Futurama: Bender's Game

Incentivise that employee for a great movie.
This movie is completely independent from the other two films, with everything back to normal at the beginning of it from when the last ended. It's pretty easy to follow along for thsoe who haven't seen the other two, or even the rest of the series. As others have mentioned, this movie takes on a D&D / Lord of the Rings feel to it as it explores the fantasy realm, but it's nicely explained as to why it happens that way. Everything seems to blend together well in this movie (the various subplots set up at the beginning join together). The movie also refers back to the original series and explains various things: a possibile origin between the Farnesworth-Wordstrom rivalry, more on the Mom-Farnesworth relationship, Nibbler being picked up off Vergon 6 as it implodes (and why it does implode), and a few other things. I think all of these add to what's known in the Futurama universe without taking away from anything, and fits very well in to what is already established.

I...

The unmistakable stench of dwarf urine!
The first two Futurama movies were ok (well, to be honest, Beast with a Billion Backs was terrible), but this third installment is a winner. It has all the sly humor from the classic Futurama seasons that you've missed, and then some. I enjoyed the greater inclusion of Dr. Zoidberg.

The premise is quite true to life; the Planet Express crew must deal with the increase in dark matter fuel prices. This somehow segues into a Lord of the Rings plot which I won't spoil, but it actually works out quite well. We have an interesting tie-in between Mom and Professor Farnsworth.

All the old favorite characters are here too, including Morbo the Annihilator, Nibbler, Sal, Scruffy the Janitor, and George Takei. I didn't see Zapp Brannigan or Kif, but they weren't missed, and would've detracted from the story, or rather, the semblance of a story.

In conclusion, I think it's the unmistakable stench of dwarf urine that makes this Futurama movie a winner!

What do barbarians, great axes, and Bender's Game have in common?
I'm the target audience for Bender's Game. A lifelong gamer of over two decades (yeeck, I'm getting old), I also know and love the book by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game. With the title alone, the Futurama writing staff is clearly letting me know this is the movie for me.

Bender's Game starts promising, with jokes about the rising cost of fuel prices. There's also a sly joke about Leela's anger issues, which are controlled by a shock collar. A shock collar Leela starts to find ... titillating. Just when things get interesting and this plot point could turn into something awkward and funny, it's dropped.

Bender discovers that he has no imagination and, aggravated that he can't participate in a game of Dungeons & Dragons, flips out Mazes & Monsters-style, renaming himself Titanius and wandering the sewers. He then gets sent to the HAL institute, Arkham Asylum for robots. This plot point is pursued to a point and then dropped.

Meanwhile, Mom (that's...

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