Saturday, July 28, 2007

The Simpsons Movie

I saw the long-awaited Simpsons Movie last night. Like most of the reviewers noted, several of the plot lines had been seen before: Homer needs to have an epiphany after losing Marge's favor, Homer must save Springfield from a pending crisis, Bart is being a bad boy. But the laughs definitely were still there.

My favorite thing about the TV show and also the movie are the subtle jokes that appear. Especially the signs in front of the Springfield Church (Thou shalt turn off thy cell phone, and We told you so). Albert Brooks was very funny as Russ Cargill, the head of the EPA, but I was a little disappointed "Arnold" was cast as the president when it easily could have been Simpsons regular Rainier Wolfcastle -- the voices were the same.

See the film, overall it is an excellent addition to the Simpsons lexicon. The reviews were mixed because the TV show has set the bar so high it is difficult to top, especially in a feature-length film. Could anyone really expect the show to stay it its peak level for 20 years and then produce a movie that is beyond that? I wonder if the writers ever thought about expanding the Simpsons story with the movie -- adding some new information to the history of Springfield? I also wondered why some of the mainstays, like Principal Skinner, Apu and Moe didn't have bigger parts in the movie. After 20 years, it would seem they had earned a bigger part in the movie.

I will purchase the DVD the day is it released.

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