Racism, Government Conspiracy, Religion Bashing, Gay Bashing, Kiddie Porn (ok, maybe not kiddie porn - that may be pushing it), Murder. The Simpsons Movie. After 20 years and 400 half hour episodes, the Simpsons finally make the leap into a full length feature - and they do it surprisingly well. Being a fan since the Tracey Ullman days (everybody says it, but I was f*cking there, man), I was a bit worried about what the writers and creators were going to do with simple basics, like story-line. What haven't they done on the show that would live up to so many years of built up expectations that the public would have for a movie? In my most honest opinion, they didn't really come up with anything new - but they did create something that was truly funny from beginning to end.
The animation was vibrant and refreshing, considering no other studio is actually doing full length cartoon movies anymore. The entire thing was shot in the animated 3-D settings that Groening fans would recognize from the Futurama series. While viewers should take the moment to be in awe to see all of their favorite characters in this visual format, most of the jaw-dropping going on that I noticed from the audience and myself was at the comedic level that the Simpson writers brought the jokes up to for the movie. They proved that they were able to step up and deliver in a world that has become accustomed to the shock humor of other animated franchises, like Family Dad (I like Seth McFarland - but they are basically the same show) and South Park. The Simpsons crew not only made us laugh - they were able to do it with a sophisticated yet more risky approach than we have seen on Sunday nights overall.
For the real fans - the big screen allowed for Fox to give us massive scenes with so many characters in one shot that it guarantees the box office will be flooded with repeat viewers over the next month at least. I was thrilled to see characters brought back from favorite episodes, like Chester Lampwick, who along with so many others were only visible for mere seconds during a mob riot scene that the Simpsons writers seem to love.
Most notable about the movie is that the writers were actually able to keep the attention on the core family, and kept it interesting throughout. Of course, there were the side stories for each family member - however, I was happy to see that they gave the audience what they wanted - more of Homer and a pig - less of Lisa and whatever the hell she had going on. I do think that they did miss a mark or two and could have used some secondary characters more. There was definite potential for Groundskeeper Willie to build up his library of classic quotes - but they didn't take the opportunity. Chief Wiggum, however, stole a scene or two and Martin Prince had his nerd-day-in-the-sun that got a nice round of applause from the audience. And oh yeah - Maggie talks again (not really a spoiler, believe me).
So - all and all - go and enjoy the latest story to touch the lives of all of our friends in Springfield. The fans of the show finally have their movie, I think that it was worth the wait and look forward to getting a bootleg DVD as soon as I can.
