Have been a fan since day one, have the dvds, Xbox game, calendars, comic books, etc. I find myself quoting the show at least a few times a week, and usually introduce uninitiated friends to the show whenever I get the chance. Sadly, I can't recommend this film to any but long-time fans, and I'm pretty sure there's a 50/50 chance that they'll be disappointed, like I was.

These films will never live up to the high standard set by the show (watch a few episodes of season 4 in one sitting and you'll understand), but they should do better than this. The first film did a respectable job carrying on the franchise, tied up some interesting loose ends (ah, Seymour!), showed some emotional depth and managed to pull off a fairly intricate time-travel plot line. I liked it the first viewing, and have really come to love it after repeated viewings. It built up a lot of expectation for the remaining films. But Beast dashes those hopes quite expertly.

The writing is weak. When one of the highlights is Stephen Hawking shooting lasers out of his eyes, you know there's not much here. Zoidberg is an afterthought. Bender's story goes nowhere, wasting a lot of potential (even though actor John Di Maggio is untouchable, as usual). Amy, while admittedly shallow, sinks to a new low of shallowness after Kif's death. And there are other gripes... if you're conversant with the shows, you'll see them clearly enough.

The straw that broke the Beast's back for me was the handling of the Fry/Leela relationship. Fry's lovelorn relationship with Leela has been a major part of the series from the first season. In Big Score, we see that Fry and Leela can work as a couple, which is hinted at in the series, and seems to be a building story going into Beast. Let's face it, you've been hoping that Fry will finally get his girl by the end of the 4th movie. But in Beast it's all thrown away as if it was nothing... Fry falls for a woman who has multiple live-in boyfriends and seems to care absolutely nothing for Leela (as if the events of Big Score didn't just happen). Years of drama gone without so much as a whimper. There's little doubt that Cohen et al will bring things to a tidy conclusion by the final film, but here this is just poor to the point of being pathetic. And btw, Brittany Murphy's character and acting here are downright irritating.

On the plus side, the regular cast is magnificent. They help make these movies instantly familiar and comfortable, and you can't help but get excited when the feature starts. The animation is very good also. I enjoyed seeing more of Zap and a little less of Hermes. The special features are worth checking out, and as always the commentary is pretty satisfying in a fanboy sort of way. Multiple viewings have even lessened the pain of disappointment a bit.

Some Futurama is much better than no Futurama, and at least the disappointment of this film means the next will probably seem much better by comparison. Hopefully it will be great on its own merits, and not because Beast was in many ways a missed opportunity.

Futurama is my favorite animated show of all time, but this movie was just bad. It is not funny.

Not nearly as good as Benders big score, but it was definately Furuama and it has its moments. Not one of my favorites, but worth watching anyway, give it to a friend when you're done and save them the 20 bucks.