'The Simpsons Movie' (Now in theaters)
Three stars (out of four)
It’s been nearly two decades in the making, but America’s favorite yellow family, the Simpsons, has finally hit the big screen with “The Simpsons Movie.” And the good news? There probably won’t be too many fans walking away from this one who don’t at least have smiles on their faces.
Homer is once again up to his usual shenanigans. He’s still doing a pretty shaky job as a father to kids Bart, Lisa and Maggie; getting in trouble with wife Marge; and getting into all kinds of trouble because of his ridiculously short attention span. But this time, he might have gone too far.
As any loyal watcher of the TV show “The Simpsons” knows, the residents of this town are the live-for-the-moment types. As a result, Springfield is on the verge of environmental catastrophe, its lake at the point where one more piece of trash could mean utter disaster.
That’s where Homer’s bumbling enters the picture. After rescuing a pig, Homer needs to find a place to dump a silo of pig excrement, and the lake seems as good a place as any (yes, this movie hinges on pig poop). The water turns black and begins to affect the wildlife, causing the EPA and President Arnold Schwarzenegger (why no Rainier Wolfcastle?) to place a large dome over Springfield, containing the environmental hazard but trapping its residents within.
Any episode of “The Simpsons” is packed with jokes aplenty, but the first 20-25 minutes of “The Simpsons Movie” might have the highest joke-per-minute ratio in the show’s run. There are just so many laughs that come so quickly during those opening minutes.
But the movie does feel like it loses some steam. It’s always entertaining, but after that opening gamut of gags, it seems like a letdown to not still be slapping your knee every few seconds, though that expectation is a tad unrealistic.
The family’s move to Alaska feels like a separate episode from the TV show. There are some good jokes, but it feels like an attempt to stretch an episode into feature film length.
And for the extra money that viewers must pay to watch this in theaters, is there anything that we get besides a greater length? The town and its denizens certainly look better than ever. There is a great deal more detail in the backgrounds. The town feels more real now. Plus, there are plenty of jokes that would have never made onto the air, including an animated full-frontal shot of a naked Bart (one of the bigger laughs and more memorable sight gags).
It’s hard to shake the feeling that this film might be coming about 10 years too late. The show is no longer at its creative or popular peak. So much ground has already been covered in the TV show over its seasons that it’s hard to think that something fresh would come out of this feature film.
And there are a lot of things that are not fresh in the film, especially for longtime fans. The dome could remind many of the device that once blocked out Springfield’s sun. Homer has become attached to would-be meals or other animals several times. The excursion to Alaska feels much like the numerous episodes where the Simpsons have traveled to another state or country. Even Albert Brooks, as the head of the EPA, feels a bit recycled; his voice sounds like the exact one used when he played supervillain Max Scorpio on the TV show.
But what makes a lot of this easy to take is the fact that the screenwriters are some of the best writers from the run of the show. They bring some extra fun and excitement to what could have been a pretty rote exercise.
And unlike the trend in “The Simpsons” TV show in recent years, these writers focus more on character than on crazy pop culture references. This is a welcome return for the show, which has always excelled when it combines its biting satire with a big heart.
This may not be the comedic Holy Grail that so many fans have thirsted for over the years, but “The Simpsons Movie” is a whole lot of fun. And much like the finest episodes of the TV show, there are enough jokes crammed within its 87 minutes to keep people coming back for repeat viewings to catch those little things that might have been missed.
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Ryan Greenfeld is a copy editor and movie columnist for the Valley Morning Star. He can be reached at ryang@valleystar.com.
