The Simpsons Movie Review

If you've watched as many movies as I have over the years, you've probably noticed that, in the never-ending search for movie ideas, Hollywood almost literally leaves no stone unturned.

Ever since the invention of the motion picture camera in the late 19th Century, screenwriters have always had a tendency to borrow from other media when trying to come up with stories and screenplays.  Most of the world's classic books, ranging from novels such as Pride and Prejudice to the Bible, have been the fertile literary fields from which many films have been harvested. Ditto for plays, Broadway musicals, and even operas.

Given the popularity of television since it became the dominant mass medium in the 1950s, it's not a big shock that many TV series, ranging from The Fugitive to Bewitched, have been adapted into big-screen projects. Some, such as Star Trek and its syndicated sequel Star Trek: The Next Generation, have done well and become movie franchises on their own right.  Some, like the aforementioned The Fugitive, do well as one-shot projects but fail when the studio decides to try a sequel where none is needed (remember U.S. Marshals, anyone?), or capture only a niche audience, as the two X-Files features have done over the past few years.

Although I'm not a big fan of animated television shows, I am definitely a devoted watcher of Fox's long-running (18 seasons as of this writing) comedy about America's best-known dysfunctional family, the Simpsons, and their fellow citizens of Springfield, U.S.A.

Although The Simpsons Movie has a coherent storyline in which the typically well-meaning but clueless Homer Simpson causes a catastrophic environmental disaster that results in the town's being sealed off by a huge dome, it's essentially a series of sketches wittily connected together. Each situation leads to the next in offbeat and highly irreverent Simpsons style, with references to Titanic, sight gags (when Lisa is canvassing the neighborhood about the environment, a house literally runs away), and a whiz-bang "Itchy & Scratchy" introduction which mutates into a broad swipe at movies based on television series.

I can't believe we're paying to see something we get on TV for free! If you ask me, everybody in this theater is a giant sucker! Especially you!

I missed seeing this when it was released in the summer of 2007,  but watching The Simpsons Movie on DVD is still a cinemaphile's treat. Heck, even the DVD package is funny; it features a picture of doughnut-loving Homer munching on a pink-and-covered-sprinkles doughnut, while on the logo (the O in the word "Movie") there's a "ghostly" spot where the treat was supposed to be.

(There are other little "just for the DVD" jokes, such as Professor Fink's sing-songy rendition of "...Movie...on the small screen" during the main title sequence, or the fictitious disclaimer from the Environmental Protection Agency promising that it would never, never abuse its powers. There's even humor in the Menu Selection options list...just watch what happens when you press Enter on the Play Movie option.)

Normally, I shy away from any movie written by more than three writers; those tacky new-generation movie spoofs a la Date Movie and Scary Movie tend to be so messy because they are written by committees of four or more screenwriters. As a result, the humor tends to be hit-or-miss.

The Simpsons Movie was written by 11 staff writers and/or producers of the television series. including the show's creator, Matt Groening, and Al Jean, James L. Brooks, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, and Jon Vitti. In most cases, this would be something to worry about, because "too many cooks spoil the soup," but not so here.
The writers know and love all the characters, warts, evil traits, and clumsy stupidity nonwithstanding, and they apparently took their time developing the plot and the gags. (According to the directors' commentary, it took three years and many, many revisions to get the screenplay to have the right balance of material that would appeal to long-standing fans of the TV series as well as to first-time viewers.)

The widescreen format of the film allows the animators to lavish a great deal of detail to even the most crowded of mob scenes; usually the time limitations of creating a regular episode for Fox TV (which, as usual, gets its fair share of ribbing) doesn't allow the artists to draw all the characters in similar situations. Here, whether we see them in Rev. Lovejoy's church or angrily wanting to lynch Homer for nearly destroying their town, we see everyone, from Bart Simpson to the Crazy Cat Lady, in clear detail.

Of course, the series' irreverent humor, which includes a skateboard sequence that's an homage to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, a spoof of Walt Disney's schmaltzy animal characters, and a depiction of a federal government so inept that employees cheer when they finally do something right, is not for everyone. The humor isn't too raunchy, mind you, but it does contain satirical references to religion, government, the institution of marriage, and doughnuts (among other things) that might offend some viewers.

I really wanted to see this at the movies when it was released in theaters in the summer of 2007, but I'm satisfied with The Simpsons Movie on DVD. It's a great format in which one can enjoy all the zingers, sight gags, and the wonderful "wrapped in hilarity" morality play that makes a point but not in a self-important manner.

Or, as the evil owner of Springfield's nuclear plant would say about both the movie and the DVD, "Excellent."