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The Screening Room
benders game

Bender, that wise cracking booze hound of a robot, is back. And this time, he's a geek.

"Futurama: Bender's Game" is now on DVD and Blu-ray disc. This is a review of the DVD.

The television show may be gone from the Fox line-up in favor of such drivel (yes, I said drivel) as "Family Guy" (what people see in that show, I'll never know...bad rip off...) But Fox has been wise to let the creative minds behind "Futurama" to continue in feature length form. "Bender's Game" is the latest movie which takes our crazy futuristic pals to whole new worlds.

The movie is an odd one which takes a couple of storylines and takes viewers into the world of geekdom. I had to watch the movie a couple of times to get in some of the gags I missed. The plot puts Bender into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, thereby not only giving him an imagination (which apparently robots don't have), and the ability to speak geek. The rest of the crew of Planet Express are off to battle Mom for Dark Matter.

It sounds really poorly plotted and a bit "out there," and it is. Well, that's to say it's out there, not poorly plotted. Everything comes together in the end. That's part of the charm of "Futurama." Almost anything goes and it's usually pretty funny, even if the logline doesn't make much sense whatsoever. There are some very funny jokes in the movie, including a couple involving Legos and Robin Williams.

The animation is quite well done with lots of bright colors. The voice talent in "Futurama" is in top form, giving the movie plausibility even if the story is a bit crazy. Bender (John DiMaggio) has always been my favorite character on the show, and he brings his crude charm into this movie. Which reminds me to remind you that the movie may not be suitable for all children. If you've got kids who are not bothered by adolescent violence and crude humor, then they'll probably enjoy it as much as you do.

The entire movie is filled with geek gags guaranteed to make geeks (like myself) appreciate the humor. I don't know how Matt Groening, Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen still manage to mine the geek gold, but they've struck riches. Where else can you get jokes with George Takai and Mork in the same movie? "Futurama: Bender's Game," that's where, baby!

Bill Kallay
 
Special thanks to Click Communications
 
Photos: © 20th Century Fox. All rights reserved.

DVD Quick Glimpse


MOVIE
Bender, Fry and the crew are up to no good, and it's fun

TALENT
Director: Dwayne Carey-Hill 

Cast: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Tress McNeille  

FEATURES
Commentary, Storyboard Animatic, and more

RATING
Not rated (contains some cartoon violence and mature material probably suitable for pre-teens, teens and their dads)

DVD
Picture: Excellent*
Sound: Very Good

GEEK OUT
D & D! Robin Williams jokes! More "Futurama" on the way! It's good to be a geek.

TECH SPECS
Aspect Ratio (1.78:1)

Dolby Digital 5.1

DVD RELEASE DATE
November 4, 2008

*My review copy had some pixelation issues. This may only be on the review disc on not on final consumer discs

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