Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009 Video) User Reviews

good fan service

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 7 December 2015]

The Planet Express crew is on Mars where Amy's parents are paving over to build a new bigger casino. Eco-feministas are protesting. Fry is injured and starts hearing other people's thoughts. Leela saves a Martian leech that gets attached to her. Fry meets homeless Hutch who warns him about the Dark Ones. Leo next wants to destroy large parts of the galaxy to build his miniature golf course. Farnsworth is his rubber stamp but the crew finds primordial life on an asteroid. Leela joins the eco-feminists to sabotage the project. Zapp Brannigan is tasked with hunting down the eco-feminists. Fry learns the asteroid is an Encyclopods egg which is storage of endangered species and the mortal enemy of The Dark Ones.

I like some parts but there is too much story. It's a bit too disjointed. It feels like the characters are going every which way. I usually like Futurama more when the crew is together. This is the fourth and last Futurama movie before it got renewed by Comedy Central. Sometimes the movie is shown in four half-hour episodes. The movie is already disjointed and watching the four parts separately doesn't help. I love Futurama and this is solid fan service. It's unlikely to be good for newbies.

A nod to an imperfect yet dear friend.

[visualmagic · 7/10 · 21 February 2009]

I agree the 2nd movie was the best of the 4.

I will always love and hold dear Futurama, certain episodes stand out, the romantic sentimental, never to forget Frys dog, or the holophone episode, or the message Fry wrote in space. The comedic lover never to forget Zoidbergs attempt to win a mate, the Whatif machine, or anything Bender has ever done. Oh, and Zap of course, (moreso than Kif).

The episodes that appeal the least to me are the lengthy plot related Nibbler time twisting episodes, and the other overly story arced episodes that introduce new characters too often, which is the category in which I would place these movies.

I have to say that the Wong family has always been consistently boring material for me, and I know, others too.

I guess 90 minutes has that problem, in that there is a necessity to create a drama rather than a subsection of throwaway laughs and The Simpsons movie suffered from a similar fault. I believe it could have been done though. It's fair to say that South Park pulled it off better than most with their Bigger Longer movie.

It's sad to see the gang go. Regardless of speculation, it will be years, if at all, before they re-emerge, and although these 4 episodes were less than perfect, each and every outing was punctuated with many smirk worthy hits, if not laugh out loud moments, and anything that can keep you smiling and wanting more is worth archiving on the good shelf in my opinion, and I will revisit not only classic episodes but these movies again and again over the years ahead.

The idealist in me looks forward to a day that the writers get off the phone and yell, 'we've been unaxed!', cause although movies are eager berries to pick, they often lack the exhilarating hit, the condensed juice of a good 22 minutes of laughter, packaged in the format we have trained our brains to consume so well.

What say Fox, these guys deserve a call for their efforts. Agreed?

The worst of the movies, but I still enjoyed it.

[kirk-246 · 7/10 · 12 September 2009]

'Into The Wild Green Yonder' is the 4th movie in the very popular Futurama movie series.Just like the television show and the first 3 movies, 'Into the Wild Green Yonder' is filled with lots of crude and suggestive humor.Most of it is funny, as you'd expect.The movie is also surprisingly sexist.The main targets in the movie are woman.Not just woman, but feminists.If you were a feminist trying to struggle for the right to vote, then you will be shocked and appalled by this movie.Just try not to overreact and form a feminist group in order to cancel the TV show and find every copy of this movie and burn them.As entertaining this movie may be, it does lack the certain spark the first 3 movies had.My favorite movie in the series is 'Bender's Game', and this film isn't near to being as good.Still, I found 'Into the 'Wild Green Yonder' to be a funny and entertaining movie that fans of the show and movies will enjoy.If you don't like the show, then you can bite my shiny metal ass.

A fun, clever send-off to one of the greatest animated series of all time

[NonSequiturL · 14 February 2009]

And here we are, folks. We've reached the final installment of the four direct-to-DVD Futurama films. It's been fun, but sadly, all good things must come to an end.

While "Into the Wild Green Yonder" isn't the strongest of the four films, it certainly offers up laughs and plenty of the clever, over the top sci-fi concepts that the series is famous for. Unfortunately, for every joke that hits the nail on the head, another joke comes across as contrived, or simply falls a little flat. Not to despair though, as the jokes that work, work really, really well.

The animation is, as always, top notch. The characters we all know and love are once again brought to life by the wonderful cast, and we get a couple of bonus cameos here thanks to Penn Jillette, Snoop Dogg, and Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane.

As with the other 3 DVD Futurama movies, the story is a tad messy, jumping from plot thread to plot thread, with each episode only vaguely maintaining a semblance of continuity until everything is tied up neatly at the end. That said, the overarching story in this outing is actually very clever, and the ending is spectacular and well designed.

The story ties up some loose ends, but also leaves us on an ambiguous note, perhaps hinting at a future series of DVD movies, or a theatrical film, or, hopefully, an entire new season to grace our TV screens. Fingers crossed that we get more Futurama, as this series is no where near reaching its use-by-date.

Slightly disappointing

[briancham1994 · 6/10 · 16 August 2020]

This is the final Futurama film and for a time it could have been the last Futurama episode ever. It is a bit hit-and-miss with a lot of zany moments that come and go without much consequence, e.g. Bender winning the poker tournament. Some older characters like the protestors and number nine man are reused to allow for a grand reunion at the end which is nice. Overall I felt this was very disjointed and did not live up to the other Futurama films.

Probably the best of the Futurama movies.

[bakkouz · 9/10 · 13 February 2009]

Indeed, Not only is it (In my honest opinion) the best of the Futurama movies, but one of the best animated Movies I've seen these past couple of years.

This one truly has everything a die hard Futurama Fan could ever hope for, everything about it is superb, the jokes (especially the really awesome Bender one-liners we all love), the music, the animation, everything. a true Futurama Classic. And unlike previous Futurama Movies, The plot is pretty ludicrous and fresh, and more importantly, solid. and it keeps you watching and anticipating from start to finish.

This movie really sums up the great elements that made Futurama what it is, and it goes to show that Canceling the TV Series was a big mistake.

They should stick to episodes....

[hirohito-2 · 6/10 · 16 February 2009]

First of all, it's much better than the last one (since i hate all the fantasy crap, not to mention it was badly implemented), but it has issues... The problem is there just isn't enough material here for a full movie. There are a few good laughs, but nothing really worthwhile since everything is too spread out. The whole Leela-Fry love is present again and i really think it's overplayed. In every movie there was some emotional undertones concerning Fry and Leela. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but c'mon, make up your minds already, let them be together or not. The problem is that all these movies are light-years behind the episodes. Maybe it was a blessing that they only made 4 seasons, since almost all the episodes are really good. But now the material is getting old, and drawing it out into hour and a half movies doesn't help... The story is so-so and there are too many characters. It almost feels like they tried to fit everyone in, but most times it has no point. Sure its fun to see the Don-Bot or Lurr, but it has no place in the movie's story line. And the whole Men vs Women theme of the whole movie is funny at first but gets old at the end. Don't even understand what the message is...

It's not bad, but nowhere near great. They should stick to 30 min. long episodes. Those where the ones that made futurama popular.

A strong finish to the series of Futurama straight-to-DVD movies

[leftistcritic · 9/10 · 2 April 2019]

After watching the three previous movies, each of which comprises approximately four standard episodes as noted by the Futurama Wiki, Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, and Bender's Game, I decided to finish up by watching this film. I would argue that this film is the strongest of all four films, fully deserving of a rating of 9 out of 10, higher than the average rating of this film (7.3 out of 10). Billy West (voicing Fry, Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Leo Wong, Poker Sign-Up Clerk, and Nixon's head), Katey Sagal (voicing Turanga Leela), John DiMaggio (voicing Bender, Elzar, and Sal), Tress MacNeille (voicing Fanny, Boobs Vanderbilt, Justice Ginsberg's had, and Mom), Maurice LaMarche (voicing Donbot, Clamps, Headless body of Agnw, Morbo, and Kif Kroker), Phil LaMarr (voicing Hermes Conrad and Clarence Thomas's head), Lauren Tom (voicing Amy and Inez Wong), David Herman (voicing the Number 9 Man and Scruffy), and Dawnn Lewis (voicing LaBarbara Conrad) voiced their respective characters, along with guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Seth McFarlane (not as himself), Penn Jillette, and Teller, along with Phil Hendrie (voicing Frida Waterfall, Hutch Waterfall, and the Encyclopod). I say that this movie is the strongest because of its overt social commentary. While Bender's Game had ample social commentary with Mom running a huge conglomerate that had control of all the dark matter in the universe (the primary form of fuel), along with criticism of high-minded scientists whom think they will save the day, this film is different. I say that because this film has one villain whom is so self-absorbed he only cares about himself, a literal capitalist whom is helped out by the "earth" government (basically a stand-in for the U$). Leela, one of the film's heroes, soon joins the eco-feminists whom are fighting off Leo Wong, as does Fry with his mind-reading powers and unreadable mind (because he became his own grandfather in "Roswell That Ends Well" (s3, e13).

As the movie goes on, there are occasional obvious pokes at Star Trek, as is common throughout the series, and the absurdity of secret societies/"conspiracy theorists," represented by the "League of Madfellows," all of whom you guessed it, wear tin fool hats. There's also a criticism of capitalism and military adventurism as well, the former through the fact the movie's villain is a capitalist and the government is supporting him, and the latter through Zapp Brannigan's reckless actions to chase the eco-feminists. In that way there is also a criticism of run-of-the-mill activism as not making sense, bad slogan writing, and message-writing. The eco-feminists, however, while they are facing what could be considered a class enemy are a cross-class group of those across occupations and incomes, some in the proletariat (like Leela and Amy), lumpen (the person whom is the smoking prostitute I believe), but others whom definitely have more money (like the co-TV anchor on network news), so it's not a straight class struggle here. I also liked the themes of environmentalism in this movie, feminism, and such, which made the movie stronger.

This film was also meant to cap the series as a whole, as the writers didn't know if it was coming back, and it does a pretty good job doing that. You can say, as Platypuschow wrote in December 2018, that this does no favor to your eyes and is a pathetic attempt at revitalizing the show "with wall to wall feature movies" but I think that is faulty reasoning. From the compelling plot to the antics of Bender's continual crime spree and danger-taking, this movie has a lot to keep you interested. I wouldn't say it's necessarily the most funny, but it is an effective drama to say the least.

With that, my review of this film comes to a close.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 23 April 2009]

This is the fourth film, and questionably the last (at least at present) time to see the characters from Matt Groening's second most (if not more) popular show Futurama. Basically the parents of Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) are planning to destroy old Mars Vegas and make a more extravagant, which is not going down well with Eco-feminist protesters. In the protesting, Fry (Billy West) has a piece of jewellery belonging to feminist leader Frida Waterfall (Phil Hendrie) accidentally lodged in his brain, making him able to hear people's thoughts. It also means many other mind readers want him to help save the world from potential destruction from the "Dark Ones", and it has some significance to Mr. Wong wanting to create a big planetary version of mini golf. Meanwhile Leela (Katey Sagal), along with many other female characters join the feminists to protest the damage being done to mother nature, turning into a near war getting the President, Richard Nixon's Head (also West) and Zapp Branigan (West again) involved, with Bender (John Di Maggio) eventually joining them. All the boys, Prof. Farnsworth (West again), Dr. Zoidberg (West again) and Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr) are also joining in the battle, which in the end sees a nasty blood-sucking leech Leela cares for being the "Dark One", a violet dwarf system creating a giant sperm flying into a star, creating an Encyclopod embryo which houses all of Earth's extinct creatures, and incinerates the "Dark One", and then leaves. The film ends with the Planet Express being chased by Zapp, and instead of surrendering, they are deciding whether or not to go into a wormhole ahead of them, this is when Fry and Leela finally say they love each other, and they do go in. This is where the question lies, will they be back? Also starring David Herman as The Number 9 Man, Dawnn Lewis as LaBarbara Conrad, Snoop Dogg, Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane as Mars Vegas Singer and Penn Jillette (partner Teller isn't voicing, but he is credited). There are some alright gags, and there are one or two interesting moments, and of course there is that ending, but if it is the last one, it's not a brilliant one, but worth watching. The TV series was number 26 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons. Good!

It's brainless fun but it took some thinking to make it.

[eqwodaman · 8/10 · 1 March 2009]

Ya ever notice how most people who take the effort to log are the ones who want to criticize or even hate on something?

People who laughed wildly and were genuinely happy with the product seem much less likely to worry about it afterwards.

For the record, my family and I have every Futurama episode and movie on DVD. We like them a lot. We've been looking forward to this movie a long time and in general weren't disappointed (it wasn't the best of the movies but that's just IMHO). These shows have NEVER been about internal consistency, btw.

Bring back the freaking series. If I was Bill Gates I'd just write a check to bring it (and Firefly too, what the hey?) back in a heartbeat. Creating a pleasurable experience for people should count as a humanitarian act.

If you want to hate on something, go watch The English Patient. Your reviews might help spare some innocent people in the future from being subjected to three hours of terminal boredom and depression.

Good... but Futurama works better in episode form

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 7 July 2010]

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.

It doesn't suck!

[DarthPaul85 · 8/10 · 26 February 2009]

Let's remember that, for some reason, the movie futuramas just aren't as good as the show. So keep those expectations realistic.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fourth (and last?) movie. The first one is unarguably the best, but this one is a close second in my opinion. I think one thing the movie really has going for it is how much better it is than the last one. My expectations were low...fearful, in fact. Probably two minutes into the movie I knew this one would be different, and it was. It felt more like futurama again.

Of course, this movie has some flaws. Some plots are painfully undeveloped, and there seem to be many glossed over characters and situations. Still, on a joke by joke basis, it works. It still just makes me miss the show, but at least I'll look forward to watching this movie again.

Please Stop

[gaccett · 2/10 · 24 February 2009]

Much like its counter part, Family Guy, the new installments of Futurama have completely ruined what was once a classic show. Not once during this latest pile of garbage did I laugh. And much like FG, they have decided to interject pointless political/social commentary rather than actual comedy, bashing the viewer over the head with their propaganda, with absolutely no subtlety and sacrificing what little comedic talents that had left in the process. None of the characters behave as they did during the entire series run, the love story between Fry and Lela is thrown in at the last second as an after thought, they include cameo appearances by popular guest characters merely to reinvigorate the sentimental juices of their audience and hope they don't notice the crap they are piddling, the story jumps from one pointless arc to another(the first half of the movie revolved around the robot mafia yet they disappear half way in and apparently had nothing to do with what was really happening). I could probably write a masters thesis on how to ruin what was once a beloved show(FG would take at least a text book), with the four crappy movies that have been dumped upon us, the Futurama fans. Anyone who says its good is only lying to themselves and anyone who will believe them. Trust me, if you are a true fan, and not a mindless peon ready to accept whatever dribble they give us, you will not like this movie(nor any of the others). Please Matt Groening, you have the power to end this embarrassment, stop making more Futurama and leave this beloved show alone before you sully its good memory forever.

Solid enough for fans but back to the problems of the first two films

[bob the moo · 26 March 2009]

The 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.

Hilarious.

[mirosuionitsaki2 · 10/10 · 15 March 2009]

Although, I didn't watch Bender's Game as far as I know, as far as I know, I plan to watch it. Anywho, this animated straight-to-DVD film.. as far as I know.. Was anything but pathetic. It beat Bender's Big Score so hard that Philip J. Fry would be smart enough to know this film was a lifesaver for the Futurama series.

What's the plot you might ask? Well, Amy's father wants to destroy a bunch of environments like an idiot so a giant mini golf course could be made. Feminist protesters show up and Leela begins to feel like she should join them, and so does Amy, a news anchor, Hermes's wife, and so on. Fry can suddenly read minds and now, once again, he is the savior of the universe. Wonderful.

I thought this plot was much better than the other Futurama films, especially since it takes place mostly in the universe. Also, there's a big complex plot much better than some squid trying to make everyone happy on Earth and the Universe, and Bender going back in time. Although, I do feel that Bender going back in time was quite fun.. to watch. Fun to watch.

So, I recommend this, especially if you hated the other movies of Futurama, you should give this film a try. Enjoy the movie.

outstanding

[disdressed12 · 10/10 · 31 December 2009]

i found this final Futurama movie to be very well done in all aspects.the story was great.the writing,and the dialogue were first rate.the jokes were funny.there's just enough action.there was also a lot of suspense and the movie really hummed along at a great pace.when it ended,i was disappointed.i wanted it too keep going.and even if you're not familiar with all the characters,you should be able to follow the story fairly easily.on top of everything else,there's also a good message that's not pounded home with a sledge hammer.anyway,when you add it all up,it's a really enjoyable experience.for me,Futurama:Into The Wild Green Yonder is a 10/10

A great possible finale

[mathews-rr-1 · 8/10 · 12 April 2009]

(WARNING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS) Overall i think that ITWGY was a great way to end the futurama series, many plot points are wrapped up , but there is the possibility of a continuation. The series has always been able to mix seriousness and comedy quite well. Like wise the move combines great comic moments(SPOILER such as the vice president dying, Leela's run from the law, Fry's psychic power, and the feminist revolt tactics) with more dramatic moments(Leela and Fry's relationship finally being resolved). I think that the way fry and Leela banded together at the end along with the rest of the cast to start a new adventure was a great way to end the movie, and quite possibly the whole series.The ending was very well formulated and sweet, but without being to corny or melodramatic. However i do feel as though the movie was flawed in some areas; for one it seems as if nobody was quite sure how to use bender in this film, he has several subplots(the majority of which lead nowhere), however he does play an important role in the end of the movie. I personally did not mind bender being in this movie less(it felt as though he took over the end of the series and many of the movies, but they at least could 've written his plot more legibly.Furthermore cubert and Hermes son are nowhere to be seen, and appear to be abandoned at the end, however their characters never really did much so again its not a big deal. Lastly i feel that the overall moral of the story (protect the environment, otherwise we may become and endangered species)while important came across as very preachy and non subtle in some portions. However i feel as though the movie managed to mix comedy, drama, romance, and a bit of social commentary quite well together in what appears to be their send off. 8 out of 10

Amazing

[chris-boscarino · 9/10 · 8 April 2009]

I am a huge Futurama buff, and have to say that this film was great. Great quotes "There's no scientific evidence that life is important.", great jokes Fry gets kicked out of a girls locker room when he finds out he can read minds. "Oops, that was invisibility". Then there is the return of Clamps. Clamps uses the word "clamps" like 10 times in one sentence. The secret society was fun, solar golf, feminine protesters. I'll have to watch it again and post some of the quotes. The best part of this has to be the video explaining evolution of two species.

I'll have to admit that Bender's Game (the previous movie) was not very good at all... I was bored for most of the movie. This movie however was not at all boring in the slightest.

Futurama Into the Wild Green Yonder: *Shrugs*

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 18 December 2018]

Futurama really is such a "Meh" show and their attempt at revitalizing it with wall to wall feature movies really did it no favors in my eyes.

In a generic plot featuring all your usual favorites this essentially feature length episode alike the others has it's moments and there are laughs to be had but considerably too few. The plot is instantly forgettable and reminds me again why I never really gave the television show the time of day.

It's not that it's bad, it's just distinctly mediocre. It's like The Simpsons, but without the overwhelming charm and fantastic characters.

If you like Futurama you'll likely enjoy this, otherwise hop skip and jump over it.

The Good:

There are a few laughs to be had

The Bad:

Not as funny as it should be

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Tin foil hats are a growth industry

Kansas is unfamiliar with evolution

You can't sue the military

Feminism angle wasn't satire, it really does seem to have gone that way

A great movie and a great finale for a much-loved series. Do not miss it!

[liquidcelluloid-1 · 10 May 2009]

Direct-to-DVD movie; Genre: Sci-Fi, Animated Comedy; Content Rating: Unrated (contains adult content & animated violence); Available: DVD and Blu-Ray; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 – 4);

After 4 hugely rewarding seasons on the Fox Network (not that they knew it) and 3 DVD movies, Matt Groening and David X Cohen's cancelled, cult sci-fi saga "Futurama" comes to a rollicking close with "Into the Wild Green Yonder". The movies were a reward for those who got slapped in the face by Fox's abrupt cancellation and were underwhelmed by the run's finale, "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" in which the show micro-focused its entire story down to a love story between future fish-out-of-water Phillip J. Fry (Billy West) and one-eyed mutant space pilot Leela (Katy Segel). "Yonder" is the epic finale we've been waiting for and I'm thrilled to report it delivers.

As always, "Futurama's" focus is still its unique cast of characters and their conflicting motives, but "Yonder" is a bigger, funnier, more epic ending, worthy of the vast, detailed universe this series created. As a movie, it's the best of the 4 DVDs which says a lot given how highly I still regard "The Beast With A Billion Backs". Where "Beast" was an ambitious and sharp story it still felt disjointed and episodic, where "Yonder" is the first film to feel like a real theatrical release movie from start to finish. It's smoother, with a more complex story, than "The Simpsons Movie".

As with any "Futurama" story, it would be almost criminal to describe the plot: both because it is so delightfully convoluted in its accurate and liberal basis in science fact and sci-fi convention and I do not wish to spoil the numerous wonderful twists and turns herein. However, in the first few minutes events transpire that set our heroes on a collision course toward series end and saving the galaxy: Al Gore-style! Amy Wong's (Lauren Tom) dad is building a new casino on Mars, but his plans to put in a massive mini-golf park threaten the endangered species of the entire galaxy which raises the ire of eco-femenistas (led by radio genius Phil Hendrie in duel role as a female member of the show's Waterfall hippie family and her brother) as well as a secret society Fry gets involved with when an accident leaves him with the ability to read minds. Oh yeah, and Bender has an affair with the Don-Bot's wife.

Almost none of the action in "Yonder" takes place on Earth or at Planet Express. With Leela joining the femenists, Fry in a double-cross to save the universe and Bender dodging the mob and joining up with Zapp Brannigan (again West), the characters spend the movie away from or at odds with each other. Cohen and co-writer Ken Keeler have scripted a clever chess game where each story and each motive weaves together beautifully, all building to a finale that finds that perfect balance between being a thrilling sci-fi adventure and a satisfying character conflict for our 3 unlikely heroes.

"Yonder" is also the funniest movie of the 4 and at times more laugh-out-loud than the series. When Fry (now reading minds) and Bender (with the DonBot's lucky Robot's Foot - his own) go head to head in a high-stakes poker tournament the scene is one of the funniest and most cleverly constructed the show has ever done. "Yonder" has a lot of fun with Bender in this movie. Bender is the kind of anti-hero character that usually has his own story as it is hard to write him into helping the gang save the world in the primary story without cheating his character's nature. "Yonder" finds a perfect place for him. The movie also has a load of fun with the eco-femenists. Few shows make fun of women the way "Futurama" has the balls too with Cohen and Keeler's unique vision of male/female clichés turning "Yonder's" conflicts into a damn-near battle of the sexes. It's refreshing. The movie gets less riotous as the 3rd act comes and the stakes of the story are raised, but that's the case with any action/comedy.

This is a fun one, people. "Into the Wild Green Yonder" fires on all cylinders, deliver the kind of originality and imagination that only "Futurama" can. As funny and poignant as any episode of the series. Both a great movie and a great finale for this much loved series. Don't miss it.

* * * * / 4

If you like Futurama, you must have this DVD!

[crn5008 · 10/10 · 11 March 2009]

An excellent reason why I watch Futurama, this movie won't disappoint fans of the show. Its funny and suspenseful, and has quite a few surprises. It also has a great ending in my opinion, although I wont give any specific details away for those who have yet to see it. The DVD doesn't have as much bonus material as the previous one, but it is still quite good. Although it could be the final Futurama ever, this movie is an excellent example of why the show should never have been canceled, and why they should bring it back.

Bottom line - if you like Futurama, and don't have this DVD yet, then you should go and buy it now.

Loving it!

[joseph-cauchi · 10/10 · 4 March 2009]

Now 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.

A funny film, that end the series nicely.

[joshi_3592 · 9/10 · 29 August 2009]

I really can't think of anything else to say, than that it was an funny and clever ending for one of my favourite TV series. And as far as we know this isn't necessarily the last film they'll make. It wasn't as funny and intelligent as the first films, but still damned good and funny, considering that it's they're fourth movie.

Basically its about Amy Wongs billionaire father who plans to build a giant mini-golf course across the universe, therefore destroying 10% of all the undeveloped life that exist. To prevent this Leela and all the other female characters in the show joins a feminist environmental group to save the life of a purple dwarf system that's planned to be demolished. Meanwhile in an accident Fry gets the ability to read other peoples minds, and has to wear a tinfoil hat to block peoples thoughts. He meets a secret organization of bums with the same powers as him, who tells him that he is the only person in the universe who can stop a mysterious species known as the "Dark Ones" from destroying all life in the universe. This being because he's stupid, since he lacks delta waves or something like that (it's mention in the series). And therefore has an unreadable mind.

Now this was in many ways the funniest of all the films, and surprisingly almost none of the story takes place on either earth or at the Planet express. And even if this will be the last we'll ever see of Futarama, it was a nice way to end the series.

A great movie-length episode...

[taylorkingston · 8/10 · 26 April 2015]

I really like when cartoon TV Show's do movie length episodes. It's so interesting. Actually, the only other TV Show that I can think of that does it is Family Guy. Anyway, this movie is funny, just like most of the episodes from the series.

In this movie, Fry is the last hope for the universe's survival. A dark force comes strolling in, planning on attacking and killing everyone. It's older than time itself, so it seems like a hard thing to beat. But some even more shocking things that happen. Leela is on the run from Zapp Brannigan. Bender is in love with a married fembot. And other crazy stuff happens. It's up to the Planet Express crew to save the universe. Will they stop the green monster?

Overall, I give this movie an 8 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Awesome.

Atrocity

[lepermessiahtr · 1/10 · 16 February 2009]

I have seen all Futurama episodes and all 4 direct to DVD movies, Futurama used to be my favourite animated cartoon

not anymore

this is so bad it spoils the whole franchise for me (kinda like South Park season 12)

the plots of all 4 movies were extremely random and nonsensical, but this is just an atrocity, the first time that the can-it-be-more-annoying feminists entered the stage I knew this would suck... bad

the joke quality has deteriorated towards zero, any previous character development is, as usually, ignored, e.g. Leo Wong is a villainous chauvinist now - WTF?

now, since this is likely the last output of the Futurama franchise, why is the MAIN theme of the series, Fry's and Leela's relationship treated in 1-2 minutes and not even finally resolved!?! instead we get plots out of a bad fanfic and no-jokes that are worse than post-11th season Simpsons material!

shame on you, Matt Groening, and on every voice actor who agreed to waste his talent on this abomination.

Rating: non-canonical

PS: also I would think that in the year 3000-something sexism is a thing of the past, hopefully...