Hardly the cinematic event everyone was expecting...

Rating: 5/10 (29 July 2007)

It's quite hard to know what to say about this movie without being overly critical, because I am after all an avid fan of The Simpsons (or at least the earlier series of the show). Unfortunately, however, the amount of publicity this film has received does not make up for the fact that The Simpsons Movie lacks any real substance and may as well be an extended episode of the show. Of course, it has its funny moments which got the whole cinema laughing, but everything that happens has been seen before, albeit in a slightly different fashion.
The storyline is absurd, even bordering on pathetic at times and whilst it is on the whole entertaining, there are no moments of originality (except, perhaps, whilst Homer is alone in Alaska). I suppose when a show has been running for as long as The Simpsons, it's inevitable that original ideas would soon run out. It's a pity, though, that the film hadn't been made ten years ago when the show was at the peak of its popularity and hadn't yet had recourse to bizarre, often senseless plots upon which The Simpsons Movie is based.
As with the new series, the film is padded out with large doses of sarcasm (which is occasionally very immature- for example, Ned Flanders shouting out "penis"), unnecessary guest performances and Homer being injured several times in largely predictable ways. Given that it IS a cartoon, any inexplicable events may be excused, but I just didn't feel there was cohesion at times (for example, the whole of Springfield is trapped in a dome yet somehow The Simpsons are the only people to manage to escape).
So, I would say that I am very disappointed with this effort- or lack of it. The Simpsons will always be a great show in my eyes, but maybe what Homer says in the film is right after all: "you must be suckers to pay for this when you can see it at home". Little differentiates it from a normal episode on TV apart from the running time and slightly better animation.