The Simpsons Movie
After nearly twenty years and some 400 episodes, everyone's favourite American family The Simpsons finally got the big screen treatment this week in The Simpsons Movie. With a show that's been declining in quality for some time and with a usual 23 minute format ... it's easy to see why many were skeptical as to whether a feature length Simpsons Movie could work. After all, we've already seen many shows struggle to to make the transition from the small screen to the big screen and with the lackluster trailers and a seemingly loose plot... I can't say I was all that excited for seeing the film despite all the marketing hype. So what do I think of The Simpsons Movie now that I have seen it? Well let me be as blunt as possible... The Simpsons Movie... SUCKS. In fact it shouldn't even be called The Simpsons Movie... it's simply a really bad Simpsons episode in three parts. It's quite ironic that the one thing that draws me into The Simpsons more than anything else is it's storytelling ability. In their short episode running time, you always feel like you go on a character journey and you feel like you have been told a story. I'm afraid this is the department of the film that needed working on the most and it's a sad thing when you take into consideration that they hired their best writers in the history of the show for this movie. The premise is flimsy one and wouldn't fill an episode of the show at it's peak. The movie centers on Homer's new found admiration for a pig, which unfortunately brings with it a disaster as the pig's waste ends up in the town's river causing environmental problems to Springfield and the rest of the world. A dome is then placed around Springfield blocking the exit of the characters from the town and their fate is then left in the hands of the newly elected President Arnie who is advised to blow the town up... forever. Despite all The Simpsons characters being present, there wasn't a whole lot do for any of them outside of the Simpsons family. Krusty the Clown, Apu, Cheif Wiggum, Mr. Burns and the rest of the great supporting cast are giving no character arc what-so-ever and IMO when your doing a movie from a T.V. show which has so many interesting characters it's to your benefit to do an epic story that involves as many as them as possible. To reduce characters like Mr. Burns to one or two lines is absolutely criminal and I really think the movie would have worked better if he was the film's villain. The obvious highlight of this problem of no-screentime is Lisa's romance with an Irish kid named Colin. They literally have around 1 minute of screen-time together and it's sadly nowhere near enough for us to care about her character's development arc. All of the funniest 'laugh out loud' parts of the movie are in the trailer and after around 30 minutes, there isn't a lot to laugh at with this movie. I mean some of the jokes are just knock outs... including anything with Homer's new found son... A Spider-Pig... and like I've said before when the Simpsons is on... it's really funny shit but they couldn't keep it going for the whole running time. But at least that running time was short. This movie is proof The Simpsons have run out of steam IMO... but those Box Office numbers will keep it running for some time yet. rating: 2.5
It is truly sad to see a show that was once at the peak of television output be reduced to what feels like a 'straight to dvd' flick. There just feels like there was no effort put into this thing at all and I felt sorry for the MANY people who lined up to see this thing, because they have truly been conned. The movie is a prime example of the dip in quality of The Simpsons and if there was ever a paycheck film... then this is surely it.