Going green ain’t bad
Futurama movie number 4, as with all the Futurama movies this one starts out with a brand new intro, and not unlike the last film’s intro it seems to stay away from the initial music and look. This time it’s a Frank Sinatra themed intro; the Sinatra idea follows into the beginning of the film where Leo Wong sets up a wonderful shot of Las Vegas, which is then destroyed so Leo can build his new Vegas on Mars, destroying everything in his wake. The plot continues from there in all directions where Amy and Leela, and just about all the other female characters from the series go off protesting Mr. Wong.
Fry gets caught up with it too when he gains the power to read minds, and not become invisible. This becomes the “purpose” of fry for this film. Fry, using his new powers decides to enter a poker tournament, thinking that he can’t lose. Bender also enters and covers himself with luck charms, including some from his Lover who happens to also be the Donbot’s wife.
Professor Farnsworth, Hermes Conrad, and Zoidberg have a very small part in this one. Although, they do chime in from time to time to save the day and add comedic relief to the film, they are not very important characters as in the other films. I enjoyed this film, it wasn’t like the TV shows it follows the guidelines of what a movie should be and isn’t just a series of episodes strung together as I had hoped. The film was much more aesthetically pleasing and the plot had enough going on for me not to wonder from the screen.
Super green with extras
The look of the film was new and improved, the dimension and shadowing of the animation was amazing in comparison to the other films. It seems the animators are following more of a cinematic approach to the images rather than only trying to push out the next new episode. I guess with this movie they have more time to produce an image with better detail and quality. The overall look of the film is great and the dimensions used in space made it seem more realistic even though it is animated.
The great thing about the bonus features is the Docuramarama made for the film, which portrays Lauren Tom, the voice of Amy and the Wongs, as the creator, animator and every voice of the film. Tom makes fun of the entire animation process from start to finish in this clever little satire.
Other Extras include:
Audio Commentary with Matt Groening, et all.
Storyboard Animatic: Into the Wild Green Yonder
A short film on Penn Jillette’s part of the film.
Matt Groening & David X. Cohen’s weightless adventure.
And more…