A fun watch but not a classic

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2007)

The Simpsons Movie is consistently mildly amusing but the big, BIG laugh never arrives. There's nothing that's particularly brilliant or surprising, especially when you remember what episodes in the first 10 years of the series threw up. This could be because we're over-familiar with the show and were expecting too much from the movie. It was never going to be a movie of an 18-year-old TV show that was going to provide the year's most remarkable, invigorating, innovative cinematic experience. Still, it's a good natured, good hearted film which seeks to entertain. My favourite moment, by far, was Bart's nude skateboarding, it's splendidly done.
That this is in the IMDb top 100 already (and My Name Is Bruce has entered the top 200) clearly demonstrates how unreliable the ratings system is. I can't say I really understand how it works. IMDb claim it's the thousand most regular voters who make the chart. Presumably the special thousand are constantly changing. But how does that explain the high new entries of movies popular with certain fan types, followed by their gradual sliding? So the fan boys are also the most prolific voters? All very strange, and surely a sign of a system in need of a change. How about barring films from entering the top 250 until they're at least one month old?