Funny Animated Movie About Being Sucked Into Hell
Joins the ranks with its other lackluster, adult-animated contemporaries
"Hell & Back" poses a sharp contrast in quality between the wealth of its talented voice cast and the sheer pedestrian mediocrity of its screenplay. It's amazing that a barrage of talented and proved comics from the likes of T.J. Miller, Mila Kunis, Bob Odenkirk, and J.B. Smoove, would subject themselves to something so bland and ugly. From its choppy stop-motion style of animation, its lack of real creativity in its jokes, and its miserable color palette, there is a striking joylessness present in "Hell & Back" that is only highlighted by the film's lackluster writing.
The story opens in a failing theme-park, largely run by slacker employees Remy (voiced by Nick Swardson), Augie (T.J. Miller), and Curt (Rob Riggle). When Curt borrows a mint from Remy, taking a blood oath to pay him back before reneging on his promise shortly after, the three are sucked into a vortex that takes them to Hell, where they are seen as "mortals" awaiting sacrifice. While Curt is the only one who is set to be sacrificed, for breaking a blood oath, Remy and Augie are also planned to be executed simply because of their presence in Hell as mortals. As a result, they team up with a demon named Deema (Mila Kunis), who is searching for Orpheus, a famous spirit who is said to have saved countless mortals who's souls were doomed to perish in Hell in time before the Devil (Bob Odenkirk) decides to sacrifice the three men.
Despite the high stakes, the film feels like a constant array of tired stoner jokes written by a gang of adolescents that still find using at least two curse words in every sentence is hilarious. Admittedly, however, the film did get some laughs out of me when the small-scale, background jokes took over. Consider the scenes that involve the demons of Hell tempting the souls by having a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut counter. When one of the souls requests a pepperoni pizza, the demon informs him that they only have the Pizza Hut sign up as decoration and they are only a Taco Bell. "Welcome to Hell," the demon says whilst giggling, upon informing the poor soul. This happens a couple of other times in the film and works because of how simply outlandish and ridiculous the scene plays out, in addition to a few scenes of demons looking up the sins of the souls to see what constitutes their presence in Hell.
These scenes are few and far between, however, as the bulk of the film has Remy and Augie bumbling on to random setpieces in Hell, witnessing some crass display of juvenile gags all captured in some of the most visually ugly scenery I've seen all year. With all the lame jokes occurring and the setting feeling so dim and dingy, there's simply very little positivity in this film to keep an upbeat frame of mine. Comedies set in underworlds or places of little hope obviously have difficultly meriting this constant stream of upbeat humor in contrast to the setting, but when both elements fall apart here, "Hell & Back" doesn't have a leg to stand on, frankly.
Finally, there's a real cheapness to the animation here. The stop-motion animation is evidently rushed, as characters, especially when walking or moving very quickly, show a peculiar jerkiness to their motions that indicates that figures' poses were shifted too quickly, and thus, don't appear fluid. This doesn't occur frequently, but when it does, it makes the whole film seem off balance, and, much like the writing, poorly conceived.
I remember hearing of "Hell & Back" earlier in the year and thought it would be something of a box office surprise; we rarely get adult animated films, and if we do, they are usually so obsessed with the idea of being vulgar and animated ("Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie" and "Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie" to name a few) that they wind up being throwaway projects of little merit. I felt that the talented cast of this particular film would crush that stereotype and lift it up to certain quality. Unfortunately, with the startlingly silent marketing for the film and the quiet release, "Hell & Back" will likely join other contemporaries as an experiment that failed largely because of its worst tendencies.
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Absolutely wonderful, for some.
This is a highly underrated film! Pros: hilarious dialogue, gorgeous clay animation, a strong attention to detail, and fun vibe. Cons: the humor will not be for everyone, you really have to have an open mind to intentionally offensive comedy. I love that it is a mix of high brow and low brow comedy. You have semen jokes immediately following an obscure Greek mythology snide. The demons (especially Pena and Nanjiani) and Odenkirk's devil absolutely make this film. Their attitudes to working in hell combined with clever one-liners play very well to the right audience. There is a lot more to appreciate to this film than what is above surface. I call it the funniest, most original comedy I have seen in years! My favorite piece of the film is the atmosphere. Give it a half chance. I consider this smart people making a dumb comedy for smart people. I also have not seen such beautiful and painstakingly detailed claymation since Nightmare Before Christmas. I wish I could compare it to another film, but I really can't. 10× better and more original than Sausage Party. Sorry for any typos, typed this on my phone. Bottom line: some very talented, very funny and very dedicated people made this film and clearly enjoyed making it, you should watch it and if you don't appreciate the story, appreciate the zany world, voice acting, quotable lines (welcome to hell) and incredibly detailed claymation atmosphere. Phew.
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Expected More
Hell and Back is a foul mouth R rated animated film which was in theaters for only a small limited released. Given its profusion of raunchy, R-rated, largely sex-focused jokes. Several of the jokes are not particularly clever enough to stick with. There tends to be little opportunity for Hell and Back to strike even a fleeting chord with viewers. And this brings us back to the inherent limitation of American adult animated films.
Starring as the lead voices of the film are T.J. Miller, Rob Riggle, and Nick Swardson . Bob Odenkirk is animated as the lead devil. Mila Kunis and Susan Sarandon get in on the action, as Deema the demon and Barb the Angel, respectively. Danny McBride plays Orpheus, one of the few other humans to cross the plane into the underworld. The film's plot is rather weak and seems to have been something we would see from a television series plot. There just is not enough great jokes, but Hell and Back is quite entertaining to watch. Although predictable.
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Could have been a better rated R animated movie.
I did love the fact that the movie was a stop motion animated film, and it does have a few laugh out loud jokes, plus it is a nice Hard rated R as well, filled with mostly really dirty jokes.
But overall, the movie is pretty weak. That may explain why I did not hear about it until I just happen to past the movie theater and saw the poster. Especially, considering what an all star cast of voice overs that are featured in the film, like Susan Sarandon and Bob Odenkirk.
The animation is actually pretty dull and unattractive and only a few jokes really stood out while the rest were stale.
I think I was expecting something like Heavy Metal, and was surely disappointed with what it really was, a lame stoner flick, which would not be so bad if maybe Cheech and Chong were the guys battling their way out of hell.
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Slightly Entertaining But Mostly Just Really Stupid
I really wanted to like this film a lot, but as the film progressed that got harder and harder to do. Every step of the way the film tries to be as raunchy and as inappropriate as possible. Which would have been fine if the Raunchy/Inappropriate humor was funny, but about 85% of it just isn't. It's the kind of jokes that I use to make with my friends when I was in middle school, when I first started understanding what all those dirty words meant. That kind of humor is just not amusing enough to carry an 1 & 20 minute film.
The one thing that the film did have going for it is the animation, the settings all looked really good. Hell was cool, Satan looked awesome, and characters were all very well done. Unfortunately the voices for the most part just don't seem to fit. There were a few times where I kind of felt like I was watching one of those you tube videos where people dub over children's cartoons in an effort to be funny.
I enjoy animated stuff aimed at adults, however it seems like for the most part it just doesn't work when it comes to films. There are plenty of great animated TV shows for adults (Archer, South Park, Bob's Burgers, etc) but when I try to think of great animated movies for adults the only one that really comes to mind is South Park: Bigger, Larger, and Uncut. "Hell & Back" had a lot of promise, it's filled with very funny people doing the voices for the characters and the premise seemed like it opened up a lot of room for very funny situations. However, the previous reviewers were not wrong about this one.
This wasn't absolutely horrible, but it just wasn't good. It was entertaining enough to keep me watching but most of the jokes just fall flat and the comedians who lended their voices to the film are mostly wasted on a very poor/unfunny script. I wanted to like it, but I just didn't.
4/10
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Hell And Back is a fun ride with good adult laughs and a great cast
HELL AND BACK review by: Mike Smith "Fat Mike"
Three friends embark on a wayward journey into the deepest, darkest depths of hell to rescue one of their own. While navigating their escape, they provoke a slew of misfit demons, a super sexy angel, an infamous Greek legend and the Devil himself.
After seeing this trailer I couldn't wait to see this independent film! The cast is full of talent and some of my favorite comedians and voice actors. Nick Swardson, Mila Kunis, T.J. Miller, Rob Riggle, Susan Sarandon, Danny McBride and Bob Odenkirk voice the main cast. I was more impressed with the costar talent made up of Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, Kyle Kinane, Kumail Nanjiani, Greg Proops, Paul Scheer, J.B. Smoove, Dana Snyder, Paul F. Tompkins and the legendary H. Jon Benjamin as "The Tree". Unfortunately, as talented as the cast is, I felt little to no connection to the main characters.
That being said, the story is good, ridiculous and funny; the jokes are crude and at times, laugh out loud funny. The best part of this film is the animation, stop motion animation is far and few between these days and I always strongly enjoy seeing the art form.
Hell And Back is a fun ride with good adult laughs and a great cast. The only downfall I had was the lack of connection with the main characters and that this film is forgettable. But I would recommend checking it out. Cheers and remember life won't suck as long as there is a good movie to watch.
6.5 out of 10
edited by Samantha Locke
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Awfully Good.
This movie is terrible but it's one of the best terrible movies I have ever seen. It was absolutely hilarious although immature. I don't think it deserves as low of a rating as it got simply because it was quite a good movie. I'm sure this film is directed at some low brow humor but it actually is really good. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this movie is really, freaking good. If you like movies you don't have to pay too much attention to but still have a good time, you'll love this. It's original, it's funny and hey, it's better than anything Adam Sandler's doing these days. The crude sexual humor gets slightly annoying at times and you feel like you should tell these people that hey, you don't have to try that hard, but it really is a witty portrayal and like I've said too many times already. It's actually really funny.
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I HATE FRIENDS
Warning: Spoilers
Curt (Rob Riggle) breaks a Satanic blood oath over a breath mint and gets sucked into a vortex that doesn't take him to Barnes and Noble. Remy (Nick Swardson) and Augie (T.J. Miller) follow in an effort to rescue him. They encounter a number of characters and a Devil who runs hell like a corporation.
First off, this is NOT for kids unless bad language and crude sexual references are okay with you. At times the humor was masterful and at other times it was just lame and crude.
To give you an idea of the humor: "Hell- you're here for a reason or else you're Jewish."
"Please clean up after yourself your mother doesn't work here unless she was a wh@r#."
The Devil is dysfunctional similar to the South park devil. The film looks like 3D claymation. Mila Kunis had a hot demon character.
Guide: F-bomb. No sex. Ugly demon nudity. Plenty of crude sex talk. A good film for those that like the crude humor of teen sex comedies but none of the nudity.
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Went to Hell and Almost Didn't Come Back
Hell and Back is for all intense and purposes a cinematic inevitability. TV today is filled to the brim with adult cartoon shows catering to a certain male demographic trapped in a state of arrested development. The best of these shows are every bit as artful, thoughtful and entertaining as any 30-minute sitcom. Yet for every Bob's Burgers (2011-present) and Archer (2009-present) there's a cringe-worthy time-waster like American Dad! (2005-present) that threatens to derail the entire adult toon genre with gleeful insult humor and lazy references.
Hell and Back is brought to you by the same stop-motion studios as Robot Chicken (2005-present) a fifteen minute sketch show involving action figures and claymation figures. The plot revolves around three underachieving friends who work at a rundown pier side carnival. Curt (Riggle) assistant manages while Remy (Swardson) works primarily on the Hell's Gate ride featuring a few cheap scares for the price of a few dollars and your dignity. Augie (Miller), the chubby third wheel of the group works as the mechanic, or at least I think he does; it doesn't really matter. What does matter is the trio come across a demonic book, Curt swears a blood oath on it, immediately renigs and is dragged to hell. Remy and Augie follow him and face demons, assorted tortures and the Devil (Odenkirk) himself to save their friend from eternal damnation.
As with Robot Chicken, the animation style in this film evokes the memory of Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas (1987) only with a displeasing slurry of dirty jokes and adult situations. The same sophomoric, sporadic and anarchic humor we've seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup debuts on the big screen only without pathos, perspective, immediacy, topicality or energy. All of the humor is crude for the sake of being crude as if two twelve-year-old boys wrote the script and had a quota for the amounts of f***s, s***s and q****s they were required to squeeze in.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no shrinking violet when it comes to crude, rude and politically incorrect jokes. I don't raise my nose at George Carlin's seven words you can't say on TV or the occasionally funny Family Guy (1999-present) gag. But crudeness for crudeness sake does not a good movie make. The film features bluntly stated dialogue discussing lewd sex acts, the shame of virginity in your 20's and one unbearably drawn-out discussion of tree rape that is brought up several times. Ironically the jokes that made me chuckle the hardest were the subtle ones such as a soul being tortured by a demon by trying to order a pepperoni pizza from a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express.
Those of you who are a fan of ShadowMachine Films and their genre expanding TV shows will be mightily disappointed by this stop-motion slacker comedy. Despite some funny one-off jokes, Hell and Back has precious few redeeming qualities outside it's talented voice cast. The movie's dialogue is crass and confusing while it's sight-gags are obvious and undeveloped. The story is awful featuring three obnoxious leads who learn nothing from their experience; other than maybe devil's brew is delicious. The side characters are worse still including an ineffective devil, a boring tag-along in Mila Kunis's half-human, half-demon Deema, and an especially braggadocios Orpheus (McBride). Do yourself a favor, miss this trip to hell and watch a few episodes of BoJack Horseman (2014-present), a show that better represents a descent into hell. It's also so much funnier.
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A Lampooned Campy Cult Film
Warning: Spoilers
I have never written a review on this website or published one on any website or forum ever before. But I watched this film because I was bored, and it's cold and frosty where I'm at right now. The first ten minutes of the film were very off putting. I found myself thinking "Yeah, I'd need a quarter of weed to watch this and get any value out of it". But I didn't have anything better to do so I figured I'd might as well give it a chance. I am glad I gave it that chance. It only has an aggregated score of 5.3 on this website, and I can see why. This is the type of film that came out 2 generations too late. If it had been released when my Dad was not quite my age, along with animations like "Fritz The Cat", it would have developed a cult following. It might very well do so. It has incredibly crude humour. Any expectations of subtlety should be eschewed before perusal of this flick. Orpheus, the Greek artists/poet/singer/bard/etc. is featured, and it is referenced that he is anally raped by a sentient tree at a young age in the woods of what I assume to be either Greece or Hell (which would be paradoxical). This film is a relief from 99 percent of the crap that theaters are releasing nowadays and it's equally refreshing in that you can take it at face value. To sum it up: search up "Mourning Wood performed by Orpheus", on YouTube. It's the link of him singing a song from his experience. If you like it, you'll probably like the movie. If not, you won't. It's like Crawdaddies, you love em, or you hate em. 9/10. Refreshing.
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A must watch comedy from ShadowMachine!
Ahh Yes, Shadow Machine has done it again. First was the instant success of Robot Chicken, and now their first Movie should be a box office hit, but today when i watched Hell and Back, I was the only one in the room. Never mind the total absence of people, the movie was extremely funny. The voice acting was spot on, The sound and backgrounds were perfect. Every single character in the movie was actually relevant to the plot, that's a bonus. If i had to say (type), a bad thing about the move, I noticed the lip-syncing was off by a bit, sometimes, But overall, I HIGHLY recommend you watch Hell and Back! I know it's a stop-motion movie, most people want actors, real-life places and realism, but we all love Robot Chicken, so basically Hell and Back is a extended, well-written episode.
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Kind of like South Park crossed with...yeah, it's kind of like South Park
You wonder what the attraction is for the makers for "Chicken Run", "Box Trolls" and for the Bro Comedy "Hell and Back" to stop motion animation. It's not as if going through the painstaking and laborious process automatically yields a visual character superior to less labor- intensive production methods. So why not just make it a cartoon? Anyway, the plainly descriptive-titled "Hell and Back" lifts the way Satan from South Park is rendered whole, gives him "Breaking Bad's" Bob Odenkirk's voice and drops him in a bro comedy. There he trades the standard bro jokes (mostly homosexual panic quips) with the slackers who inadvertently fall into his underground realm. None of it is terribly entertaining but there are enough laughs to make it all fairly innocuous.
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The Devil Would Rate This A ZERO!
Warning: Spoilers
Seriously, if The Devil had a review for "Hell and Back" it would be given a big whopping ZERO! And let me start by saying one of my all time favorite films is Evil Dead. And to have this movie take a scene(even if they didn't get it from Evil Dead) was a big slap to my face. It was like stealing a joke and trying to add on to it and thinking it was the best joke they came up with when truly it was garbage.
Short review here- Try Fantastic Four(2015) first, if you like that, then waste your time here as well! For both are awful!
The movie was about a hour and thirty minutes, but felt like I was in Hell all along, eternal damnation. I was so thankful that it did end! Knowing I wasn't in Hell, but maybe that was the point all along, a movie so bad it made you feel like you were in Hell. But regardless, every single joke, if you call them jokes, stupid. Hold on, let me find a bigger word, GODAWFUL! Hah!
I believe it was twice, it showed The Devil crying from a book. Actually tears rolling down it. I truly want to believe that The Devil was crying for how he was portrayed in the movie. At how bad the movie was. I mean, can you imagine making this movie, and having it turn out The Devil is truly alive and you get sent to Hell thanks to being the writer and director for this movie? I mean good luck to the director, writer, whoever had a part of creating this movie. Because he will not go easy on them like they showed within the movie.
"Welcome to Hell" - Demons. All the demons would say that, if you ask me, maybe the movie was bad on purpose to show this is what Hell really is. But I highly doubt they meant for that, so I gave it a one star, and by God I haven't done that in awhile!! From the start, the very start it became annoying and horrendous. I don't think I cracked a smile throughout the entire film. Needless to say, one part of the movie I did chuckle. A part I don't even remember, but it got one small chuckle from me. Otherwise I was wondering when the movie would be over.
"Migraines in Hell are really bad."- Remy. Watching the movie was Hell. Having a migraine thanks to the movie equals Migraine in Hell. That quote spoke to me. Lot of random scenes, conversations, music especially, and just nothing felt right. Felt like they were talking fast and rushing the movie going from one part to the next. But kept adding more and more when you think the bloody movie was gonna end. Ton of stupid F bombs, sex jokes that were outdated, a slow mo part that had me wonder how I made it this far. Horrible stop animation. A movie that could have gone somewhere, but was destroyed. Plot/Story is what caught my attention, that and dark humor. Crushed is a good word to use after watching the movie and realizing this is what we got.
The cast, which I hate to say about the actors and actresses, but I couldn't stand any of them. Bob Odenkirk was a supreme lawyer in Breaking Bad, but as the Devil? Kinda just annoyingly stupid. Mila Kunis is on a bad movie streak, coming also from Jupiter Ascending(EWW!) in the same year. All the other actors and actresses were either annoying to hear their voices or just couldn't stand them. Almost every single one of them I try to avoid because they all have the same character in all their films/jokes.
In conclusion, because I rather just stop myself now, the movie was a waste. A waste of time to me. A waste of money to make. A waste of space on IMDb. Start to finish, a crappy introduction, migraine throughout the middle, and complete let down for an ending. Thanks for reading the review and hopefully you read it before watching the film!!
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Good looking piece of garbage
The entire 3 stars from my review goes to the visual artists behind this film. There is some creative art to be found, especially in the hell dimension. Interestingly, the sets and camera positions looked like they were made for a point-and-click adventure game. I am not sure what that is all about, but it all looks good.
As for the rest of the film, me and my partner both eventually walked out on it...well, as much as you can walk out on a movie in the confines of your own living room.
The writing is so atrociously talentless and the attempts at dirty jokes are so strikingly unfunny that one can only conclude that the script was written by a couple of middle-aged construction workers, who don't care at all for writing but have agreed to quickly write something because they were given 5 buks to do so.
The cast of the film has some notable names, and the performances are not terrible, but you can tell why the actors did not promote this film and why it has faded into obscurity. Please don't let it come back from Hell.
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Rotting in hell for all eternity would be funnier than this movie
I have never seen so much talent go to waste with possibly one of the most unfunny, uninspired, boring, empty hollow script I have ever seen. How did this get green lit who in their right mind would read this script and sacrifice all their time, effort and talent to be in this? I honestly wonder if they are personally ashamed of themselves.
These writers so thick in the head actually think adult humour is nothing but spamming the f word and saying penis over and over again. That's the movie there's not even a story to fall back on.
It is the most desperate attempt of adult jokes I've ever seen. And That's the only thing the films going for…. Nothing else but telling jokes which is an awful decision for ANY film
This is what someone would assume South Park/Superbad were like just by a quick glance. Without understanding there's more depth to the raunchy jokes. Nothing in the script works, the characters are empty one dimensional shells just to tell a joke... One character is an unlikable jerk, another one is fat, another one smokes weed, and another one is horny..... HAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHHAH!!! The story is stretched so thin and one of those, "setup with nothing else going for it" type of films.
The most disgusting part of this movie is it's advertised as an adult film while it treats us like children. When in reality most mainstream animated films are pretty mature in the first place. So what is this trying to prove?
The best thing I can say about the film is like I said, the voice talent, animation, set design and art direction. Its perfect proof that great presentation can never save an abysmal script and It will ruin the experience for pretty much everyone. This film is an insult to those who pulled their weight and put effort in this project.
I'm actually sorry about saying all those awful things about, Grown Ups 2, Jack and Jill, Doogal, Not Cool and even Tusk. Those movies are freaking masterpieces compared to this thing and that is saying a lot. This movie just ticked me off.... Because literally in the first 6 minutes of this 86 MINUTE MOVIE I was already done and regretting my decision to sit through this..... I persisted at 1.5 speed and it still was torture. Glad this was a flop and how nobody knows about it.
Everyone involved should be personally ashamed of themselves. This film appeals to nobody….
This is the worst stop motion movie I've ever seen and the worst movie I've seen in my entire life as of 1/11/16. (Coming from 1000+ films)
1/10 And that 1 point is just to be generous to the people who tried to make the best out of this.
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The cast saves the movie...honestly it is very bad
I know I am giving this a 6 but it is a very poorly written, and directed film. It is one of those comedies that thinks throwing as much offensive material in as many directions as possible equals comedy gold. narrator: it does not. The plot, such as it is, is cobbled together ideas from a bunch of other better films and it is meandering. The film has nothing on its mind than to score cheap laughs. Yet for all that enough of the jokes land for the film to be enjoyable. The film also is quickly paced.
None of this is due to the script. The actors-how did they get such a good cast?-have such good timing and chemistry that much of the flaccid material ends up working on the sheer strength of their personalities. It also helps that the animation is crude in a way to make the film have a blue comedy vibe to it that works, in spite of the script.
I still think I am being overly kind but meh I had fun with this schlock.
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Hell is the Right Word
Warning: Spoilers
"Hell and Back" is one of the weirder stop motion films I have ever seen. This is not because of its visuals or choices per se, but because I'm not sure who it's for. It's not for children (Seriously, don't let a child watch this accidentally) and it's really not for teens either. Though much of the humor is more juvenile, the film is so self-hating and needlessly dire that it seems to be geared more towards exactly no one. Directed by Ross Shuman and Tom Gianas, "Hell and Back" is a little seen and greatly hated venture that will remain a blight on all those involved.
The story follows three men (?) who work at a pier carnival, and have been best friends since childhood. Played by Nick Swarsdon, TJ Miller, and Rob Riggle, they seem to be ridiculously childish in their approach to life, but love each other like brothers. Two of the friends make a blood oath in front of a book with a crying devil, which sends one of them to Hell. The other two follow him to the bowels of the beast and try to save him from his untimely fate.
The film delves into their misery right off the bat and makes several jokes, including one about an old woman's vagina, and is preceded by homophobia. While all those involved are accomplished (Mila Kunis, Bob Odenkirk, Susan Sarandon etc.) none of them are working with much, and therefore most of the jokes fall flat. The only time when Orpheus' jokes really land is when Nick Swarsdon's character gets off a zinger or characters are bantering. Otherwise a lot of this is simply obnoxious. It's unclear what is up with the Devil's facade, why we need a shot of Mila Kunis' purple devil in nothing but a tank top and underwear, why Orpheus is such a tool, why there is a distended running joke about male rape via a tree, or why the ending is so swift and easy, making the entire film pointless.
There are some good jokes peppered here and there but for the most part everyone involved is just too good for this movie. I seriously want to know what the filmmakers are holding over Susan Sarandon for her to even think about giving voice to the angel Barb. Besides getting to see some pretty great stop motion and hear some okay one-liners, there's no reason you have to see this film.
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This movie is like a game of hopscotch...
What does that mean? Well, I jump from enjoying it to not enjoying and back again.
The animation is exquisite, the acting is exquisite, the characters are distinct and fun, the story is really clever and the music is awesome...
But the one-liners! Oh my God, the characters cannot go anywhere do anything or barely move the story along without saying something obnoxious. For every funny joke in the film there's like 20 obnoxious ones! I would have loved this in middle school when we were hitting puberty and learning how to be radical, so maybe this movie is for them.
That being said i've watched this movie a lot. There was so much atmosphere and passion in the thing that it was my go to during an emotionally trying time. It just seemed to have that very strong distracting quality you look for in good entertainment.
But it's still a 6 because there is A LOT of stupid, pointless, strangle the bobble head one-liners! It's going to kill it for most people.
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Loved it
I found it to be an original idea, the humour was bother messed up and brilliantly funny. The dialogue flowed wonderfully. I truly enjoyed this movie. I loved the animation, the detail to the background, the voice acting. One of the best comedies I've seen in a long time. I highly suggest watching this!
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Wild, irreverent supernatural ride.
Warning: Spoilers
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux: Remy and Augie work at a run-down carnival, Remy as a hawker, and Augie as the handyman/fixer. The biggest attraction is called 'Gates to H*ll' and it breaks down recurrently. The budget is limited for spare parts and safety features, 'run-down' is probably a stable state, especially after the bank foreclosure. Their life-long friend Curt has responsibilities at the park, but no authority. Curt's boss is a dedicated zoned-out doper. Will there be upgrades to make the park competitive, or even safe? Probably not.
Remy looks for some hail Mary action to save the park, but instead settles on a book of Madame Zonar's concerning Beelzebub. Curt asks Remy for a mint, and Remy gets Curt to seal a blood oath on the book that he will pay back the mint. Curt openly admits that he lied. This breaking of the oath activates the dormant Gates of H*ll ride. Curt gets pulled down. While the vortex is still active, Remy and Augie follow into H*ll, so as to find Curt and save his sorry self.
Delineation of conflicts: The Devil would like to have sex with Barb the Angel. Barb knows this, and leverages it into having the Devil find Remy and Augie, so that she can get 'save the misplaced mortals' off her To Do list.
Remy and Augie are looking for Orpheus, since he was able to walk out of hell with a person who was condemned. Deema the half-demon is looking for Orpheus for her own reasons.
One of the demon unions is p#ssed that there have not been enough sacrifices lately. Curt gets nominated, largely to his ill-considered speech, and his sacrifice becomes a big event in Hell.
Curt tries negotiating directly with the Devil, who has to deal with the demon union.
Resolution: Can the protagonists save Curt? Will Curt save himself?
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Not good
I really don't know exactly how "not good" it is because I could only stand about ten minutes of it. Cliché from the get go, it seems to be a raunch fest of bad potty jokes and low sexual humor. I'm pretty sure I would have thought it was lame when I was in junior high. The movie was so shallow, I have to make stuff up to get the required five lines to submit a review.
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A Disgusting, Vulgar, Smutty Animation; Typical Of Modern Lowlife Society!
I normally don't like stop motion animation (I have only ever really loved the '9' and 'Wallace & Gromit' films) and this had nothing decent about it to change my mind. It is a deliberately foul mouthed piece of absolute gutter filth vulgar jokes, passing itself off as a comedy!
The reviews in favour for this kind of gutter trash have not shocked, or surprised me, as lowlife filthy minded people are too abundant in our society today. Why should we have to listen, in our TV shows/series and films, to the same gutter garbage foul output that we get daily on the streets etc around the world?
It annoys me as much as the American dictionary is used on the internet as a the supposedly English language (which it most certainly is not).
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A waste of perfectly good stop motion animation and voice acting
It is a mystery to me how anyone could have looked at this script, then thought it might be a good idea to hire good voice actors and go through the painstakingly process of creating a stop-motion animation. The result is the cinematic equivalent of building a house on sand.
Only one joke in the entire movie made me laugh. Every other joke was some form of gross-out-joke, sexual joke or 'it is funny because they swear' kind of joke. Not that I have trouble with humor that does this, but not only the entire movie is based on that kinds of jokes, they are also written so poorly. It feels like this script was coughed up by a pair of stoned film students as a side project. There isn't even really a story to speak of, just a series of loosely connected scenes that have a vague resemblance of a plot.
The movie actually gets better for a while, if you set your internal commentary to those two film students writing their script:
"Dude... and the the devil is like... putting then into the trap door, because his hot angel girlfriend he tries to impress is coming to visit him... and then the angel says she is looking for those dudes, but they are already gone and as he opens the trap door again, there is all sorts of funny stuff that comes back up..."
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When their buddy breaks a blood oath and lands in hell, two best friends risk everything to save him from demons and the devil
Hell & Back truly does have an all star. We have Mila Kunis, Susan Sarandon, Danny Mcbride, Rob Riggle, Nick Swardson, T.J. Miller, Jennifer Coolidge, J.B. Smoove, Michael Pena, Brian Posehn, David Koechner, and more. Sadly we do not get an all star movie.
Hell & Back has some of the workers behind Robot Chicken. I think Robot Chicken is a decent show. On the other hand, we honestly in my opinion have a not so good movie. I personally didn't find it funny, and in my opinion, Robot Chicken is much better.
The movie has some nice claymation/stop motion animation behind it. But, the movie itself falls short. The story is there, the talent is there, but the jokes are completely absent. I know comedy is very difficult to write. Writing comedy isn't like writing other films. For instance, a horror movie can have a loose story, but amazing practical effects. With comedy it's either funny or it isn't.
I believe this movie could have been much better, and I truly wanted to enjoy it. I personally wouldn't pay $ to see this. Wait until it is streaming or something. I don't even know if I can say this legally, but you can just bootleg this sh*t, if you want to see it. However, I saw the whole film on Youtube for free, and it really isn't worth the time.
So these are my final Bitchin' Buddha thoughts on Hell & Back. With some new and clever jokes, this film could have gotten two thumbs up, and have been a cult classic. If you like this film, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I believe the jokes could have just been a little better. I believe Hell & Back earns a...
4/10.
This review is brought to you by Boogie Buddha, and remember, don't just get down, but get Boogie. Thank you for reading and viewing. I wish you an amazing day as always. :)
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2141773/reviews
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