"That's good..but not great"

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2007)

My thoughts on the movie can be summed up by that Homer Simpson quote above (and if you are the type of person who recognizes that quote and remembers what scene it is from then you probably share my sentiments).
The movie was decent, better than anything produced in the last 5-6 years, but still far short of the glory days (Seasons 5 - 9).
Here is basically what kept this movie from being really great:
1) very minimal focus on supporting characters...some characters (Sideshow Bob, Skinner, Supernintendo Chalmers, Skinner's mother, Apu, Gil, Groundskeeper Willie, Milhouse's parents, Sideshow Mel) were completely nonexistent. Oh, and Flanders (the secondary character who was featured the most) had 1 funny line at most. (the one about Buddha).
2) I understand that a movie needs a much deeper plot since it is much longer than an episode but this was just focused too much on the plot and not enough on creating worthwhile funny gags. Also, episodes usually have 2-3 different ideas going on at the same time but this didn't really (at least outside the Simpson family). There was the whole Simpsons running away which turned into saving Springfield thing. The only other plot ideas were the Homer & Marge (which has been done at least, what 5 times already) and Homer & Bart (which has also been done several times).
3) Most of the humor in the film was shallow, slapstick humor, not the good deep sarcastic, witty humor we've come to know and appreciate (And you call them steamed hams despite the fact that they are obviously grilled..Well, I,..Um, One thing I should....). It seems to me that this movie was clearly made with the masses in mind (as compared to hardcore fans) and the type of humor/jokes reflected this.
An example: I thought the following line was one of the funniest in the movie: Cletus: You know how I'm able to that trick with my thumb Cargill: 4 generations (or 40 years I can't remember which he says) of successful inbreeding?
In the theater like 3 people laughed (and I was one of them). Yet at the start of the movie when Homer was trying to hammer the nail and he jammed the hammer in his eye, the whole crowd (except for me) was going nuts.
Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie..I just didn't love it..I don't remember any lines/gags/scenes which are so memorable as to repeat over and over again (i.e. Pray for Mojo, Steamed Hams, Homer buying the matter transporter--"2 dollars..um, well, I don't know.... I'll give you 35 cents"...)
Oh and one other thing. If you see a review from a person who says that this was the funniest movie ever and non-stop laughs, etc..they probably weren't born before 1990 and haven't seen any Simpsons episodes pre-2000 because there's no way any hardcore tried and true Simpsons fan would have come to that conclusion after seeing this.