It's difficult enough nowadays creating a movie version of a successful cartoon TV show without being heavily pressured by the fact that it must live up to the hype. With The Jetsons film, I didn't expect much. With Aqua Teen Hunger Force, I expected little. With the Spongebob Movie, I expected too much and got too little. But beneath the history of all successful cartoon TV shows lies the Simpsons. The golden city on the hill. The hallmark of laughter. The statute of comedy. The temple of ....purgatory. Eh, I'm not good with words. But the simple fact is The Simpsons has been on TV for 20 years. It's nuts. But in those 20 years, the Simpsons have become something of legend. What began as a hoaky budget cartoon shown a few minutes between Tracy Ullman skits, had steadily grown into a widely, worldly, phenomenally successful icon of American culture and entertainment.
And when the word got out that a Simpsons movie, after 15 years of pleading and prodding from fans all over the world, was finally seeing the light of day, it conjured several ideas in my mind:

1) Perhaps this was finally the end of the show. What better way to end things then with a big film to blow everything out of the water.
2) Finally something my family and I will go out and see together as a family.
3) Finally we can die in peace.


BUT THE BAD ONES ALSO RESONATED IN MY MIND:

1) What if it sucks?
2) What if they don't show enough characters?
3) What if they don't get a million celebs in it like
they should?
4) What if it's too short?
5) What if the story is weak?
6) What if it turns out not to have been worth the wait?


These are the things you start thinking about as a long-time fan, let's face it, I was thinking these things even before the movie came out because the show currently has some of those problems. In my opinion, the show has changed dramatically over the years. Earlier episodes had a certain brilliant charm that today's episodes just don't match anymore. The Simpsons seemed to have drifted away from their then-typical character-driven plotlines and stories to just focusing on either parodying everything else on TV, or just seeing Homer get injured every other minute. Don't get me wrong, the Simpsons are still funny more often than not, and my love for them keeps me watching. However, the movie has proven to me that you just can't expect too much out of these things because you're most likely going to be let down. In this case, I only partially was.

It's very hard to review this film without revealing too much, and virtually everything in the first half of this film is worth leaving to you to discover. So I'm going to review this film a certain way. I'll review it in terms of how it would appeal to different groups.

To those of us who are long-time, well-established, and loyal fans of the show, back in its early days and even today, I worry that you above everyone else are going to want the most from this film and end up expecting the world. And I won't lie. The film could have been much better than it was. Seeing as how the show has introduced so many hundreds of characters over time, many with their own stories and experiences to dwell upon, it was more like they were all thrown in the film as window-dressing rather than to bring back all kinds of memories. It was like the film was a huge "Where's Waldo?" picture and us fans were reminded by whatever characters we could spot in the crowd, because they sure are EVERYwhere in this film! It would have been fun for lots of the old characters to pop up often and add something to the story instead of just being background art. But really, there's only about a handful of people in the film that have much to do with the plot. There's Skinner, Burns, Riviera, Apu, Chief Wiggum, Grounds Keeper Willie, the Simpsons themselves, and a lot of the other main characters. But only a handful of even those show up more than a few minutes. It just left me feeling a tad empty. But I digress.

Fans of the show will be greatly pleased with the film's courage to push the envelope, following a bit in the footsteps of South Park and such. The film isn't gross or crass by any means, but certain scenes (Bart riding his skateboard naked for one) will just have you getting your money's well worth in laughter.

Children would also be appealed to, despite the film's PG-13 rating for some mild language and, well, yes brief nudity. The film lives up to a lot of the show's current charm (Homer getting hurt repeatedly), and the antics, sound effects, vibrant top-notch animation, and certain scenes referencing some past Disney films will certainly please children immensely. If you don't mind them hearing a few "d-mns" and "-ell"s, then you're good to go.

The best part of the film is basically the first half. The creators knew that the beginning was what every fan and viewer would be expecting to live up to the standards of the infamous Simpsons intros, and for the most part, it pulled it off just great. The Simpsons also lived up to their occasional effort of trying to be outside of the box and a few of the funniest gags in this movie are thankfully rather unpredictable. Of course any die-hard fan of the show also definitely senses what's going to happen here and there immediately before it happens. And even though that can be a bit unfulfilling when watching the show, it still makes you laugh during the movie. And isn't that what matters most?

But like I was saying, the best part of the film is the first half. That's mainly because you have the introduction, you have a couple of old characters show up, you get a load of the gags out of the way, and really all the most clever things happen in the beginning. But then the plot starts opening up and then it becomes all about that. The plot, by the way, was not so fulfilling. Basically the whole point of the film is that the water supply of Springfield has become so polluted from the community that it's become a health hazard to the surrounding area. So the government, headed by President Swartzeneggar (why he's president is beyond me. A president Bush could have offered some better laughs) decides to entrap everyone in the town inside a dome of epic proportions. Because Homer had a growing hole inside his backyard that he never repaired, him and his family secretly have a way of getting out of the dome, and since Homer was basically the straw that broke the camels back (his own pullutant in the water turned it worse than anyone else and caused the government to put up the dome in the first place), the news reports pin the problem on Homer and so the town hates him and his family, tries to kill them (in the classic "mob" formation), but the Simpsons escape through the hole that no one seems to know about and try to start a new life in Alaska (Alaska? What the heck is going on??). They're in Alaska for a brief while, time enough for a few lame avalanche and eskimo jokes, but then Homer's family feels bad about the town, not to mention they're as angry with Homer as the town is because he caused the whole dome situation by dumping in the water, and Lisa's environmental persona surfaces often, as is expected. So then the government decides, "What the heck, let's just nuke Springfield". Brilliant, eh? Ffffft.

To be fair, the film delivered the laughs where it counted, but the plot seemed quite a bit cliche when you're familiar with past Simpsons episodes. The show has had plenty of episodes on TV that end like this film does. The emotions and problems involved in the story of the movie didn't even seem to use any buildup of events from past episodes. In fact, nothing much seemed to! Seeing as how this film is speculated to be considered the final Simpsons show, let's just say that I sure hope it wasn't. You definitely won't feel any closure to the Simpsons as we know them.

Overall, this film was not all of what I wanted it to be. I'm not being condescending, but I think I could have helped this film with a few fresh ideas. On the other hand, it's fair to say the film was still pretty great. There were plenty of genuine, memorable laughs that I will treasure forever, and a few suprises that I didn't expect the Simpsons to do, and the visual quality was outstanding.

However the negatives are just unquestionable. Placing aside Albert Brooks, who is actually a bit of a regular on the show anyways, there was really only one celebrity voice in the film. ONE! THAT'S IT! And to think the film made no connection with their Tracy Ullman counterparts was just dissapointing. But putting nitpicking aside for just a few seconds, let me quickly suggest you still go out and see this film right away. And wait for the ending credits to finish. There's a tag.

Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Funny Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Plot