Overall Rating
  Awesome: 44.87%
Worth A Look: 39.74%
Average: 6.41%
Pretty Bad: 3.85%
Total Crap: 5.13%
6 reviews, 42 user ratings
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| Simpsons Movie, The |
by William Goss
"Springfield of Dreams"
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After eighteen years and over four hundred episodes, "The Simpsons" have finally upgraded from the small screen to the silver screen, and worth it, the wait has been. In a world seemingly divided into three parties – devout fans, passive fans, and those without televisions – it’s hard to imagine anyone could want much more from 'The Simpsons Movie.'The story unfolds at a breakneck pace, with the gags – near matching in quality as quantity – following suit. The plot is that of any episode: Homer’s impulsive nature leads to a greater crisis, Marge stands for it, Bart doesn’t, and Lisa grows smitten with a like-minded fellow who just moved into town. The lesser the details, the better.
The jokes themselves are near relentless in their pervasiveness, varying only in pitch between satire and slapstick, the relevant and the irreverent. Quite literally crammed with them from the opening studio logo to the final frames of the credits, it’s hard not to marvel at just how little downtime there is across an eighty-seven minute span and just how precious few of the gags miss their mark along the way. Like the plot, the best bits are best left unspoiled, but I’d be remiss to leave unmentioned the (arguable) highlights: a glimpse of Bart’s parts, a very special message from Ralph, and the Simpsons’ arrival in Alaska, “where you can never be too fat or too drunk.” With a voice ensemble like this and about a dozen credited writers, it’s only a further testament to how both sharp and stupid humor can work in equal measure, particularly when Hollywood’s run-off seems to insist otherwise on a weekly basis.
Beyond that, there occasionally arrives moments of – dare I say – genuine poignancy that only a relationship of nearly two decades could build to, when Marge and Bart each decide that they simply can’t bear Homer’s blunders any longer. The end result falls somewhere between South Park and Beavis and Butt-Head so far as television adaptations are concerned: it should satisfy fans and newcomers alike, without necessarily surpassing the show itself. That’s a tall order, to be sure, since the former example proved it possible and few others have. As far as The Simpsons are concerned: it’s bigger, longer, and uncut, but an extended episode nonetheless, albeit one that plays to the show’s strengths (of which are many) and dodges its weaknesses (of which there are… any?).
Sure, chances are your favorite character doesn’t get enough screen time, and some subplots fall by the wayside, but ultimately, the appeal of the big screen in regards to Springfield-set shenanigans is the chance to laugh it up alongside fellow fans, something a living room won’t exactly accommodate for. I’ll be damned if this cartoon community doesn’t manage to bolster the notion of live-action locals gathering before a collective television set and chuckling – a lot – together.From the outset, Homer decries viewers for being suckers if they’re paying ten bucks to see something on the big screen that they could see on TV for free. What the big H fails to understand is, that’s perfectly fine by us.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=16398&reviewer=409
originally posted: 07/28/07 03:19:12
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USA
27-Jul-2007 (PG-13)
DVD: 18-Dec-2007
UK
27-Jul-2007 (PG)
Australia
26-Jul-2007
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