Like the Show, But Better

Rating: 8/10 (8 August 2007)

This movie is similar to the television show, except it has adventure, romance, and dare I say it, depth of character. Maybe it was a mistake to make a sentimental character out of Bart, but the movie maintains a safe distance from schmaltz.
I assumed that the movie would be no more or less than a longer version of a typical episode. It would either be the funniest movie I had ever seen or a total let down. Instead it was neither. It wasn't as funny as the TV show (granted I haven't yet seen any of the episodes of recent seasons), but it was just as entertaining, in other ways.
There is an urgency of plot in this movie that makes it different and more fresh than the TV show. I can't quite put my foot on it. There had been just as much danger in some episodes of the TV show. Homer has gone through this kind of soul-searching before. Springfield has had this much trauma before. (Remember the garbage episode when the whole city moved location?) But for some reason this didn't seem like episode three hundred-whatever-it's-up-to-now. Instead it's as if the whole series had never happened and this movie starts it all over again. Hopefully the series can build on this rather than let it pass.