I saw "Bender's Big Score" after having just watched all the old seasons, so they were fresh in my head. Unfortunately, the film had some serious issues that kept it from achieving its true potential:
1) Way Too "Over The Top"
The phrase "if it's not broken don't fix it" comes to mind. Futurama had its own hilarious brand of humor and intelligent writing. With this film, I immediately sensed that the writers were going the direction of The Matrix 2/3 or Pirates 3, where it seemed the only thing that mattered was "making the movie more epic" at the expense of the plot and quality entertainment.
The beginning of this movie was by far the worst. Things were kicked up about 10 notches too far and it wasn't pretty.. it was like all the characters went on an energy drink binge before "filming". My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief as Leela asked, "What about all our fans?" before a bunch of actual fans started blowing behind her.. seriously??? This is the same show that spoofed Elton John as the Pharoah's musical entertainment at his funeral.. Now that's humorous!! (as Zoidberg would say). There was certainly no hearty laughter resulting from watching this movie..
2) Writing and Plot
The storyline itself is poorly written, as if they were trying to cram every possible minor character, location, and subplot from every episode ever made into this one film. This creates some very shallow and pointless situations.
Brannigan for example is on screen for about 30 seconds, and says nothing funny at all. Oh wait I'm sorry.. He told Kif to "cover his knees because they're cold". Wow, that's some real comedic genius there writers...
SantaBot appears in the worse cameo of all, having an absolutely senseless role and to make things worse, performing in what's sure to be known as the worst song ever produced on Futurama to date.
The Leela/Fry/Lars storyline is irritating and shallow, and in my opinion the whole Leela/Fry thing has been extremely overused. It's dull material. Nobody cares that Leela is still trying to find love for the 400th episode and has found another shallow moron, and nobody cares that Fry is still whining about not having her.
The Fry/Whale subplot was really dumb and silly as well. Apparently the writers thought they could replicate some of the magic from "Jurassic Bark" (and honestly aside from the ending I wasn't a huge fan of that one..) But you can't pull the same trick twice, come on writers do something original.
I actually liked the alien/scam plot as it was fairly original. Of course everyone including Bender and the professor falling for the phishing scam was certainly ridiculous and too over-the-top.
Bender (as usual) is the highlight of the movie. I enjoyed watching him say those numbers and then jumping into the time portal. His humor wasn't as sharp as in old episodes, but it was funny to see him being completely obedient to those aliens for most of the movie.
Finally, the ending was not too bad. Seeing Hermes control all the spaceships with the music was a cool part, but Lars turning out to be Fry was silly.. Apparently Leela is going to continue her stupidity with dating any other guy in the universe but Fry (unless it's an older Fry.) So silly and dumb at this point...
3) Voice Acting
Usually a high point of this series, some of it was way off. Zoidberg practically has a new voice (very muffled.. I didn't like it). Scruffy and Elzar also sounded strange. Come on voice-actors at least review the old episodes and don't just make up a new voice! Lazy!
4) SONGS
WOW were they terrible! The one with SantaBot was absolute trash. I was never much for songs in animated series (the robot devil song was OK), but the songs in this movie are an embarrassment.
Overall, a big disappointment compared to the show itself. People certainly overrated it because they were "excited that Futurama was back". I certainly hope the other movies are a large improvement.
1) Way Too "Over The Top"
The phrase "if it's not broken don't fix it" comes to mind. Futurama had its own hilarious brand of humor and intelligent writing. With this film, I immediately sensed that the writers were going the direction of The Matrix 2/3 or Pirates 3, where it seemed the only thing that mattered was "making the movie more epic" at the expense of the plot and quality entertainment.
The beginning of this movie was by far the worst. Things were kicked up about 10 notches too far and it wasn't pretty.. it was like all the characters went on an energy drink binge before "filming". My friend and I looked at each other in disbelief as Leela asked, "What about all our fans?" before a bunch of actual fans started blowing behind her.. seriously??? This is the same show that spoofed Elton John as the Pharoah's musical entertainment at his funeral.. Now that's humorous!! (as Zoidberg would say). There was certainly no hearty laughter resulting from watching this movie..
2) Writing and Plot
The storyline itself is poorly written, as if they were trying to cram every possible minor character, location, and subplot from every episode ever made into this one film. This creates some very shallow and pointless situations.
Brannigan for example is on screen for about 30 seconds, and says nothing funny at all. Oh wait I'm sorry.. He told Kif to "cover his knees because they're cold". Wow, that's some real comedic genius there writers...
SantaBot appears in the worse cameo of all, having an absolutely senseless role and to make things worse, performing in what's sure to be known as the worst song ever produced on Futurama to date.
The Leela/Fry/Lars storyline is irritating and shallow, and in my opinion the whole Leela/Fry thing has been extremely overused. It's dull material. Nobody cares that Leela is still trying to find love for the 400th episode and has found another shallow moron, and nobody cares that Fry is still whining about not having her.
The Fry/Whale subplot was really dumb and silly as well. Apparently the writers thought they could replicate some of the magic from "Jurassic Bark" (and honestly aside from the ending I wasn't a huge fan of that one..) But you can't pull the same trick twice, come on writers do something original.
I actually liked the alien/scam plot as it was fairly original. Of course everyone including Bender and the professor falling for the phishing scam was certainly ridiculous and too over-the-top.
Bender (as usual) is the highlight of the movie. I enjoyed watching him say those numbers and then jumping into the time portal. His humor wasn't as sharp as in old episodes, but it was funny to see him being completely obedient to those aliens for most of the movie.
Finally, the ending was not too bad. Seeing Hermes control all the spaceships with the music was a cool part, but Lars turning out to be Fry was silly.. Apparently Leela is going to continue her stupidity with dating any other guy in the universe but Fry (unless it's an older Fry.) So silly and dumb at this point...
3) Voice Acting
Usually a high point of this series, some of it was way off. Zoidberg practically has a new voice (very muffled.. I didn't like it). Scruffy and Elzar also sounded strange. Come on voice-actors at least review the old episodes and don't just make up a new voice! Lazy!
4) SONGS
WOW were they terrible! The one with SantaBot was absolute trash. I was never much for songs in animated series (the robot devil song was OK), but the songs in this movie are an embarrassment.
Overall, a big disappointment compared to the show itself. People certainly overrated it because they were "excited that Futurama was back". I certainly hope the other movies are a large improvement.