The Simpsons Movie
The Simpsons Movie
Back in 2007, I was casually writing movie reviews, but I
didn’t have my own blog at that point. When I launched “An Aussie Goes
Hollywood” in 2012, I went back to the few odd reviews I’d written and put them
in the blog. You might be able to tell which reviews were some of the first I
wrote depending on my style, but I won’t tell you which ones 😉
And now, it’s my true honour and privilege to write a review
for “The Simpsons Movie”. How could I not? I was about 24 when it came out in
2007, and had been watching the show since I was eight years old. The TV
show has been such a huge cultural phenomenon for almost thirty years, and a
pivotal part in my childhood, and most of my teenager years (before the show
started to get kind of average).
Before Channel 10 lost the show to it’s digital-TV counterpart
Channel 11, The Simpsons was on at 6pm every night of the week, as well as on
Fox 8 on Foxtel a couple of times a day. And like clockwork at 6pm every night,
I sat down and watched it. Just like most Simpsons fans, I had seen most of the
first ten seasons of episodes several times, but that was okay. They never
aged, or lost their laughs and I could notice something new and subtle in the
same episode each time I watched them. It was the show I would watch on my own,
with family and with friends, and everyone loved it. In fact, I have only met
one person in my life who said they hated
The Simpsons. This person was not a happy in person in general, aside from
some other issues, and I’ve never met a Simpsons hater once.
The humor, the
characters, the references – every scene in every episode of The Simpsons was all
done with a flair of genius. You’d laugh out loud, in your head, and you could
predict what was happening, but then be pleasantly surprised when the show
flipped on you and went in another direction. I can’t talk about the whole
series in one review obviously, as there are entire books dedicated to the
show, some of which I’ve read. The best of them I recommend you read is “Planet
Simpson” by Chris Turner.
Any Simpsons fan
has had their sense of humour forged from the jokes of this show. I know my
mates and I can sit around in conversation, and relate everything to something
in The Simpsons. We can use a direct joke or reference from an episode or a
character, and each of us know exactly what’s being referred to without having
to say so. I consider ourselves lucky to have grown up in the Golden Era
of The Simpsons, so even if the show was lagging in its teen seasons, I
couldn’t NOT go see the movie. That would just be stupid.
Talk of a movie had
gone on for years, and rumors abound as to what it would be about. When it was
finally announced it was on the way, most people assumed the movie would do one
of two things; either kill the show off completely, or totally revive it, as by
the 17th season, the show had stalled in some ways. And the response
to those opinions of the movie’s supposed success by its long-time creator Matt
Groening was, “The movie will do neither of those things” Hmm… interesting.
What did they mean? What would the movie do for the show? I would later
find out the movie basically just played like a longer episode, but that’s not
a bad thing. In fact, The Simpsons Movie is actually very good.
And where the show
would usually focus on Homer to tell most of its stories, the movie does carry
on this tradition initially. It’s plot centres around Homer single-handedly
dooming the town of Springfield. But this is The Simpsons Movie, and
although it’s all about Homer’s stupidity, each member of the family gets their
moment in the spotlight. Even some of the more minor characters over the years
get a show in, and some you wouldn’t see often at all step in for a few seconds
to have their turn.
The basic storyline
is this. Springfield is already a very polluted town, and when Homer throws a
silo of pig crap into the lake, it contaminates the water, mutates the wildlife,
and gets the attention of the EPA. They decide to drop a giant dome over the
town, sealing it’s inhabits in and trapping them like carrots, not rats 😉. Once
word gets out that Homer is to blame, the town form a mob – again – and go
after The Simpsons with flames and pitchforks. Our beloved family manage to
escape and go on the lam, and from here, the movie drifts for a little while,
before Homer finally redeems himself. But the first twenty-five minutes of the
film are stellar in almost every way.
Considering the
show had been running for eighteen seasons with a total of four-hundred episodes
to its name by this point, with every facet of pop culture and moral
dilemma explored, the movie version would always be limited by having one story
to tell in a ninety-minute timeframe. So, does that mean they put three half-hour
episodes back to back then? No. the stakes are higher and the scope is bigger
for The Simpsons Movie, as it spells disaster for the entire town, the
family travels as far as Alaska and Marge may finally, leave Homer.
I know the first response to The Simpsons Movies was not
amazing, but it’s a film that earns its spot as an individual thing from the
show, and tends to grow on you the more you watch it. The classical 2-D drawing
style of the show was taken up a notch for the movie, with more refined
animation and a high-definition touch that makes it look sharp. The expanse of
the animation is bigger, with wider perspectives on familiar icons of the town
of Springfield, and creative use of colour and imagery. The characters
themselves also show more expression, and the long-standing voice actors of the
series, also perform well through their yellow counterparts.
Although I don’t
watch The Simpsons on TV every day like I once did, I’m still a fan. I’ve
caught a handful of the newer episodes, and by newer I mean, from season 19 onwards,
after the movie. They weren’t as laugh-out-loud funny as the early classics,
working more as a commentary on the state of the world as it is today. Still,
the show has continued to be clever, witty, and fresh. And somewhere, snuggled
in it’s now 29 seasons (and counting) sits The Simpsons Movie. There were
references in episodes after the movie, such as Spider-Pig appearing from time
to time and the continued use of higher quality animation. But the film tends
to work more on its own, as a story unlike any explored in the show, and
tending to ignore the timelines of episodes before and after the movie. How
many times has the town of Springfield been destroyed, but been rebuilt? I’ve
lost count, but I do know that Homer was to blame every time.
Woo-Hoo!
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