The Simpsons Movie Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Thank you, Lord, for this bountiful...

There was a time when 'The Simpsons' stood for the funniest, most original comedy on the planet, but it seems it is now entering a downhill spiral. The movie itself was OK, but it’s just an average (if elongated) episode. If “The Simpsons” were a horse, we’d be taking it to the glue factory.

“The Simpsons” has been around for what seems an eternity, and there’s only so much one can endure. This could be the straw that broke the dying camels back.

Worth the wait?

Being a fan of the Simpsons for most of my life, I was trying not to get to excited about the film (for fear of being let down.) On first viewing in the cinema I was crushed. I waited for the big laughs. And waited... and waited... and then it was over.

On second viewing at home I quite enjoyed it as a film, it works quite well. It's just not funny, or not funny enough considering it's the Simpsons! The show packs in as many jokes as possible because it only has 20 minutes to work with, the film is 4 times as long as that. You are not bombarded with jokes, it is more about characters and flashy effects.

A let down, but not as bad as it could have been!

[Highly rated reviewer]

All hail yellow

To all fans of the genius that is the Simpsons, you will not be disappointed, there is so much going on, its fantastic and i will have to go again to catch all the gags i missed the first time. The only down side is that, some of the characters just don't get enough lines because there are too many to fit in to a 90 minute film. We even have President Schwarznegger, giving his best acting performance to date.

Anybody who has a fondness the Simpsons will love this film.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

"I cant believe we are paying to watch something we see on TV for free"

I never thought I would start a review about The Simpsons by complaining but I feel this is the most salient point to be made about the movie so here goes. The truly great thing about the show is how it integrates a whole cast(Or Town’s worth ) of characters into the very fabric of the show .So characters like Moe, Flanders, Mr Burns and Smithers, Krusty , Sideshow Bob ,Principal Skinner, Martin… I could go on but you get the drift , are all as essential as The Simpsons themselves . This movie overlooks that fact. There is precious little of the supporting characters , Granddad gets a fair run out, Nelson says “Hah hah” a couple of times , Flanders ,Rod and Todd pop up now and then and Smithers And Mr Burns get one very funny scene which is far from “Eeeexxxellent”.”Spider Pig” while also funny gets more on screen time than any of the usual characters .You would think the eleven writers responsible for the movie could make a bit more of an effort to do in roughly 90 minutes what they normally achieve in 22.

Still , given that the show , and I don’t think I’m courting controversy by saying this, isn’t as good as it used to be , the movie is surprisingly good, and more importantly consistently funny ,even though it’s plot and dramatic tools have been used liberally before. Homer after rescuing a pig due to be slaughtered after appearing in a “Krusty Burger” commercial becomes besotted with the creature. Springfield is currently under going spot of self immolation over its environmental record( There is a superb early scene involving a sinking barge on the lake)and decides to clean up Lake Springfield which is going fine until Homer decides to dump a silo of his pigs waste into the lake causing an environmental disaster. This causes the Environmental Protection Agency to seal Springfield inside a gigantic dome. The other inhabitants are not best pleased with Homer and this motivates them to escape via a means where Homers laziness pays dividends for once. The family head for Alaska to start afresh but Marge finally decides that Homers has taken his selfishness and incompetence too far and the family head off back home leaving Homer to ponder his life afresh . It obviously cannot be left there and an epiphany forces him to re-consider his world view and he decides to act and save his home town. There are sub-plots involving Lisa having a romance with a fellow environmentalist and Bart bonding with Flanders as Homers such a lousy dad.

I made that sound really serious but it isn’t . There are some terrific laughs to be had on the way and as usual there are lots of clever and subtle little sight gags (Marge knitting something on her porch after EPA seal Springfield in saying “Dome Sweet Dome” is my favourite, though Homer adapting his catch phrase to“Dooooohhhmmmmeee“ is also memorable) and one or two tremendous scenes -Bart’s nude run on his skateboard or Homer making his way back home from Alaska. The film is slightly hampered by it’s plot requirements and the writers haven’t really fully explored the advantages of the cinematic medium. Obviously they didn’t want to alienate their core audience so they have taken precious few liberties. Homer flips the bird , something completely in character though difficult for someone with four fingers and of course Bart goes full frontal very briefly.

The voice work is exemplary as always and the animation while still pretty basic is endowed with extra detail and lustre . It makes good use of the opening titles( Ralph stars here) and the end credits but probably the most pithy moment comes in the first sequence when the Simpsons are watching “Itchy & Scratchy” at the cinema and Homer points out “I can’t believe we’re paying to watch something we could see on TV for free! If you ask me everyone in this theatre is a big sucker! Especially you” and here he points at us. I wouldn’t go that far in fact I found myself nodding in agreement with Marge when in another succinct moment in the credits she wonders at Maggie’s first word “Sequel?”.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Simpsational !!

Whether you watch the series or not, this is one hilarious Springfield fest par excvellance. Im equal parts big grion and belly laugh this has enough fun in it for most of the faimily (older grannies and grandads might miss the gags a bit). Take the kids along and watch what they laugh at, there are one or two close to the bone skits, if they laugh at them they know more than you think they know...

Simply a great movie to be enjoyed, highly recommended.

LAUGHS FOR ALL THE FAMILY

A great movie for all the family with a very good story line. It is really just an extended episode but despite this, the movie does not dissapoint and is absolute quality.

A must see for any Simpsons fans, or anyone who likes comedies, or cartoons, or entertaining movies, or... well anyone! I would find it hard to believe that anybody would hate this movie.

Another stroke of genious from Matt Greoning and the creators of 'The Simpsons'

Not funny.

Not funny.

Says it all...

Doohh!mme

i was going in thinking, either it will be a big dissapointment or it will be absolutly brilliant. It was the latter, and it was fantastic. Lots of funny moments. For the film there are more 'random' moments, than in the tv series, which works well, and feels more like a proper comedy than the tv series. I think its great, i hope you do too

Should be better

I caught an old episode of The Simpsons the other day: the one where grandpa wants his driving license back because he’s fallen in love with a ‘Hoochie’ at the old people’s home. I couldn’t believe how good it was compared to almost all the episodes from recent seasons (the Halloween specials still tend to be good). What has happened to the writing staff of The Simpsons? I’ve noticed that in the credits Matt Groening is only listed as ‘Executive Producer’ or some such nonsense so, beyond taking massive payment cheques, he’s, presumably, not taking much interest these days. Unfortunately, the movie is much like the recent seasons of the TV programme: okay but not a patch on what it should be. I’ve come to the conclusion that I now watch The Simpsons more from habit than desire.

[Highly rated reviewer]

As good as the series

If you like the Simpsons on TV then you'll love this movie, a longer version of your favourite cartoon animation.

Centred a bit more on Homer than Bart with loads of hillarious moments.

It drags towards the middle end of the movie but never stops to entertain.