The Simpons get a little more edgy, will this affect the show?

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2007)

In a time where CG movies are all the rage, 20th Century Fox takes a bold step with The Simpsons in their feature film. For those who don't know, unless you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, this average suburban family started off as a series of sketches from the Tracy Ullman Show, and soon it started it's own TV show and has lasted for over 18 years, having just ended it's 18th season just a couple of weeks ago. The Simpsons helped establish cartoons as suitable entertainment for teen and older audiences, in a way helped the creation of TV shows such as it's current rival Family Guy and the edgy South Park. The Simpsons started out with Bartmania as Bart Simpson was a vital character during the earlier seasons, the show often dealt with several issues, but after a while it's mostly focused on their zany antics. But frankly for a time, The Simpsons lost some of their magic, and never as bold as say, Family Guy. This movie was in the making for a while and I saw it with little or no expectations, I had no idea what the story was about, even the trailers didn't have anything solid, perhaps that was a good idea, because the movie's pretty darn funny. Make no mistake, The Simpsons Movie is extremely funny and it's pretty bold, so bringing kids is most likely not a good idea. Everything is almost perfect in this movie, from the awesome soundtrack to it's jokes and the plot. The plot could've been just a bigger episode, but it turns out to be something really big. It starts with a typical day at church with The Simpsons arriving late to mourn the loss of a rock band who died while performing in a nearby lake, all of a sudden Granpa gets a vision of what seems just random ramblings, and in the first part of the movie, Marge tries to piece together what Grandpa said, while Bart and Homer goof around and Lisa tries to talk with people to raise awareness about the pollution in the lake and falls in love with a young Irish boy who just moved into Springfield, it feels like a typical Simpsons episode except that in one truth-or-dare game between Bart and Homer sets off a colossal plot that goes up all the way to the White House(with Arnold Scwarznegger as the President). What follows are 87 minutes of non-stop humor with some great jokes here and there, some of them are very edgy even for The Simpsons standards(Homer giving the finger to an angry mob, Lisa violently slugging Bart and Bart himself skateboarding naked, so parents,it might not be a good idea to bring kids and an administration willing to blow up an entire city just because the pollution levels are high). Most of the characters are all here, they do their part well. The animation is crisp and very high-budget feel, with stuff that you'd rarely see on the TV show(though some nods from an early Simpsons episode appear, hint: it's involves jumping off a cliff). The humor is top notch, though some jokes are either not fully understood unless you have a huge knowledge of American politics or just some roll-your-eyes non-subtle jokes, but all in good fun. What's left now is how people will look at the show, sometimes a movie overwhelms a TV show to the point that it makes it hard for the show to go for the same heights. But the show's been around for 18 years, I'm guessing it'll last a little longer. If you want a all-out action packed animated adult comedy, look no further then this movie, and parents, if you plan on seeing this movie tell your kids to go watch Surf's Up while you see this one. Well-worth the time.