Movie Review: The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Critical Critic: General Disdain | Published on: July 29, 2007 |
Filed under: Animated, Comedy
Directed By: David Silverman
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Starring: Dan Castellaneta (voice), Hank Azaria (voice), Nancy Cartwright (voice)
IMDB Link: The Simpsons Movie
Movie Trailer:
18 years since its FOX premiere (19 or 20 if you count the spots on The Tracey Ullman Show), America’s favorite dysfunctional family comes to the silver screen in none other than The Simpsons Movie. I’d, at most, call myself a casual fan of the cartoon – I haven’t watched it religiously for many, many years (thought the mojo was gone), choosing instead to focus my energies on South Park. I say this so you’ll understand why I was skeptical when the movie was announced, thinking to myself Matt Groening missed the train by 10 years. How right I am after seeing this.
I simply can’t fathom what Groening was thinking when he green-lighted this. Cartoons don’t need realistic or Oscar worthy premises, but what was settled on for The Simpsons Movie had to have been one from the bottom of the barrel. Lake Springfield has become a polluted mess. It’s gotten so bad, a ban on dumping in the lake is drafted. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is notified after Homer (Dan Castellaneta) circumvents the ordinance and dumps a silo of his pig’s shit into the lake, polluting it further. The solution brought forth by EPA boss Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks) is to encase Springfield in a dome. Genius. The town turns their ire towards Homer and the family, so they escape to Alaska where they look to live out the rest of their days. That is until they realize they must return to the town that despises them to save the day.
If that took 18 years to develop, then jam a stick up my ass and call me a lollipop. It’s bad enough the idea is stupid, but the writing for it was equally suspect. Gone is the whimsical nature I expect of Bart (Nancy Cartwright). Sure he’s got a few moments – most notably skateboarding naked – but overall he’s subdued. Lisa (Yeardley Smith) and Marge (Julie Kavner), both generally the stalwart figures of the show, are reduced to a sideshow. Lisa offers nothing to the film. Marge is still the moral compass for her idiot husband (Homer, for first time viewers), but somewhere along the way the translation is lost. She seemed like the idiot. My biggest problem however, is the attempt to give each and every character in the series air time. This leads to asinine scenarios which lend no credence to the movie and leave fans of the characters scratching their heads.
The Simpsons Movie should have been so much more. The general consensus in making the jump to the big screen is to do things not possible on television. A perfect example of this is South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut. Now I’m not advocating taking the Simpsons to that level of dirty, but surely there are avenues that could have been pursued. Having one of the characters run around naked and having Homer flip people the bird hardly seems like the limit is being pushed. The maverick days of Groening appear to have passed because he certainly let a great opportunity slip by.
At the beginning of the movie Homer turns and calls everyone in the theater a sucker. How right he was. The Simpsons Movie is simply a poorly thought out 90 minute television show. If it were 60 minutes shorter, it may have had the ability to make a relatively funny episode. There is little to no endearing qualities – the only folks who will find solace in this offering are the die hard fans who continue to watch the show (even as the writing slips further into the abyss). God help us all if what Maggie says during the ending credits is true. D’oh!
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About: General Disdain I love long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners and I'm a sucker for women named Helga. What can I say -- I live for the finer things in life! |
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Comic Book Guy posted a response on: July 30, 2007 | Reply
While I kinda agree that the premise could have been better, it certainly wasn’t a slouch either. So long as the lunacy of Springfield is faithfully captured, I’m a happy man. Matt Groening and the Simpsons have plenty of life left in them and I look forward to a sequel!
jerry g posted a response on: July 31, 2007 | Reply
I did enjoy the movie, but agree that Matt Groening should have been more risque with the writing. It was the perfect opportunity to let Bart go wild.
cool guy posted a response on: August 1, 2007 | Reply
The movie sucked. I was a fan in the 90’s, and now I’m glad that I stopped watching the show (I’ll still watch some rerums). The movie wasn’t funny, and Matt Groening just preached his environmental and political opinions.
The Simpson's Movie sucked ass. posted a response on: August 1, 2007 | Reply
The movie was so shit I almost had a heart attack. It simply was a 90min new episode you had to pay for, I can’t believe I was fooled to watch this garbage. I was a faithful Simpson’s fan ’til the new episodes started to appear. It’s one of the shows I hate these days.
Stubsy posted a response on: August 3, 2007 | Reply
I was going to watch this film, after your review I don’t think I’ll bother.
You’ve saved me a wasted trip
cheers
MrWonton posted a response on: August 3, 2007 | Reply
This is similar to the review my parents gave me. Im slightly dissapointed; I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m a HUGE Simpsons fan (also a BIG SP fan - The Losing Edge is my favoutite btw) and im scared that watching this film will ruin the franchise for me. The last couple series have been terrible anyway
Sean Pollock posted a response on: August 4, 2007 | Reply
In my opinion the movie was not bad, but it was not “Amazing”… I truly wouldn’t recommend anyone to see it, however it will someday be on dvd for 2 dollars or aired on television. Trust me, they can wait.
Tibi Puiu posted a response on: August 5, 2007 | Reply
That terrible he ? I’m disappointed, being the hardcore simpsons that i am. I expected more, i mean common Bart was like inexistent. :
fizetr posted a response on: August 6, 2007 | Reply
Simpsons movie, it’s another simple movie, and a big piece of shit, a fucking annoying movie
Hecky posted a response on: August 6, 2007 | Reply
I was planning on seeing this soon, maybe I shouldn’t bother.
Willy posted a response on: August 11, 2007 | Reply
I am a die-hard fan, and I thought the movie was terrible. My opinion is somewhat opposite- I think it is the casual Simpson fan who LIKES the movie, but most of us who grew up with the great writing of the early 90’s will dislike this movie. It was truly what I expected- you can’t turn a successful 25 minute plot into a 2 hour movie with a serious storyline, and have it appeal to the same audience.
BTW one of the funniest clips just came out on Season 10- Homer trying to build the BBQ grill!!
Norm posted a response on: August 14, 2007 | Reply
Yep, it sucked! I’ve waited years for this… not even funny… I chuckled twice. It’s over man, I’m through with the Simpsons. I haven’t watched them for two weeks since I saw the movie. It’s jumped the shark, it’s time to move on.
Jeff posted a response on: August 15, 2007 | Reply
I didn’t even feel like chuckling nor smiling at all. The Simpsons had a lame “SNL”ish feel throughout the entire movie, and the fluid CGI animation was VERY distracting. Well, what can one expect when FOX throws money at the producers and forces them to shove mediocre to bad episodes/movies onto us this this. The Simpsons had died years ago.
General Disdain posted a response on: August 18, 2007 | Reply
Thanks for all the comments on this one. Seems the consensus on this movie is it really missed the mark.
Norrad posted a response on: September 21, 2007 | Reply
I actually enjoyed. Maybe watching it in Thai with English subtitles added to it’s humour. But, it did feel a bit long winded. They seemed to be grabbing for jokes most of the time.
cartman posted a response on: October 30, 2007 | Reply
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut is infinitely better than this. What a disapointment.
Pauline posted a response on: November 6, 2007 | Reply
My kids have seen this and they said it was funny - so it must be!
Sirius Lee posted a response on: November 19, 2007 | Reply
IMHO, this movie’s only reason for being is to squeeze as much profit from Matt Groening’s baby before it is consigned once and for all to the dustbins of TV history. Sad to see this once beloved epitome of political incorrectness exit with a whimper.
Gearhead posted a response on: December 6, 2007 | Reply
Not bad, but this movie is no better than an average episode. In fact I’d say the movie is below par of an average episode.
AnAngryPerson's other personality posted a response on: December 12, 2007 | Reply
Haven’t seen the movies yet but being the Simpsons fan I am I probably will see it eventually even though I knew that the movie was going to be what you yourself and other people have said about the movie, bad.
When you’ve been alive long enough to see an entire series(what we call a season) of a show come and go such as the great Malcolm In The Middle. You get a feeling when you know a show is at the end of its life. With Malcolm the story’s just started going down hill, episodes felt so much shorter and also were bad as a more distinctive feature. What does this mean? Well watch a early, mid episode of Malcolm then watch an episode near the end to see what I mean then do the same with the Simpsons and you should get what I mean.
I’ve recently got the same feeling with the simpsons they’ve really run out of ideas and you can see it in the shows.
So whats next a movie, as soon as I heard this, I thought this is the final nail in the coffin of the Simpsons now the movie is out I think that the Simpsons is near the end of its life and won’t be going on for much longer.
ChrisP posted a response on: March 27, 2008 | Reply
I purchased the DVD yesterday and watched it last night. First - the adverts ran full screen, but when the movie started it shrunk to about 50% of full size (same aspect ratio). Second - the movie is terrible, truly awful. How on earth could they make this junk. I watched it for about 30 mins then ejected the DVD and put it in the bin.