The Case for the Simpsons' Movie

At the start of the Simpsons’ Movie, Homer declares “Why are we wasting our money paying for something we get to see at home?”. And, at the end of the day, it is a damned good question.

But I can answer: because, in reality, I would not sit down to watch a 90 minute episode of the Simpsons under normal circumstances. It’s rarely that I sit down to watch a normal episode of the show. Not that I dislike the show – in fact, I quite like it – but it has never been appointment viewing for me. And so, given the chance to watch the movie on the big screen, I grabbed it.

And what did I actually get a hold of? .It was an entertaining show, albeit one that could have fit quite nicely amongst the regular series. The animation was a bit smoother (they must have hired most of South Korea, and it looked like it too, as the ongoing credits indicated); the “camera angles” were often designed to make the most of wide screen; and there was the odd guest star of Gumpish proportions (he didn’t cry, thank heaven).

It was also a Simpsons-centric episode when, in my opinion, the Simpsons are actually some of the least interesting characters in the show. Homer continues to be both the life and the death of show, both providing a lot of his humour in his acts of stupidity, but also causing a lot of the tedium by that same ongoing and constant stupidity. The other Simpsons contributed… stuff, but their story arcs felt poorly developed and just tacked on to the Homer Show. Similarly, the other regular characters got wheeled out to utter a line keeping in character with their TV appearances, but then they were hustled back into the shadows to let the Simpson clan itself – in particular the Homerster – take centre stage.

The more I think about it, the more disappointing it was, so I will just leave it there and keep my original impression – one of satisfaction, though not outright joy – intact.

Verdict: It was an underachiever, and proud of it.