The Simpsons Movie 2007

After eighteen years of televised ups and downs, the Simpson family has finally tackled an adventure that's too big for the small screen. At the time, I can remember, this felt like a decent spot for one last, big hurrah. Who could've imagined the series would still be running today, a decade and a half later?

But that's another topic for another time. Back in the bygone days of 2007, it seemed the franchise was winding down and there was some concern that a full ninety-minute story might be more than this dysfunctional, small town American family could handle. The good news: it's an almost effortless transition, delivering somewhat greater consequences without betraying the light, sarcastic nature that's made the show so well-loved. The bad: well, it's a little bland. We get a couple naughty words, one inspired skateboard chase that never would've seen the light of day on Fox and a whole lot of fan service, but the bulk of the writing is sterile and by-the-numbers. Despite the presence of something like three-hundred ancillary characters, maybe a dozen have meaningful roles and several of those are wholly original to the movie. It has laughs, but they're easy and homogenized. Scraps of power, like Marge's video recording when she reaches the end of her rope, derive their punch from the preceding 7,000 hours of TV coverage and not the film's self-contained story. It visits new locales, but the show already did that six times a season.

To its credit, The Simpsons Movie does feel like The Simpsons, but not prime-era The Simpsons. Acceptable, not an embarrassment, with some good bits for long-term fans and fresh faces alike, but far from essential. There's something to be said for refusing to reinvent the wheel, but also for going back to the same old well. This is an accent piece, not a focal point.

As a longtime, but not entirely obsessed fan of the Simpsons, I was excited about seeing this movie. The fact that it took so many years for a Simpsons movie to be made is not the least bit important. What is though, is that "The Simpsons Movie" embodies much of what the Simpsons is about, but lacks some of its more endearing elements. The most glaring is that Homer is not just dumb or clumsy here, as he is in most of the TV series. Instead, he is mostly selfish and sometimes even mean. It really takes away from a lot of the humor. Homer's carelessness or absent-mindedness are barely present here. He's funny, but just not for the right reasons. It adversely affects the family dynamic, which is totally what makes the TV Simpsons so charming and addictive.

The relationship between Bart and Ned Flanders is funny. Actually, Flanders may be what's best about this movie.

The animation is nice and if anything, may be a bit too good. It misses the sloppiness of the series. The computer-aided scenes add some new style to the show but they aren't necessary.

Don't get me wrong there a quite a few laugh out loud moments, it's just that overall "The Simpsons Movie" lacks the wit and charm of its long-running TV counterpart.

This is a movie worthy to be called The Simpsons Movie. It goes back to the glory days of the earlier seasons. The jokes are very funny and the performance of all the voice-actors is great. Especially Julie Kavner was fantastic as the voice of Marge Simpson.

There a lot of characters that unfortunately did not get into the movie, or their performance was only a few seconds long. But with a cast of hundreds of characters accumulated over 19 seasons (at the time when the movie came out) its only natural some didn't make the cut. Still, its a shame we didn't see principal Skinner or Sideshow Bob on the big screen.

A lot of cultural references were made into the movie including: Lisa's lecture, An Irritating Truth from Al Gore's documentary, Homer who plays Grand Theft Walrus, from the video game Grand Theft Auto and off course Spider-pig from the movies and comics Spider-man.

If you love the earlier seasons of The Simpsons than you should definitely see this movie. I never had the feeling that i was just watching an extra long episode of The Simpsons, the makers put a lot of work in this movie and it really shows.