Spoilers: I recently re-watched this movie during a re-watch of the entire series. This movie is simply a travesty. I would say since episode I there has never been a bigger disappointment in scifi. I remember when this came out Futurama had been of the air 4 years, fans like myself had rallied to get the show back on the air, and then yes finally here it was. Then I watched it, then I broke the DVD in half and burned it, which I would prefer be done to all copies of this movie.But why is this movie so horrible. It is just mind boggling stupid and insipid spewing vitriol all over the fans of the show and good writing in general. So put yourself in my place when first watch this, what do you want to see for a new Futurama? I'll tell you what I don't want to see is the characters I know and love just get S*%$ on relentlessly for 90 minutes. That is really all this movie is is just the main cast getting ripped off by "Scammer aliens" (they couldn't even give these characters a name, that is how lazy the writing is in this film). And none of this makes any sense. The movie's central plot revolves around mind-control, which is the ABSOLUTE worst plot device in existence. Know any good mind control stories? No because it is just an insipid device to have a character do something with no real motivation or true inner conflict. The scammer aliens themselves don't make any sense. They are just 3 people and yet they take over an entire planet? If I'm not mistaken there are at least 5 characters that could easily kill 3 measly aliens. I wouldn't mind if they made the scammer invincible somehow, like they regenerate or have some protective shield, but no, no thought went into making this part of the plot make any sense. Simply the scammer aliens are THE WORST CHARACTERS IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.I would rather watch a Joffrey from Game of Thrones TV show 24 hours a day then watch these horrible creatures on screen for 90 minutes. This movie is the equivalent of making Star Wars VII about Han losing the Millennium Falcon to that little laughing monster that Jabba has. Then somehow Chewie is enslaved and mind controlled and proceeds to kill Han viciously, melts C-3P0 alive, Luke is sold into slavery, and Liegha is forced to do pole dances at the cantina. And just image that like 90% of the movie is just Jabba's little creature laughing at the audience. That is what this movie is.The writers of this show thankfully managed to make some decent seasons after this horrible piece of trash. Scammer aliens can burn in hell forever.

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 PlotThe 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 ActingUsually 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) SONGSWOW 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.

Me being an avid Futurama fan (as well as Simpsons fan), I decided to give Bender's Big Score a shot. I will admit that this is not as great as some of the best episodes of the series, or even The Simpsons Movie (which was released in the same year), but it's still a great return for the series. But I can see how some people would not care for Bender's Big Score. it's a bit lengthy and the storyline does drag somewhat and is at times a bit difficult to understand. I however learn to accept these mistakes and found it very entertaining and at times beautifully dark and emotional. Like in the series, the acting was superb, the animation was fantastic, and the music was beautiful. There is also a brilliant twist at the end of the film, but I'm not gonna give it away for those of you who haven't seen it. Overall, Bender's Big Score was a great return for Futurama, not the best way to reincarnate the series, but far from the worst.

The canceling of Futurama rates up there with the biggest corporate crimes of the early 21st century and probably some other centuries as well. How overjoyed I was therefore to learn of Bender's Big Score and the subsequent movies and the first installment was far from disappointing. From the brilliant opening scene, with it's subtle breaking of the fourth wall and incredibly justified slamming of those who canceled it in the first place, this is a Futurama classic.The movie and story itself is all brilliant for any Futurama fan or even anyone who only casually watched the show. Watch it, enjoy the Hell out of it and celebrate that Futurama has made a glorious comeback.I will add one parting comment: if there's one thing that the Futurama fan base can learn from "Family Guy" it's that a dedicated fan-base can prevent a show from an unfortunate end, (or two.) Remember this if Futurama is ever threatened again.