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Movie Review: The Simpsons Movie
By Doug on July 31st, 2007This review has the potential to be completely meaningless, because there is not much difference between me reviewing the Simpsons Movie and Lindsay Lohan reviewing cocaine. Too soon? That being said, my overall opinion of the Simpsons Movie is this: it was awesome, but bittersweet.
Let’s get to the awesome. It’s pretty much everything a Simpsons fan could ask for. It more or less plays out like an extended episode, albeit a very good episode (i.e. any episode from seasons 4-9). The simplest joy of it was simply being able to see the family, town and townspeople on the big screen and on a much, much grander scale (like the South Park movie). The characters themselves were also slightly modified, their edges lightly shaded to reinforce with us that yes, we are indeed watching Our Favorite Family on the big screen and not just an extended episode.
The movie itself is full of the fresh, twisted humor that has kept the show running for eighteen seasons with no end in sight. There are so many sight gags, inside jokes and jabs at anything and everything that a second viewing is completely necessary (if only it didn’t cost $11 to see a movie in LA).
That being said, I wish I wish I wish this movie had happened a long time ago. Honest fans of the show will tell you the show lost its luster about a decade ago and devolved into a half-assed parody of itself. It all boils down to the bottom line. The show is still Fox’s cash cow, still bringing in an average of 10 million viewers each Sunday. I am suspect, however, that a large amount of these viewers still watch the show just because they grew up with it and don’t know anything else. It is more or less like an old family dog that just needs to be put to sleep.
In my perfect world, the show would have followed the path of Seinfeld and bowed out after ten seasons, still fresh and still loved by its fans. Then, a Simpsons movie would have come out every couple of years. Unfortunately for the show and all of us, it is beginning its 19th season in a couple of months and has devolved more or less into a parody of itself. It was once the hottest thing on TV, now it’s more or less riding on its own coattails.
Anyone who knows me knows that I at one point was completely obsessed with this show. I still have roughly the first 15 seasons on VHS. I once spent twelve bucks and an hour and a half at an arcade playing and beating the original arcade game. One of the happiest moments of my life was when the show started airing in syndication. That was then, this is now.
Bad taste aside, the movie is still pretty awesome, even for bitter people like me. The movie maintains more than enough of the charm of the first ten seasons without loading itself up with the crappy writing that has dogged the show for the past eight years. As soon as the Twentieth Century Fox logo appears and Ralph Wiggum sings the Fox theme song, you know you’re in for a good time. Any Simpsons fan owes it to themselves to see the movie and make sure they see it in the theatre. And for those not familiar with the show, all three of them, this will serve as a great introduction.