South Park Already Did It.

Rating: 7/10 (12 August 2007)

Funny how long we had to wait to finally watch the Simpsons' family on the big screen : whereas all the TV shows have now extremely rapidly their own movie adaptation (including "South Park" after only two seasons), Matt Groening waited almost twenty years (his yellow family first appeared in "The Tracey Ullman Show" in 1987 !) to bring us "The Simpsons Movie". And hopefully, it was worth the waiting.
At the beginning of the movie, Homer Simpson yell at the "Itchy and Scratchy Movie" screening he went to see with his family : "Why do we have to pay to watch something we can get for free on TV ?". Well, like Kramer once said in a "Seinfeld" episode : "Why going in a four stars restaurant while you can eat all by yourself cheat pasta in your apartment ? Why riding horses on LSD while you can sleep peacefully in your bed ?". "The Simpsons Movie" is nevertheless bigger, larger and uncut compared to a twenty minutes episode, but the script compiles the best jokes "The Simpsons" could offer without a pause, when the direction of the movie, assured by David "Monster, Inc." Silverman is a real cinema one and looks technically very impressive on the big screen : so, no matter what, "The Simpsons Movie" is a real theater experience.
But the great achievement of the movie is to look both original and sincere and true to the spirit of the show : it almost looks like a "best of", but only with new materials. The movie is for instance, like the show, very clever and subversive in its jokes and details (the appearance of President Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Al Gore's movie parody, etc.) but ultimately very conformist and American in its moral and ending (the family is the most important thing in the world). And it's certainly this mixture of conformism in the subversion that allowed the show its wide audience and its worldwide success. The critic is here, but tempered by the message and morality of the movie.
All this will certainly pleased the Simpson's fans, or people like me, how lost their tracks years ago and are very happy to see that Homer is still inconstant and stupid or Mr. Burns still rich and mean. It almost make me want to take a look at the last season, and sure make me wait for, like Maggie said, a "sequel".