The Simpsons Movie
Trey Parker and Matt Stone should kick back and enjoy a fine glass of red wine.
As a television series, "The Simpsons" is a legend, the longest running sitcom on television, which amazingly, has generally retained its high quality. It's the gold standard; a benchmark by which other sitcoms, especially animated sitcoms, will be measured for a long time. The boys from South Park even did an episode a few years ago decrying their creative frustrations with writing for animated television - "Simpsons Did It!". But when it comes to full-length feature adaptations of their series, South Park got a leg up on the Simpsons. "The Simpsons Movie" is no "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut".
The Simpsons Movie has some (very) funny gags. One of the best ones is an aerial shot of Springfield that reveals the church is next door to Moe's Tavern. The faithful emerge from the church onto the streets, and the drunken emerge from Moe's onto the streets. They see the end of the world is coming. Both groups do a collective "eek" and run headlong into the other building (i.e. churchgoers into tavern, and taverngoers into church.)
Jokes like this are the sparks that keep the plot engine going, but unfortunately, the engine itself has problems. The movie starts with a strong premise: a prophesy, environmental pollution in Lake Springfield, and a pet pig. However, each of these points lose energy through the picture, and the film gets sidetracked with new plot points. The new plot points are events in the Simpson family lives that we always assumed would happen in the series but hadn't yet (Marge Leaves Homer, Maggie Kicks Ass, Lisa Gets a Boyfriend, etc). By the time we arrive at the third act, all the original plot points are either resolved or forgotten and none of these character arcs are given the treatment they deserve.
The movie retains its biting political satire that the sitcom was known for, but, in today's political climate, some of it is not funny, just depressing. Images of a Springfield turned by the government into an urban wasteland are reminiscent of New Orleans post-Katrina, and the scenes in the White House, with President Schwartzenegger boasting "I'm paid to lead, not read" to his former-CEO made government crony cut a little too close to home.
The Simpsons has been animated well and adapts ably to the big screen. There are sweeping establishing shots that take you through the entire town, where you get to see all of the town's inhabitants. These are gloriously animated, as are some of the crowd movement shots. For some reason, Disco Stu often stands out in many of these wide shots. But why? Disco Stu doesn't need to advertise.
Finally, it is gratifying to note there are a couple of song parodies that are very much consistent with the Groening spirit - taking you back to the "Life in Hell" bits when he would rewrite song lyrics like kids would do. "SpiderPig" and the Springfield Anthem (if you sit through the closing credits) are both awesome.
