THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (2007)

Should I see it? Sure. At home. SHORT REVIEW: It’s just like the last few seasons of the television show except that it’s funny. The main hurdle for this production is the same for all films being released this year: get the commoners to pull their paunches from their couches and see the thing in the theater. Here's the big question: Is this worth seeing on the big screen? Here is the big answer: Nope. If there is any argument to be made to see this in the theater it would be that it might give you warm fuzzy feelings to laugh with a crowd. Given that our society has lost all semblance of propriety, its fair to say you may not be too fond of the crowd you'd be laughing with anyhow. Generally, there wouldn't be much difference between seeing a film in a theater and seeing it at a petting zoo. The movie itself is very funny. The series creators Matt Groening and James L. Brooks have been at this for a long time and know their material. The eleven people credited with writing the script did a good enough job. Eleven people. Think of it this way, it takes less people to crew ships into space than to write jokes about Homer poking himself in the eye with a hammer. Moving on, since we’re very familiar with the characters, the jokes come very easily. The first laugh arrives as the film comes up on the screen and the jokes remain consistent throughout. In effect, this is a well written, extended episode. In the movie's defense however, It has been quite some time since I’ve laughed this often at the theater. Then again, that’s not saying much. Cinematic comedy has been reduced down to the common denominator. They’ve done this so people educated in California’s public schools can have some fun too. The narrative of the film follows Homer and family after he destroys the environment and causes Springfield to be quarantined. There’s this long central piece involving them on the road and then they come back. The story itself works well enough. It’s not a disaster but then again it’s not worthy of having of the big screen. This is the story line Goldilocks liked. It moves along and distributes jokes at a good pace but it doesn’t raise itself above what you will see any night of the week. While I do recommend this film (when it comes out on DVD) I do have one thing that stuck in my craw. Since this is a movie and not restricted by the confines of television, the filmmakers can finally have the Simpsons do everything they always wanted them to do. It shouldn’t be surprising to discover they have the Simpsons swearing, doing drugs and other low things. The problem is that just because the filmmakers are free to do anything, it doesn’t naturally mean they should do everything. I know the show isn’t Masterpiece Theater, but there is still the question of “is this really necessary?” Do we really need to see Bart’s penis and do we need to see him drunk on whiskey? The jokes at times dip low it seems they do so simply because they can. My argument here is why go with the lowbrow stuff when you don’t have to? To sum things up, this is a fun movie and if you like the show you’ll enjoy yourself. The movie is not worth the money to see in the theater however. Wait until it comes out on DVD and have at it.