this movie for any Futurama fans, but I'd also suggest skipping the first movie and going straight to this one if that's still an option. Or, you could just kiss my shiny metal ass.