The Simpsons Movie

Year: 2007
Director: David Silverman
Voice cast: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer


The Simpsons......that familiar theme song starts to play and the most dysfunctional family in America comes on the telly to make you laugh with their antics. It's been nearly two decades since Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie first graced our TV screens, and now their big silver screen debut is here.

The Simpsons is well known for taking stabs at pop culture and making fun of staple and popular elements in their own way. In fact, for this film, it starts no sooner than the moment 20th Century Fox plays its familiar theme, as the whining kid Ralph hums the theme simultaneously. Then Homer starts to talk about us audiences being suckers for watching this film at the cinemas when we can just watch it at home for free. Haha. This is the genius of Matt Groening, of course.

OK, on to the story. Homer saves a pig from being slaughtered by a fast food restaurant, and totally falls in love with it. Yeah, no kidding. In fact, he loves it so much, it affects his relationship with Bart (like there ever was one anyway). Anyway, taking care of the pig leaves Homer with a lot of pig waste to dispose of, and despite Marge's warning to not throw it in the lake (especially after the environmentally conscious Lisa warns the people of Springfield about the lake's pollution), he does it anyway. The lake is damaged beyond repair, forcing the government, led by President Arnold Schwarzenegger no less, to seal Springfield inside an unbreakable glass dome.


The people soon find out that Homer was responsible for it and proceed to hunt him and his family down. But with a little help from Maggie, the family escape beyond the dome and move to Alaska. Springfield continues to try breaking out of the dome, which is when Presidential advisor Russ Cargill takes steps to destroy Springfield by blowing it up. When Marge learns of this, she tries to persuade Homer to help her. But when he refuses, she takes the kids and leaves him, forcing him to reevaluate his life and return to save the town that exiled him. Meanwhile Bart, in desperate need of a father figure, turns to his neighbour Ned Flanders for solace.

If there's one thing that I like about The Simpsons, it's the show's spontaneity. Matt Groening knows how to make a normal situation funny by turning it on its head, we've seen it dozens of times on the TV show. Here, he and director David Silverman succeed in coming up with a plot that can stand for 87 minutes of viewing. All the characters from the show make an appearance, though characters like Mr Burns, Smithers, Apu and Principal Skinner hardly have screen time. You can also expect some drama from Marge and even Bart, which may even make you cry. Oh, there are also some worthy cameos from Tom Hanks and Green Day to savour.

But after it's over, you will realize something. Familiarity. What you see isn't really new or groundbreaking. Sure, the story may be good, but it's not going to make you say or think that you haven't seen it before. If you're familiar with the show, what you will see in this movie will not impress you too much. Perhaps the producers waited too long before coming up with this movie, since the show is such a phenomenon in the present day. No doubt it's hilarious, but you'll feel as if you're at home watching those half hour episodes. Kinda reminds you about what Homer said at the start of the picture, doesn't it?

I'll give it a 'not bad' for a film, but I think the die hard fans will love it more. (3.5/5)