Futurama - Bender's Big Score
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Movie Reviews of Futurama - Bender's Big Score
Movie Review: It's about time!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been waiting for this movie well over a year, and with high anticipation often comes dissapointment, but this was well worth the wait in my opinion. Having been a Futurama fan for all these years I obviously have a biased opinion, and I can't say if non fans would enjoy it as much as I did, but I coudn't be more excited to see the return of Fry, Prof. Farnsworth, Zoidberg and the rest.
The plot is pretty complex, even for a Futurama episode. Some may feel that for a comedy the plot is too confusing with the use of time travel throughout, but that's what Futurama has always done best in my opinion. Incorporating those sci-fi elements into it is what makes it so great, and I'm always happy to see time travel elements being utilized for a show like this, giving it an epic feel.
The fact that they were able to make this happen, getting the creators and actors all back together shows just how dedicated they are to this show and the fans. What's even better is that this is just the 1st of 4 straight-to-DVD Futurama movies, the rest of which are getting released next year. If there's anything negative I can say about it, its that there are not one, but 2 songs in it that I could have done without. Musical numbers might work OK on Simpsons, but felt really out of place here and were not enjoyable.
One last thing. Matt Groening had this to say at the Con in San Diego last summer. Comedy Central has acquired the rights to air Futurama reruns and when it returns, these movies will be split up into 3 episodes each giving us 12 new episodes. He teased the audience saying that depending on how good the ratings are for the new eps, and how well the DVDs sell, that Futurama might be in line for a Family Guy style revival. Now, who knows, he could have just been saying this to get fans' hopes up and sell a few more copies of the movies, but that would be great if it were to happen. This show is awsome and I'm so glad it's back.
Movie Review: A triumphant return for Futurama, fun for fans and noobs alike
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first of the four feature-length films comprising Futurama's revival, and it's the most complete effort of the four. Because of the feature-length format, the writers employ a multithreaded plot that gets tangled at times, but the characterization and multifaceted humor is vintage Futurama, and the movie always feels fun and enjoyable as the plot develops.
Back at Planet Express after a two-year hiatus, the crew head off to make a delivery to a nude beach planet, where they encounter a trio of nudist scammers who dupe them into handing over control of the company. The scammers soon discover a code for paradox-free time travel into the past on Fry's buttocks; with the code, they hatch a plot to steal all of Earth's treasures and take over the world. Meanwhile, Hermes is decapitated in a limbo accident, and Leela falls in love with a mysterious stranger named Lars, making Fry jealous. As expected, things get tangled and confusing after repeated uses of time code (sometimes the time travel reconciles current events, while at other times it overwrites them). The patient viewer is advised to use the rewind button liberally; things work out in the end, sort of.
The plot is liberally sprinkled with callbacks to the original series that fill things out, but are safely ignored by novices (who can always return to the movie after watching the original series, giving it significant replay value). The humor is versatile and consistent throughout the movie. Character foibles, nerd jokes, cultural jokes, running gags, bathroom humor -- Bender's Big Score has it all.
The feature-length format isn't ideal for Futurama (the other three movies demonstrate this more clearly), but Bender's Big Score proves that the show still has plenty to offer.
Movie Review: Futurama's Back
Summary: 5 Stars
Futurama returns to DVD in movie form after two years since being canceled
by Fox TV. Let me say that after being away for two years and returning, they haven't changed a bit. The characters are still as funny and unique as last time and at the start of this movie we're given a very thrilling team roll call.
Futurama has always been known as being extremely funny but mixing comedy with drama. It has the ability to have us in tears of laughter and in tears of emotion and sadness. We are given both feelings in this movie as the story is clever, funny and emotional. Also at the ending we're given one hell of a twist that I genuinely wouldn't have expected.
The story goes that since the team have returned they embark on their first delivery to the nudist planet. While there they're approached by three aliens who we come to know as the scammers who are asked to sign a petition and supply their e-mail address. Also on the nudist planet Leela notices that Fry has a tattoo of bender on his rear which he can't explain but turns out to be more important than we'd first anticipated as it contains the time code.
A few days later the gang start receiving spam e-mails which, one by one scam the team out of money and even bender is scammed when an obedience virus is downloaded to his brain. The scammers come to Earth and Planet Express to reveal that they are now the owners of the company. Upon them also discovering the time code this leads to a whole heap of trouble involving time travel, paradoxes and love.
Oh and Hermes body gets crushed and he ends up as a head in a jar.
Great return of Futurama and I hope this leads to the series being recommissioned by Comedy Central.
Movie Review: Back on the air...in our spaceship that is!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Good News, Everyone!
*Excellent animation quality.
*Loads of great hilarious dialogue and funny scenes (without relying too heavily on catch phrases or old gags). Also plenty of action and a cute love story (although some of you might hate the romance).
*A few funny bits of self-parody, especially in the opening scene.
*A few of nostalgic homages to older Futurama episodes (expect to see some familiar characters and some references). Everything was accurate to what the show was.
*I think the story is good. Even though it technically doesn't make much sense (what with time paradoxes and all), the whole point of Futurama is to make fun of the absurdity of sci-fi. Therefore, this movie really hits the mark well, and is quite funny when you think about it.
*A few good musical numbers (albiet they are also a little strange).
*Good music score as well.
The Bad Things
*Some parts are weird or gross (like when Hermes gets decapitated). Most likely, they're trying to make it edgier than the show.
*The romance could be seen as sappy.
Ah, my love for Futurama has never diminished! This movie is every bit as funny, exciting, and thoughtful as the show was. For anybody who likes the show (or good comedies in general), watch this by all means!
The movie has great video and sound quality, and contains numerous special features (a few featurettes, a full episode of "Hypnotoad", and probably some other stuff). Comes in a neat cardboard case (although this may not be good for keeping the disc clean and scratch-free).
Movie Review: I think it's great, but...
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a huge fan of Futurama. I'm one of those people that have been watching the same episodes over and over on DVD for the past few years. So I immediately purchased this DVD the moment it was released. I've watched it three times since then, and I've come to the conclusion that I liked it! I have to emphasize that the plot is very complex and I worry that people new to the series would miss out on a lot and maybe have a bit of trouble following the plot. I personally love time travel though so I think this plot is fantastic.
I agree with a lot of other reviews that the comedy from the TV shows is somewhat lacking in this movie, but I think the magnificent plot more than makes up for it. It seems that the writers wanted to focus more on a plot then the traditional comedy. A movie needs to have a more complex plot then a TV episodes, so I don't see the problem. I may not have laughed out loud, but I was fascinated and intrigued throughout the movie.
Any die hard fan of the series will want to pickup this movie to add the their DVD collection. I suggest those new to Futurama to watch the TV episodes first before watching the movie. The movie will mean a lot more and make more sense if you've seen the TV episodes first.
I'm certainly looking forward to the other movies. The commentary with the DVD says that the other movies have a much less complex plot, so perhaps that will have comedy similar to the TV episodes and make these other reviewers happy. I'm just happy Futurama is back and I hope you are too!