The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie (2007) has occasional moments of satire and humor that bring it almost up to the level of the better episodes of the television series. For the most part, however, the film takes a single idea, embellishes it with borrowings from various episodes and also from various films (I noticed scenes borrowed directly from Close Encounters of the Third Kind), and stretches it out into an 87-minute film. It's always a pleasure to see familiar characters on a film screen. But that pleasure wears thin here. Too many subplots and a relatively thin main plotline darker than what one usually encounters in the Simpsons muck up the works. A number of set pieces do distinguish the film—Bart skateboards through town naked—on a dare from his father; Homer learns to ride a motorcycle inside a metal sphere at an amusement park; Disneyesque forest animals help prepare Marge and Homer for a romantic tryst; Homer adopts a pig and as he walks the pig across the ceiling of his house sings a song called Spider pig to the tune of the Spiderman television series. Individually these scenes are amusing, but taken together with the basic plot of the film they grow tedious and tiresome. The overabundance of subplots often seem little more than an excuse to feature the numerous minor characters of the Simpsons series. Here is the basic plot: Homer dumps the pig's manure leavings in the local lake, the result of which earns Springfield the status of most polluted city in the world. The E. P. A. decides to deal with this problem by encasing Springfield in a large plastic dome. Later the E. P A. decides to blow up Springfield, erasing it from the map. Who will save Springfield?

There are small whimsical touches here and there. Arnold Schwarzenegger serves as president of the United States. But there is also cliché and schmaltz: Marge leaves Homer at one point and takes the kids with her. He has to perform some heroic feat that will win her back. This occasionally happens on the television series, but in the film Marge's decision to leave seems more final. In general; the humor seems weak and the satire lame. The film simply takes the conventions of the TV series and tries to stretch them out into a feature-length film and the result is less than satisfactory. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999) succeeded much better as a film version of the television series. Why? Music in the South Park film was better—it featured witty, memorable songs, especially "Blame Canada." The film's wonderful opening scene lampooned the opening of Oklahoma. The film didn't sentimentalize its characters (as the Simpsons film does), and the plot, absurd and ridiculous though it may have been, was stronger and more coherent. The South Park film didn't water down its television source, while the Simpsons film does.