That movie should have been done 10 years ago

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2007)

Imagine the setting: You are in the mid-90s, and as a young teenager you watch The Simpsons religiously every day. If you switch channels, you can three or even four episodes back-to-back every day of the week. You just watched the classic "Who shot Mr. Burns" and think it would be awesome if a movie could be made about America's most famous dysfunctional family. Unfortunately, the movie came about 10 years too late.
Let me be clear, if you are like some people I know and quit watching cartoons of any kind after watching The Simpsons in your teens, you will love this movie as it is very faithful to the TV show. If you expect a Simpsons episode stretched to 90 Minos and with a bigger budget for the animation, you will be well served because it is no more than that.
Unfortunately, some people like me kept watching cartoons since then and after the Simpsons came South Park, Family Guy, Futurama, ATHF and all the other weird Adult Swim shows. In the last decade, cartoons have been getting more absurd, more gory, more extreme and keep raising the bar higher while The Simpsons stay always the same. This is the reason why I didn't like the movie: What was a good cartoon in 1995 is mostly uninteresting in 2007 and there is not enough cartoon violence in The Simpsons to make it as timeless as the Looney Tunes.
I didn't like the new kinda-3D animation they gave to certain scenes, and the animation in general feels increasingly dated compared to the newer shows. This could be easily forgiven if the story was good, but unfortunately it is pretty boring. Plot twists can be seen miles away and the "subtle" political references as well. There was WAAAYY too much cheesy moments as well. Bart has somehow mutated from being the town's little hell-raiser to become an emo boy using Ned Flanders as a surrogate father! I remember yawning in the theater through all these boring corny "family" scenes waiting for the occasional joke. Where were all the funny minor characters! It seems like the creators of the movie didn't want to offend the fan base and created a perfectly unoriginal and sanitized 90-minute episode that doesn't need at all to be shown on the big screen. The movie simply doesn't push the Simpsons above the regular TV shows as South Park did with its movie. I now regret to have paid 10$ to watch this movie, what a disappointment. I should have stayed home and watch three shows back-to-back like in the good ol' times...