Better than I remembered it to be

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2020)

I remember being underwhelmed and disappointed when I saw this in cinemas back in 2007. A big fan of "The Simpsons" (Really, who isn't?), it has still taken me thirteen years to watch the long-awaited movie again. My initial reaction to the film was wrong. Perhaps, as can often be the case, expectations are too strong and a critical analysis can be far too premature around something as big as a movie adaptation of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, so it requires another viewing once the dust has settled and the spotlight has moved on. Not that I am advocating that the second viewing be more than ten years later! But this time certainly let me forget most of the film and allow me to view it as though it was a first viewing. "The Simpsons Movie" is better than I remember.
Springfield Lake is a cesspit. The townsfolk of Springfield have been dumping in it for so long that the lake has turned almost volcanic. When the band members of Green Day are killed on the lake when their barge sinks into the sludge, Mayor Quimby - in a rare moment of being proactive - announces that the lake is to be cleaned out and then cordoned off to prevent any more dumping. A few days later, Homer saves a pig mascot from being butchered at Krusty Burger. He adopts the pig and acquires a silo to keep the pig's crap in. When it is full to bursting, Homer decides to break the barrier and dump it into Springfield Lake. This becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back, and it causes such horrendous pollution that it attracts the attention of the US government, who, in order to save the rest of America from the pollution, drop a large dome on to Springfield, sealing the inhabitants inside the town and preventing any entry in or out.
There are plenty of good laughs here and a good contingent of our favourite Springfield characters are given screen-time. The story is a bit pedestrian for a movie and by the time we are in the second half of the film in Alaska the laughs dry up and it does start to drag a little. Still, "The Simpsons Movie", although a far-cry from the show at its best, is by no means near it at its worst, or even most average.