Only an Extended Recent Season Episode

Rating: 2/10 (19 September 2008)

After watching this for the second time after a friend of mine forced me to, I asked myself, just what is so special about the Simpsons Movie? Am I supposed to believe that what the critics say is actually true? Don't be fooled. The Simpsons Movie, as it turns out, is just an extended recent season episode filled with more pointless plots and humor. It's sad too, because I was a big Simpsons when it was still going strong. What made it great was it's intelligent humor and ability to reason in a well developed manner. It was a breakthrough in television and it led to other adult themed cartoons such as South Park and Family Guy. But this, this was so disappointing I was left wondering how much longer the Simpsons show was going to last.
As I watched the movie, I found jokes to be recycled from older episodes and ridiculous plots that led to nowhere. I never understood the point of why Homer brought "Spider-Pig" home, only to disappear soon for the rest of the movie. The plot was perhaps the worst aspect of the movie. Lisa falls in love with an Irish boy, Homer dumps waste in a lake, Marge goes angry, the EPA traps Springfield in a dome, the Simpsons family escapes and goes to Alaska, Marge and the kids are captured, Homer is aided by a Native American (aka boob lady) while trying to return to Springfield, a time bomb is placed in Springfield, and Homer and Bart save the day while riding the dome on a motorcycle. When you take these plot lines together, they make little to no sense. Which is what led this movie to disaster.
The characters were also a disappointment. The Simpsons family was the only cast that actually had a part in this movie. All of the beloved characters we've come and known over the years (Principal Skinner, Moe, Barney, Mr Burns, Apu, Krusty the Clown, Mayor Quimby, and Sideshow Bob amongst others) get little to no screen time. Instead, we get EPA Guy and an irritated Arnold Schwarzenegger. Those guys, along with "Spider-Pig", the Irish Boy, and Boob Lady, get more than double the screen time that the more well-known characters get. If anything, it was a recipe for disaster. Most if not all of the characters in this movie seemed forced and uninspired. Rather, this wasn't the old and beloved cast we knew. We were watching a watered down version of the show that just happened to be a movie. 85 minutes of low quality toilet humor without an ounce of genuine talent involved, with paper thin plots on top of it. I could of asked for more guest stars, but even they haven't fared well in the recent seasons of the Simpsons, so they could of made the movie even worse than it already is.
I'm beginning to lose trust in the Simpsons and Hollywood in general, since they seem to dilute and damage nearly every movie franchise they touch. Like the recent Indiana Jones, TMNT, Transformers, and Star Wars movies, the Simpsons movie is a failure that should be placed in the bargain bin. Just what happened to the magic these franchises once had? They've been turned into corporate cash cows, and the Simpsons is no exception. If you take my advice, you would be smart enough to purchase the older seasons of the Simpsons on DVD (Seasons 2-8) and forget the atrocity that is this movie. The only part that amused me was the beginning, when Homer told me that I should be watching TV at home and not paying to see a piece of garbage on the big screen. After that little part, I was fast asleep in the theater.
2 out of 10.