...and the first of these four films was great, connecting the dots up very nicely, so perhaps I was expecting something that had the same flow. However, I found this film to be disjointed and just plain, weird. I hope the next two will be better.

The Beast with a Billion Backs is pure Futurama. It has everything that the show is known for, and with it comes a cliche from the show that I was hoping would not make it in any new Futurama after The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings. Futurama has always been a show with depth, which is one of the main reasons I love it so much. Unlike most animated shows, the characters have evolved over time, and not just for the sake of gags (though Zoidberg’s lack of money certainly falls in this category). The characters have actually matured over time. Amy is not the clumsy air-head she once was since she found real love with Kif. Zoidberg has more confidence now that he has been with a group of friends for such a long time. Bender truly cares for his human friends, though he doesn’t often admit it openly. Fry isn’t quite as fool hearty as he once was, and Leela is more open with her emotions.

However, the show always had a tendency to move Leela and Fry together and then pull them apart. The resetting of characters to step one is a cartoon cliche that I wish Futurama wouldn’t use. It’s usually Leela that pulls them apart since she doesn’t want to move the relationship forward usually due to Fry being too immature, despite Fry showing signs of maturity and dedication to Leela on many occassions. Here, it’s Fry who pulls the relationship apart, seemingly out of nowhere with a new girlfriend. Sure, it made for some funny jokes with Bender, but it seemed out of character for Fry, especially after The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings and Bender’s Big Score.

But, that nitpick aside, The Beast With a Billion Backs was still a great movie. It opens where the last film left off, and from there the plot somehow becomes even weirder than the last movie. The main plot is really weird, a little gross, but still entertaining. Bender’s subplot was great, but it seemed to taper off at the end. I did notice that all of Bender’s plot wasn’t resolved towards the end of the movie, so I hope that the next movie deals with the result of Bender’s actions towards the people of Earth.

But so very, very entertaining.