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Review by 385
Added: August 24, 2007
"The Simpsons" has been around for 20 years and has become one of the most successful and iconic TV shows out there. Indeed, it currently holds the record for the longest running American sitcom as well as the longest-running American cartoon. And now, in this age of unoriginal movies, it has made the inevitable leap to the big screen. Maybe I should start by saying I was never a huge Simpsons fan. Sure, I watched it if it came on and I usually enjoyed it, but I never raced to the TV to catch it. In fact, when the movie was announced my exact thought was "meh." And after watching it, not much changed.
The citizens of Springfield are enjoying a Green Day concert on a stage floating in the lake. The lake is so corrosive due to pollution that it actually eats a hole in the bottom and causes it to sink. After all, the primary means of getting rid of any waste in Springfield was simply to dump it in the lake. Naturally, this is enough to persuade Lisa to go off on a successful campaign trying to get the citizens of Springfield to stop polluting the lake so much. Meanwhile, at Green Day's funeral, Grampa Simpson has a vision of horrible things to come, but only Marge pays attention to him and sets her mind on deciphering the cryptic warning. While she's preoccupied with that, Bart has begun to grow tired of Homer's shitty paternal skills, and finds himself drawn to Ned Flanders' more nurturing style. Oblivious to this, Homer has adopted a pig, building a huge silo to store the pig crap in. The silo is full in no time (Homer helps a little) and Marge forces him to dispose of it. With the lake no longer an option, the line for the town landfill is long as hell. Being the Homer we all know and love, he ignores the town's efforts, dumps the silo in the lake and calls it a day. Being the straw that broke the camel's back, this final pollutant in the lake has disastrous effects, causing hideous mutations in the wildlife. The EPA finds a mutated squirrel, which convinces them it's time to take drastic action. With the approval of President Schwarzenegger, Springfield is quarantined by putting a huge glass dome over the entire town. Now completely sealed off from the world, the newly trapped residents find Homer's silo and realize he is to blame for the quarantine. Forming an angry mob, complete with pitchforks and torches, they storm the Simpson house. And that's just the first half of the movie.
As you can tell, there is a lot going on here. In the first half, all the members of the family have their own thing going on and the story's constantly weaving back and forth between them. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to keep track of what's going on, but the sheer number of things happening at once brings it down a bit. The second half is completely different, having more than one instance where the story gets unbelievably slow. But worst of all, the movie is just not that funny. Sure, it has a few laughs here and there (I thought Bart's naked skateboarding scene was hilarious) but they're just too far and few between. The main problem lies in the fact that they just put way too much padding in to hit that ninety minute mark. In my humble opinion, they should have left out some of the fluff, added a few laughs and turned it into a three or four part season finale, since it's not that bad of a storyline in itself. Instead we're treated to this completely unnecessary movie. After twenty years, this is definitely not the Simpsons' crowning achievement. 4/10
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![The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51-PtoIH95L._SL75_.jpg "The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray]")
