The Simpsons Movie

TV shows are generally translated into movies after they go off the air; only very rarely does a TV show make it to the movie house during its small screen run: The X Files is one example: the movie, subtitled Fight the Future, was a disappointing chapter in the show's complicated mythology arc. South Park is another show to make the jump and then leap back into the tube, with Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, an over-the-top potpourri of filthy language, show-stopping musical numbers, and the Comedy Central hit's irrepressibly outrageous humor: a true gem.

Now The Simpsons pulls the same daring trick, and if we're to take the two above examples as establishing the range of success for mid-run big-screen treatment, the resulting The Simpsons Movie lands somewhere in the middle.

The movie has all the hallmark Simpsons qualities: the Matt Groening style drawing, the vivid colors and more vivid, un-PC humor, the strung-together plot that starts off with a polluted lake and a pig named Popper, veers into an episode of mob justice and city-wide quarantine, follows up with Alaskan adventures (cue the avalanches, wild-eyed sled dogs, and a well proportioned Inuit shaman), and sees Homer ride to the rescue of the endangered city of Springfield (not to mention redeem himself in the eyes of his son, who's ready to drop him and adopt...gasp!... holy-roller ext-door neighbor Flanders as his new dad).

It's a lot to pack into a single movie, and the plot, which required the talents of a whole raft of writers (including Simpsons creator Groening and long-tome writers and producers James L. Brooks, Al Jean, and Mike Scully) sometimes seems like it was the result of the laptop being passed around production meetings along with a well-packed bong... which is, of course, the general shape and tone of the typical Simpson's episode on TV.

So why should we fall for this flick, which starts off with Homer Simpson--the schlub!!--taunting us with the words, "Why should we pay to see the same thing we can see for free at home?!"

Here's why: because after 18 seasons, The Simpsons, which German TV listings once mocked as "a completely typical American family," has achieved iconic status that rivals any of the great domestic sitcoms, The Honeymooners and Ricky and Lucy included. You'll see this movie because... well, because you gotta.

But will it be worth you hard-earned "D'oh!!"?

There's the good news: the movie may have a free-from sensibility, but it does retain the cracked sense of humor and the satirical instincts that mark the show out for greatness. Not thirty seconds go by without some inspired new gag cropping up, sometimes to push the story along and sometimes just out of pure random orneriness.

Now, I know what you want: a synopsis of the plot, or at least a verification of whether the already-legendary Bart Simpson nude skateboard trip through downtown really does give us full cartoon frontal. However, one: who am I to spoil one of the most closely guarded movie storylines of the summer? And, two: don't be pervy. Anyway, do you really want to know? Some things really ought to be left unspoiled; I will tell you, though, that the skateboarding sequence puts the careening Bart Simpson skateboard ride of the TV show's opening credits to shame: it's a long, inventive, ingeniously contrived bit, one of the funniest and most sustained gags in the movie.

The movie doesn't just pack jokes and outlandish twists galore into its 87 minutes; it gives at least passing notice to each of the show's many characters, from the comic book geek to the burly Scotsman to Moe's collection of barflies.

The animation is detailed, alive with colors and crisp drawing. Director David Silverman has a real familiarity for the rapid-fire pulse of the TV episodes, and allows the movie to proceed at the same breakneck clip while supervising the artful composition of the animated camerawork: you can't, after all, put The Simpsons on the wide screen and not make use of the full visual canvas. The result is a refreshingly cartoonish look (no doubt CGI was used here, but the animation looks hand-drawn, if incredibly polished) and, as if in celebration of this, a small army of Disney-esque wild creatures invade the movie at one point... though to what purpose, you'll just have to see for yourself.