Wait for the DVD (minor Spoiler)

Rating: 4/10 (12 September 2007)

It was always hard to do this, to translate one of the most successful TV shows of all time into what is frankly a very different medium. Cinema deals with the grand, things that aren't real life. The reason cinemas aren't totally defunct in a time when we can get the same image quality on our TV screens at home (besides being cheaper) is that sitting in front of a massive screen with amazing surround sound is a different experience entirely, no matter how big your television.
Who remembers the Simpsons at their best? The fact is that The Simpsons when it was good, was good because it poked fun at those small ridiculous things that made up our messed-up western society. Now we can see the writers scraping the barrel, looking for increasingly cheap laughs, just to make that extra dollar. The Simpsons name is now being milked dry, the longer they go on the further tarnished the legacy of what was once the greatest show ever will be left.
This movie, however, attempts to deal with grand events, and partially succeeds. The old story of an ordinary person (usually a guy) coming good and saving the day is a staple of Hollywood cinema. Also is the idea of a superficial plot designed to carry the main content of the film (for a good example of this, See the Jason Bourne series) and this tactic is excusable if justified by the content, but the jokes in The Simpsons simply do not cut it. The flimsy plot shows it's flaws garishly. perhaps the most annoying for me is that, having been kicked out of their hometown, the family deports to Alaska. Then immediately come back. I genuinely feel that this was simply so they could port the funniest joke of them all into the film easily (see the trailer - the huskies gag).
It's true that there are some really funny gags in this film, and it avoids being over-long. What is also true, though, is that the next day I watched a half-hour episode of the show around its peak, where the family visits Itchy and Scratchy land. Everyone, including me, has been to one of those absurd places and it is in this sense that the Simpsons shine most brightly.
Overall, it was shallow, and felt like a series of skits instead of a coherent whole. Get it on DVD rental, it doesn't seem worth a repeat viewing. Plus, Mr. Burns wasn't the villain. I could go on. 2/5