ShowBiz Forum - messages #22548 .1

Prospero Blocks

Hot Celebrity Searches

'Grey's Anatomy'

Patrick Dempsey

'American Idol'

Sarah Jessica Parker

More Hot Searches

Chat Center

	Hot Movies Topic: Hot Movies
	The Drive-In Topic: The Drive-In

Board Folders

	Ask the Experts 1376 msgs in 79 dscns Latest: 5/5/09
	Industry News/... 5650 msgs in -132 dscns Latest: Nov-16
	Weekly ShowBiz... 4474 msgs in -101 dscns Latest: Nov-19
	Celebrity News... 11024 msgs in 550 dscns Latest: Nov-19
	TV/Movie Celebs 1961 msgs in 168 dscns Latest: Oct-10
	Music/Other Ce... 1316 msgs in 87 dscns Latest: Sep-14
	You Decide: Ho... 1322 msgs in 110 dscns Latest: Oct-18
	Movie Talk 6173 msgs in -71 dscns Latest: Nov-11
	Harvey Karten'... 2106 msgs in 803 dscns Latest: Nov-19
	World of Enter... 814 msgs in 121 dscns Latest: 9/18/08
	Home Video/DVD 1358 msgs in 234 dscns Latest: Oct-20
	Screenwriting 220 msgs in 31 dscns Latest: 5/10/07
	Theater & Music 834 msgs in 233 dscns Latest: Nov-18
	The Green Room 9445 msgs in 567 dscns Latest: Jun-2

Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: The Simpsons Movie

Print Discussion

#1 of 1 Posted 7/26/07 10:09 PM

From Harveycritic Posts 1632 Last Nov-2
To All [Msg # 22548.1 ]

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey S. Karten
20th Century Fox
Grade: B+
Directed by: David Silverman
Written By: Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, John Vitti
Cast: Voices of Dan Castellenata, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry
Shearer
Screened at: AMC Kips Bay, NYC, 7/26/07
Opens: July 27, 2007

There is one word that Simpsons family fans might be waiting to hear in this, the first full-length movie based on the 18-year animated TV sitcom. That word is spoken during the end-credits, the first verbal utterance of Maggie Simpson, the baby of the family (the literal baby, that is), and the word is not “mama.” Stay in your seat during the credits.

“The Simpsons Movie” might be compared stylistically to Trey Parker’s “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut,” but because of PG-13 limitations is not as funny, bearing only a few mildly risque comic situations including some shots of Bart Simpson skating nude throughout the town on his daddy’s dare. The old-style animation is bold, colorful, and easy to watch–which is fortunate since “The Simpsons Movie” is four times longer than any of its TV episodes. What adults in the audience will note is that much of the satire will soar over the heads of young ‘uns, even up to the age of twenty, because if you can believe the reports, only one in five teens and young adults can be described in any way as a news junkie, with magazines like “People” and even tabloids like “Star” making more of an imprint on their reading lives than the New Republic, Atlantic, of the National Review. While kids will enjoy the physical comedy, most if not all of the political commentary will leave them with blank faces.

This movie is primarily for adults. Even the initial verbal gag is somewhat sophisticated, finding Homer pointing to us in the audience and calling us suckers for paying to see something we could see free on TV. This is not quite true. We pay with precious minutes of our lives watching dumb commercials for products we do not need, and even the sixty-inch screen cannot compare with the Cinemascope-size multiplex venue with terrific sound. Suckers we’re not. The most fun will be gained by those of us who have been addicted to the TV series, since David Silverman’s movie has episodes that are taken from these, challenging views to say, “Oh I know that one: it came from the August 22, 1992 episode where Homer begins to strangle Bart and...”

For the few who are not familiar with the folks from this typical dysfunctional family: Homer Simpson loves his family but like so many fathers in America, he rarely shows it. He’s a slob who gambles, wrings his mischievous son Bart’s neck when the kid acts up, and barely listens to his wife Marge–whose signature 1950 blue-dyed beehive hairstyle has remained in vogue right up to 2007. Homer’s daughter Lisa is arrow-straight, finding it therefore difficult to fit into American society, but enjoys the attention of a boyfriend in the movie, a guy with an Irish brogue, while baby Maggie, whose signature fashion design is the pacifier in her mouth, never cries or complains.

The political satire forms the center, the views of the scriptwriters clearly on the left, particularly on environmental issues, but not without taking a pot shot at Al Gore and especially at former Federal Emergency Management Director, Michael Brown. When Homer, who has adopted a pet pig, collects its waste material in a huge cylinder, adding some of his own to the collection, he dumps the sewage into the Springfield town lake. To protect the country from an anticipated diseased populace, government apparatchik Russ Gargill, director of the Environmental Protection Agency, quarantines the entire town, stretching a huge, unbreakable dome over the metropolis thereby sealing the people inside. (His plan is eventually to bomb the place and its inhabitants.) Homer, who is under attack by mobs with torches, must save Springfield in order to redeem himself, though at one point he and his family escape from Springfield to start a new life in Alaska. While the EPA searches for Homer, one bureaucrat in Washington locates him on his computer, jumps on his desk, and shouts the movie’s best line, “At last we found somebody we were looking for!”

The satire, alas, is too gentle; rarely eviscerating–more on the dry-humored wit of William S. Gilbert (“HMS Pinafore”) than of bitter ironies of Jonathan Swift (“A Modest Proposal”). Some repetition could scarcely be avoided, particularly that of Homer’s trying regularly to make things up to his generally ignored wife and son. Don Castellana stars as the voice of multiple characters while Julie Kavner’s imitable scratchy inflections are perfect for the put-on Marge Simpson. A side plot involving Grandpa does not work, but Harry Shearer does well as the voice of the “good-dad,” the religious nice-guy Ned Flanders.

Those who have rarely if ever seen a Simpsons episode on TV will embrace the animation’s originality. The majority in the theater audience who have followed the Simpsons for years will feel right at home.

Rated PG-13. 87 minutes © 2007 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

Print Discussion

Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: The Simpsons Movie

Adjust text size:

Interest level:

Welcome, Guest

• Post a message

• New messages to you

Find messages


Advanced Search

Prospero Blocks

	Web Offers • Find: Astrology Chart
• Cosmetic Surgery
• Madonna's Music
• Kelly Clarkson
• Angelina Jolie
• Tom Cruise

Special Offers
Show me more info on:

Finding People

• Find a Date

• White Pages

• Reverse Lookup

• Cell Phone Numbers

• Unlisted Numbers

• E-mail Addresses

• Background Checks

• People Finder

• Fine Old Friends

• Family Tree

Cool Clicks!

• Unclaimed Cash

• Free Cell Phones

• Energy Boost

• Party Planning

• Photo Sharing

• Work From Home

• Video Games

• BloggingStocks

• Horoscope Updates

• Adult (18 & Over)

© 2009 CompuServe Interactive Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

Legal Notices | Privacy Policy