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Bookmark this pageThe Simpsons Movie (2007)
Director: David Silverman
Synopsis
It’s taken 18 years, but 'The Simpsons', the phenomenally successful animated sitcom, has finally made the transition to the big screen.
Movie review
From Time Out London
‘The Simpsons Movie’ opens with an Itchy and Scratchy short that the Simpsons clan turns out to be watching in a movie theatre. Homer is unimpressed: ‘Why would I pay to watch something I can see for free at home?’ It’s a confident gag on the part of the cartoon’s creators; perhaps a little too confident, as it turns out, for although this long-awaited big-screen outing for Springfield’s finest is far from disappointing, it can’t be said to represent the quantum leap from the TV series that fans might have been hoping for either.
We open with business as usual: Homer is lazy and dumb, Bart running wild, Marge concerned and Lisa thumping a worthy tub (specifically environmentalism, with a town hall presentation on the state of Lake Springfield entitled ‘An Irritating Truth’). Homer’s devotion of his limited mental energies to an infatuation with a pig instead of his daughter’s words prompts a catastrophe that places the whole town in existential danger, and the family in the path of its wrath.
The movie offers several risqué touches you wouldn’t get on TV, from Bart’s ‘doodle’ to Homer flipping his fellow citizens the bird, and a level of technical sophistication that outstrips the series, with several set-pieces and action shots that achieve real cinematic impact. Overall, however, too many elements are familiar from the small screen, from the threat to the town and the trajectory of the family’s emotional journey to details like a Native American vision and the effects of pollution on wildlife. The main new characters – a government villain, a love interest for Lisa – feel skimpy too.
The Simpsons’ creators may, however, be the victims of their own success in endowing the original show with a more cinematic sensibility than most TV. ‘The Simpsons Movie’ does not feel at sea on the big screen and, crucially, it is very funny. The cartoon’s trademark sharpness and density of gags easily sustains its running time which, in this summer of bloated blockbusters, is mercifully compact. Some of the best gags revolve around failure to learn from painful mistakes: Homer repeatedly shocking himself on electrified foodstuff, for instance. In other words, as long as it’s funny, there’s nothing wrong with more of the same.
Author: Ben Walters
Time Out London Issue 1927: July 25-31 2007
User reviews of this film
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- ..x.beth.x.. said...
- Posted on Oct 24 2007 14:10 i really enjoyed it. Its very funny x
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- Euan said...
- Posted on Oct 22 2007 17:56 Great Film! Absolutley loved it! Well worth going to see it!
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- clarkey!!!! said...
- Posted on Oct 06 2007 11:39 Awsome i have watched it twice. if ya like simpsons you will love this!!!
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- Fourteen1 said...
- Posted on Sep 29 2007 19:26 Toosh, YOU'RE not making any sense. Write legiallly!
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- julie blair said...
- Posted on Sep 29 2007 15:22 really rubbish.. I was so disappointed
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- lil miss said...
- Posted on Sep 26 2007 17:11 this film was good. not as good as id expected it to be though as i love the simpsons. it felt as though they tried to cram too much into one film. but i am glad i went to see it
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- JP said...
- Posted on Sep 24 2007 16:06 CRAP!!! FILM!!!
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- Electric Beige said...
- Posted on Sep 23 2007 10:32 I have to agree with schnarf in some respects. It had its funny moments but seriously, after season 10 the show turned crap, and the movie followed in its footsteps. It was better than some of the recent episodes but not a patch on the classics.
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- bellbell said...
- Posted on Sep 21 2007 20:12 it was ace
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- gemzi :) said...
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Posted on Sep 20 2007 17:50
so so funny. it's definately worth a watch
hell yeah! - Report as inappropriate
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- gemgems :) said...
- Posted on Sep 20 2007 17:49 i thought it was amazingly funny! the best ever :)
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- toosh said...
- Posted on Sep 17 2007 10:26 i thot it didn't mak sence at all i thot i would have been better offf sitting on a couch wachung lazytown!
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- matt said...
- Posted on Sep 16 2007 13:44 its good
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- liam said...
- Posted on Sep 15 2007 14:15 very very very very funny film how anyone can say it was not good must of obviously been watching a completely different film to me !!!!!!!!
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- Lozzie said...
- Posted on Sep 13 2007 19:10 Brilliant film! Nice change 2 the tv show! Loved the pig. But where did spiderpig go? Please comment if u know. Ace movie!!!!!
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Cast & crew
Director: David Silverman
Producer: James L Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, Richard Sakai
Genre(s): Comedy
Rated: PG
Duration: 87 mins
UK Release: Jul 25 2007
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