One time great comedy becomes sad by-product of America's Dark Age of comedy

Rating: 1/10 (1 January 2010)

To be honest, I've been a huge fan of the Simpsons since first watching it at the age of 6, and am always an avid fan of the classic seasons (1 to 8) and seasons 9 to 12 at a stretch. But since 2002, the show's fallen flat and failed to produce even a fraction of the humour or originality from it's heyday. I dreaded the release of this movie, knowing it would really only be one aimed at the younger audience that never got the opportunity to start with the classic episodes.
In the few months before its release, we were promised a new storyline and fresh, new, original jokes. However, it took 11 writers (one being the show's creator Matt Groening) to produce an overlong episode of the series as it is today, with the culmination of sad homophobic jokes and the same 8 sub-story lines that have been used since the classic era, but with extremely stale jokes.
The story (or small shred of what should be a storyline) consists of Homer taking in an obscure animal as a pet (overused subplot #1), single-handedly causing an environmental cock-up that has the rest of the townspeople baying for the family's blood (overused subplot #2) and forcing the family to flee Springfield (OSP #3).
During all of this, Bart disowns Homer for being a negligent parent (OSP #4), Lisa experiences first love for the 217th time (OSP #5), Marge and Homer fall out to an extent where they threaten to divorce each other (OSP #6), so it's up to Homer to try and patch up the family's differences after having an apparition telling him to go back to Springfield and sort out the mess (OSP #7).
If you're still awake by the end credits, make sure you catch Maggie's (10th) first word (OSP #8), that is if you haven't already lost the will to live after the extremely unfunny jokes and soul-destroying cameo scenes from rock band Green Day and actor Tom Hanks.
Avoid this movie at all costs. Alternatively, If you want to watch it for the only witty joke in 8 miserable years of pro-Bush humour, fast forward your borrowed DVD or online video to the final 5 minutes which involves Homer literally being.... I won't give it away for those who haven't seen the movie already or avoided it up to now. Other than that, it truly is one to avoid and a total waste of money, proof that Groening should have pulled the plug on the series at the turn of the millennium.