Theatrical Review: The Simpsons Movie

Once again, in the town of Springfield, things are happening for the Simpsons family, Bart’s feeling neglected by his father, Lisa’s found a new love, and Homer has too, in the form of a new pet pig. It all culminates to yet another point where Homer does something that makes the town of Springfield declared a disaster are from the EPA, and encased in clear dome that there is no escape from, and yet the Simpsons find their escape only after the townsfolk come after them yet again… only to have the Simpsons being the one hope to save the day in the end.

And that’s the premise of The Simpsons Movie an event that Fox bills as 18 years in the making. This one’s been talked about for a long time, and finally it’s come to fruition and I gotta say, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, especially if you’re a Simpsons fan (which of course I am big time- I own all of the DVD sets and there’s many bits that I can quote you chapter and verse on).

Now the thing is, this does play out as though it’s one very extended episode of the show, and for me anyway, I think that’s just fine. I know some criticisms that it gets is that people think it should be more than the show, and it is in some ways (mostly technical), but that thematically it needs to go a bit beyond. I don’t know if it necessarily needs to do that, I could see it trying to stretch it’s boundaries and be an even bigger disappointment. What it does is give you what you know and love and presents it in a way that’s more extravagant and beautiful than it’s ever been done before.

And beautiful it is, it’s extremely well animated display an extensively greater dimensionality than what it does on TV. It’s a terrific blend of both 2D and 3D animation that really makes it beautiful to behold. And I got to see this in digital projection as well, even adding more to it’s presentation.

All of the voice cast are still there, Dan Castellanata, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Angela Cartwright, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer all do their usual wonderful jobs and this time they’re joined by Albert Brooks (who has also done an episode of the show), playing Russ Cargill, the EPA agent who’s out to impress President Schwarzenegger with his plans for Springfield.

Like I said, if you’re a fan of the show, you’ll definitely have a good time here. And they do, in some small ways, take advantage that they’re not on TV for this film (and there’s an extremely funny bit at the start of the film about why you’d go and pay to see something on the big screen taht you can see n TV for free). I know I laughed very hard during this film and that’s the best sign in the world that it’s working. If you’re a Simpsons fan, I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re not at all familiar with them, well then get familiar with them and then see this movie… great stuff here.