The Simpsons Movie

Nancy Cartwright

Bart Simpson / Maggie Simpson / Ralph / Nelson / Todd Flanders / TV Daughter / Woman on Phone (voice)

I might be the only person on this planet who has never seen an edition of 'Friends' or 'The Simpsons' ! The former didn't ever make a movie and the latter - well, it has taken me twenty years to get around to watching it, and I found it all a bit tame. With the townsfolk of 'Springfield' constantly abusing their environment, it falls to 'Lisa' and the other kids to force the mayor to take steps! A grand-scale tidy up ensues and everyone obeys the new dumping ordnances, all except 'Homer' whose need for cheap donuts is greater than his care for the lake. When he deposits his vat of toxic pig manure into the thing, the fish start thinking they belong in 'Pirhana' and President Schwarzenegger orders his EPA to endome the entire town for public safety. When the citizens discover just whom the cause of their newfound misery actually is, well they become akin to an army of vengeful zombies and the 'Simpson' family might well end up with their days numbered. I can't compare this with the television series, and it is always much more difficult to take a tried and tested short-term comedy format and turn it into a full length feature, but what this doesn't really do it make you laugh. It takes some low hanging fruit from the 'Janet and John' basket of politically correct topics and then writes some vaguely humorous jibes that take few risks or push any boundaries of satire, irony or even sarcasm. It's too light-hearted to make much impact and so we are largely left with a scene-stealing pig and some typical family dysfunctionality as I felt it really struggled along for ninety minutes. There are also too few opportunities for the engaging array of supporting characters to get in on the act, and by the conclusion I felt more the recipient of some well-meant school philosophising than some hard and gritty comedy. It is watchable enough, and there are a few one-liners that do raise a smile, but my first visit to 'Simpson'-land left me wondering what much of the fuss was about.