For anyone interested in independent animation, this film is worth buying! Jeff Lew is amazing. This guy made a full feature, 85 minute, animated action film all by himself. He literally made this film all...by...himself! For that alone, you have to check this movie out. The DVD is worth buying just for extras alone. On the extras, there is an hour and a half long, full in-depth making of the film on how to actually make an affordable animated film all by oneself. And he goes into great, great detail on what computer programs he used to make the film and how much time to realistically put aside to actually make a film project on their own. And it ain't easy. While doing side jobs for MATRIX RELOADED and TRANSFORMERS 2, Jeff Lew spent all his time making KILLER BEAN FOREVER for the past 5 years.

KILLER BEAN FOREVER is a simple, yet beautifully animated action film starring coffee beans. It has some comedy in it (the mafia boss' name is Cappuccino), but it's played as a serious film. And it's definitely not for kids. It's totally violent, no blood, and sprinkled with some profanity here and there. If this film was rated, it probably would get a PG-13 rating. Killer Bean is a contract killer working for a secret agency - he has to deal with crooks, mafia, cops, martial arts masters. It's a very cliched story, but totally entertaining with amazingly animated gun and martial arts action. KILLER BEAN FOREVER reminded me of a violent Pixar-style Toy Story-style animated film directed by Robert Rodriguez or John Woo.



I haven't been this impressed by an independent animated film since Alexander Woo's RED STEELE: NAZI SMASHER. And that was just a short incomplete 10 minute flick. KILLER BEAN FOREVER is a complete feature-length film!



The DVD video/audio quality is perfect. The video is 1.85:1 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN and is quite pristine. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 and just rocks - turn it up! No subtitles. And a lot of great extras (I'm not an "extras person" when it comes to dvds. I buy DVDs for the movies and could care less about extras. I only like extras for movies I'm really amazed with such as Matrix, Lord of the Rings, and Blade Runner). The extras are just GREAT, informative, and educational!
Here are the list of extras:
• The 85 minute animated feature film: Killer Bean Forever
• Director/Producer commentary
• CG Animator commentary
• "The Making Of" Featurette - 1 hour and 28 minutes long
• Alternate action sequences - I played around with lots of different action scene ideas. These are all in previs form.
• Deleted scenes - a couple scenes that I thought were cool, but didn't make the final cut. These are in previs form.
• Lost Killer Bean 3 footage - an action sequence that was created well before the real movie production. I never released this to the public.
• Voice Recording Sessions
• Killer Bean Forever trailers 1 & 2
• Killer Bean 1 & 2 with audio commentaries



MOVIE: 9
VIDEO: 9
AUDIO: 9
EXTRAS: 10



You can find the trailer and buy the DVD at Jeff Lew's website: http://www.killerbeanforever.com/order.html

PLEASE NOTE: You may take a chance when buying this DVD. It's not authored perfectly. The dvd played smoothly on my laptop DVD player, but when I played it on my home theater system, I had to manually move the movie along since it freezes at the end of every chapter. It's the first time I used the chapter selection buttons on my DVD player remote control. Basically it was like watching high quality video/audio webisodes on my HDTV. If you buy the DVD and if you have the same problem as I did, let him know. It's a shame that he didn't perfect the authoring of the DVD so that it works on every single DVD player, but it shouldn't prevent you from buying this amazing achievement. There is also an Australian PAL DVD release that I may consider buying if that DVD is authored better - http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/805961

if only there were a forum for DVD Reviews and Recommendations...

I remember one of the Killer Bean shorts was included on a disc that came with an issue of Total Movie magazine. I may just have to dig the disc out and watch it again!

there is no comparison. When watching Killer Bean 1, then Killer Bean 2, and then finally Killer Bean Forever, there is massive animation evolvement/improvement between each one! Killer Bean 2 is pretty funny though. The way Jeff Lew evolved as an animator is highly inspiring!