Worth seeing in the theater! (at least once)

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2007)

As a long time Simpsons fan, I fully expected to enjoy this film. I did. Face it, I've EASILY watched 4 Simpsons episodes back to back and that's LONGER than this Movie.
Before going I wondered if the film version would bring anything extra to watching the Simpsons, it does. Many times there were huge complicated and detailed shots that really made seeing it in the theater very enjoyable. The film might look as exciting on a large HD TV, but it certainly blows the doors off watching the Simpsons on a standard set.
And seeing it in a theater brought a new Simpsons experience for me, a live audience 'laugh track'. I suddenly was aware of how much the audience was enjoying the film as their laughter filled the theater.
As for the story, in classic Simpsons form it threads a huge number of gags together that lead to the primary driving force of the story. There's no need to be specific about the story as it's the Simpsons, anything goes. There is a brief segment after the Simpsons leave Springfield that's about 10 minutes long where the film lags, or at least I wasn't laughing (but was still entertained). Interestingly enough a majority of the children in the audience found it funny. After that it's fast paced classic Simpsons action leading up to the explosive ending.
About the only real disappointment I had was that they didn't do a huge musical number. Maybe they'll have one in the sequel (there is a tease for it at the end).
BTW  Stay for the credits, they fill them with a few things here and there to make them worth sitting through. In fact when the credits started the people sitting in front of us stood up to leave but then stopped (and blocked our view) when they realized they were going to miss more of the film. I think it's the first time I've ever had to ask someone to sit down in a movie theater.