While I enjoyed this, and the other three films, I think 'Futurama' is better suited to the half hour format; while it didn't drag it the plot did feel a bit stretched and an early sub-plot felt as if it was there to pad out the main story.The main story covers Leo Wong's attempt to built the galaxy's largest miniature golf course which will involve the destruction of several planets and the extinction of several species. A group of feminist eco-warriors led by Freda Waterfall are protesting against this in a fairly peaceful way. When Leela joins their ranks they become more militant and President Nixon calls in Zapp Brannigan to hunt them down. After an accident Fry finds that he is able to read people's thoughts, this leads to him being kidnapped by a group who explain that he is the last hope for thousands of extinct species, to do this he must protect a star which is due to be destroyed to make way for the eighteenth hole in the new golf course. Fry is the only one who can do this because only he has a mind that can't be read by 'The Dark One', a creature determined to see star destroyed. This means he can't tell Leela that he is on her side.I laughed several times and was never bored but I do wish things had been better explained; why did getting Freda's feminist symbol embedded in his head cause Fry to be able to read minds and why were the only people protesting a small group of feminists when the issue was about conservation not gender politics? I enjoyed the early sub-plot involving Bender and Don Bots wife but felt it would have been better suited to being an episode plot rather than featuring in a film. The animation and voice acting was good and easily up to the standards of the episodes.
... View MoreAt the ending of Into the Wild Green Yonder (the fourth and last DVD belonging to the resurrection of the extraordinary TV programme Futurama),there is a naughty reference to the possible continuation of the series; but,considering that the destiny of a continuation is on the air,the suspense is on the fans (like me) and on the creators from the series...will the sales from the DVDs justify the making of another analog collection ? or are the rumors of the return of the series to Comedy Central or Cartoon Network real ?.Nobody knows it (or says it),but I hope that Into the Wild Green Yonder is not the last time we will ever see Futurama because,although the other movies were entertaining but nothing special,this one resulted to be brilliant,and it has filled me with even more enthusiasm to see Futurama continuing.My main complain with the three previous movies was their fractured screenplays,which seemed to have been composed by two or three stories joined on a forced way to get the 90-minutes running time,without paying too much attention to the flow or structure.On Into the Wild Green Yonder,that problem completely disappears because it presents a solid story which is perfectly structured and which flows completely naturally,until getting to a very satisfactory conclusion.And,besides of that,this film is very funny.The story from this movie seems simple on its shape but it hides a complexity which is full of interesting ideas and audacious sci-fi concepts.The animation is perfect and it is much more polished than in the previous films.I do not know if the casual spectators will like this movie as much as me,but I am sure that the other fans of Futurama will also like this film very much.The only fail I found on this movie is that some dialogs feel a little bit forced.Into the Wild Green Yonder is a brilliant animation film,which may not be at the same level of the series,but which deserves a very enthusiastic recommendation.I truly hope Futurama will continue.
... View MoreThe fourth (and, at time of writing, final) Futurama movie is the one that cements the standard for the collection of DVD's by making a majority of the four. Having enjoyed Bender's Game more than the other two films, I was hoping that the third film had been a turn away from the lesser first two. Instead though Wild Green Yonder is more like the first two films in that it is not funny enough to last 90 minutes and suffers from a total overdose of plot.Now I'm not suggesting that the third film was brilliant, but just that it seemed to keep all the characters in the same plot thread and also helped itself immensely by being consistently funny so I was likely to be thinking about the problems it had (and it did). Wild Green Yonder does not do this. First and foremost is the problem that, while it has good laughs, there is not enough funny material to spread across 90 minutes. With Futurama the plots have always been a bit secondary and the episodes worked off quick-fire comedy and asides. 90 minutes means you have to have a plot and cannot easily rely on quick-fire comedy as easily unless you really get it right (a reason why I worry about the Arrested Development movie). This film doesn't have enough comedy in it to keep the viewer laughing to the point where it is the film's "all".The writers have tried to do the plot in such a way to create lots of smaller situations though, seemingly in order to allow for lots of gags and jokes. The problem is that, without the laughter to cover this, it leaves the plot fragmented and really messy. As with the other films, the characters are split up across several different threads that kind-of all move in the same direction to the same place but just makes the film feel like a mess with no flow or motion. It is fun to see as many of the characters as we do but by ramming them all into the film it partially causes this in my opinion Bender's Game is the only one that makes this business work simply because it kept the characters more or less together in the various sections of the film. Here they are fragmented and it doesn't work as well.The look of the film is as good as the usual Futurama standard and I enjoyed the different things they did with the titles, credits etc. The voice work is also good and, when anyone in the main cast is given a good line or catchphrase they generally nail it with their delivery. The guest voices are more mixed with most good but some dialling it in. Overall Wild Green Yonder is a solid film that, like the others, will mostly please fans without being good enough to win over casual viewers. It is funny but not enough for the running time and the plot threads are messy, distracting and fragmenting. I still quite enjoyed it but it was only "OK" and not good enough to hide the problems even as I was watching it.
... View MoreNow I have read through most of the comments here and I was genuinely surprised to find people criticising this movie especially so heavily. I would say this is the second best of the movies with Bender's Big Score being the best. I admit that Bender's Game was a bit of a let down but this one really brings back the standard. I do not think there is anything in it that I would really criticise. It also has a touching moment at the between Fry and Leela for those who have watched him follow her all through the series with no real hope of ever being with her. And like at the start of Bender's Big Score the end uses some phrases that can be interpreted for the futurama universe and in ours with the professor saying "We may never return". All in all a good watch and worth buying.-Heres desperately hoping they will continue ins some form. Episodes or movies.
... View More