Which is more likely, that it would take 20 years for The Simpsons to make it to the movieplexes, or that, with 400-plus half-hour episodes in the can, it would still be on the air as USA’s longest-running comedy series? But whether on small screen or large, the animated family is always pretty much the same.
Whereas the South Park movie was, unlike its TV progenitor, an animated musical, The Simpsons Movie wouldn’t have seemed out of place as a three-part episode on Fox. To be sure, the animation is a notch better, and they’d be three, or at least two, of the funnier episodes, but it doesn’t feel very new. And that’s okay.
As has been true of most episodes in recent years, the main plot’s driven by hapless household head Homer, while wife Marge’s choice winds up, as many times before, being deciding how much she can put up with. This time, Homer provokes a crisis so great that the whole town of Springfield’s angry at him, not just his family. Meanwhile, bratty son Bart finds a soft spot for goody-two-shoes neighbor Ned Flanders, while ordinarily mopey Lisa meets a boy. But these are minor subplots on the road to Alaska, of all places. If there is anything surprising about the movie, it’s the relatively straightforward storyline. There’s an environmental theme, and even a religious one, which doesn’t stop the movie from making fun of environmentalism, religion, and anything else that came into the screenwriters’—15 are credited—heads. (A certain environmental documentary is spoofed as An Irritating Truth.) At the end, Homer learns the same sort of lesson about selfishness that he learns and forgets with regularity on the series.
As a movie, this pretty much met my expectations. Despite being a work-in-progress for four years, it doesn’t feel worked over and processed. There’s only one celebrity voice cameo, excepting the band Green Day’s appearance in a pretty funny opening sequence. The mildly ballyhooed shot of young Bart’s private part turns out to be brief fodder for a clever sight gag. But we get to see Mr. Burns, Krusty the Clown, Moe, Lenny and Carl, and most of the other endearingly foolish residents of Springfield. (Sorry, Sideshow Bob fans.) So, after 20 years, Matt Groening, Jim Brooks, et al haven’t broken new ground, but have made a movie to please people who’ve seen the series and liked it. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a good starting point.
IMDB link
reviewed 8/2/07
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