Rate & Review: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

[Cartoonnetwork]

Very interesting discussion. I think the writers of the movie should read all this. Well, it could be kinda frustrating for some of them, but it's actually constructive criticisms.

I would agree with JM1878 that lack of irony and honesty are the major flaws in the movie. In fact all the problems with the movie are more in the absence of something, rather than in what they did include. My rating for the movie is quite generous, but at the same time I agree with JM1878 and Veryjammy in a lot of things.

That's why what we actually get in the movie I don't think it's bad. There is a couple of bad things, but most is fairly good. But there's too many things missing. And what JM1878 points out are the main ones.

I wasn't really expecting otherwise before I watched the movie. I generally thought that if the movie was the funny and everybody was in character I would enjoy it. And I did. But one thing I was truely looking for was the emotional moment. And it didn't work for me. Now I've been criticising the scene before, saying that it was manipulative, but actually it could not be a problem of the scene itself rather than what JM1878 has explained so well, that it was difficult to believe in the context of the whole movie. Because of how exaggerated all the context was. It wasn't a bad scene but the lack of a context in which it could fit made it less effective for me.

Now, about the lack of irony. That's what I wasn't really thinking about before I watched the movie. In general I knew the movie was going to have a happy ending. It never occurred to me that it could have a kinda shallow feeling because of that, cause maybe the irony of OFF is a given and something I don't think so much about until I don't find it there.

In fact I think the show in general is now less ironic than it used to be and the many character conflicts we can see in it are usually developed in a more traditional and sitcommy way, and there are less "bitter" endings than before. However, we have had some of those in Jean era. Mr Spritz Goes To Washington had a bitter ending that was very poignant and funny at the same time. C.E. D'oh ended with a father and son scene that was both sweet and crude at the same time. The movie ends with a father and son scene but it's mostly played on Homer's slapstick scene (which I thought one of the most imaginative piece of slapstick in the movie anyway) and though there is something about the father and son relationship there.

But what about the whole action hero/happy end thing-y. I actually didn't mind it too much at first, but when the scene progressed and the movie eventually ended I felt something -again- was missing. To me is not a problem that Homer could eventually save the day, even in the most incredible way, or that he could come back to Marge and kiss her in a Hollywood-esque tradition. But there has to be some irony at some moment. Maybe during that, maybe after that. Like in Joy Of Sect in which, when they finally got rid of the dangerous sect and its leader, they are still being manipulated by Fox news.

I am not one that would criticism the action climax on itself-though it's not the kind of thing I'm looking for in a comedy. But what I mean is that I don't think it's esentially easier to write the action climax itself than adding the irony of the bitter ending. I guess complex action scenes are somewhat difficult to write, even if they don't make sense. The thing with the irony is that , if the scene is overly exaggerated, it makes it more honest and most important, it makes it different. Different to all the other summer movies. Different to other animated movies. We need more of that and I think it wasn't enough in this movie.

I also think there is something kinda "dishonest" in how they structured the whole thing in a way that mostly makes sense and it's funny, but gives you false expectations of what you will find. I had never seen before a Lisa story in the show that had been so excellent in its introduction but so shallow in its resolution. Even in the worst Scully episode I don't think they have ever done something as abrupt as what they did here with the pig and the way it's abandoned. They sure have done awful, incoherent and extremely surreal stuff, but usually you didn't thought things were cut here and there.

I don't know what's behind the decission of cutting some of the stuff but you get the feeling that the important part are the jokes and most of the other things doesn't matter that much. Which shouldn't be bad, but it is, cause it comes out as more shallow than it could have been originally. So we have to be satisfied with Lisa's crush story cause there were some good gags in it and it ends in a happy mood? I don't think so, the show has done it better a lot of times. If you don't have time for that, then cut some of the other stuff or just make the film longer. There are scenes that I liked that were not all that necessary or could have been shorter, like the Disney parody or even the whole Bart's doodle thing.

And to end with this lack of something, one thing Veryjammy also pointed out before, there was a certain lack of the more clever or long or subtle type of joke/dialogue from the series. There were high amounts of visual gags and funny lines, but there were not Homer's speechs (after all George Meyer was one of the writers that came up with some of those and he WAS in the movie), the dialogues between Marge and Lisa were interrupted by the Spiderpig joke or were very short (that line about anger and women), there were plenty of jokes involving Homer's personality and wacky antics but not a lot of -if any-Homerisms (again the closest to it is a very short line "Worst day of your life...so far")...One particular exchange that surprised me cause it was a mildly long dialogue that included a more or less subtle satire was the Alaska money bit. Again it's not that the jokes that were included were bad, it's the lack of some things that I was expecting there too. Look how Homer fix his relationship with Bart, "I'll let you carry the bomb" "The man knows me". I'm not even criticizing it either but they didn't have a mildly long dialogue in the whole movie. One of them is interrupted by a pig with a hat. The whole roof scene involved more action and silliness than sincere dialogue between the two of them. Even Marge and Homer talked relatively few to each other during the film. After their first exchange has Lisa got to know or talk to Colin so she can be that sure he's perfect for her in every way?

Maybe they were trying to show, not tell, but it's certainly another thing I started to miss once the end credits appeared.

[Ryan]

^Exactly. There are some serious, SERIOUS story problems within this film. And watching it again with family proved it even more today. In fact, the only way this film has been so well-recieved is because it's so goddamn funny, the characterizations are well done, and the animation is amazing. For some reason, this completely blinds people when thinking about story problems, except (and it's always this) the pig. I mean, even the general public viewing audience noticed it. My dad, my two friends, my sister, my neighbor, my neighbor's FIVE YEAR OLD SON, a bunch of people in the theater ALL THREE TIMES...what do they have in common? They all were asking, "What the hell happened the pig?!" When a five-year-old, someone who is watching a movie where over half of it flies over his head, notices a plot hole, you have serious explaining to do. I can forgive the shallow execution of the conclusion of Lisa/Colin, I'm not too happy about the poorly structured Russ Cargill arc, but last minute changes might have something to do about that...but the pig has no excuse. They even said they had a scene at the end. THEY HAD A SCENE!!! If it's about pacing issues, that's bullshit, because they could have put it during the credits. Then they said they took it out but resolved it with the Kang and Kodos scene...WHICH THEY THEN TOOK OUT!!! I'm shocked, honestly, when they were approached with this question at Comic Con, and Al Jean answers, "he appears in the season premiere". I'm dead sure that someone, probably Groening or maybe even Jean stated "you don't have to watch the show before or after to enjoy the movie". Yet we have to WATCH the show to find out what happens to Plopper. I'm sorry that I keep raving on about this, but I just can't believe it that they actually had a scene about Plopper and couldn't bother putting it in when supposedly they were still working on it only a month ago. It's just ludicrious...

[Rowdy Roddy Peeper]

Who cares what happens to the pig? It shoved the Simpsons out of the house, and then the House kinda blew up on itself. Let's say he's dead.

Now my review...

I didn’t know what to expect from this movie. On one hand, the show has obviously been of lower quality since the turn of the century, and on the other, this is the SIMPSONS MOVIE!! Possibly the greatest television show ever created, made into a movie for the first time, so inevitably my expectations were admittedly high. I wasn’t disappointed.
Throughout the film, the gags and jokes were constant, and although there wasn’t a lot of truly laugh out extremely loud jokes, the quality of the jokes was indeed of a great quality. It’d be impossible to try and go through the movie not smirking or raising a smile to the idiocy of Homer, the townspeople of Springfield or indeed, Spider-Pig. Some of the jokes could have been sucked right from the ‘Classic’ seasons, and unlike a lot of the newer episodes, no jokes truly bombed. If the people in front of you weren’t laughing in the cinema, you were, and if you weren’t, the people behind you were. The film was layered with different jokes, so the children were laughing at Ralph’s ‘Da daa daaaa’ Fox skit, but the more mature audience would be laughing at the ‘Church people run into Moe’s, and vice versa’. Also, i was pleased with the amount of sign gags, and smaller gags which have become so much of a Simpsons tradition over the last 18 seasons.
Another thing which was hammered into this movie, is that every character’s characterization is spot on. Lisa’s not simply a ‘PC thug’, she’s also still an eight year old girl. Homer is a jerkass who doesn’t care about anybody else but himself, but that’s the point of the movie, Marge isn’t just a ‘nagging bitch’, her characterization was top notch in this film, and credit has to be given to Julie Kavner’s voice acting. It was also nice to see that Bart, has a more human side to him, rather than just a menace, which added a nice human emotion story to the film.
Talking about emotion, the ‘wedding tape’ scene was the most emotional and nearly tear-jerking scenes the show has produced in the last ten years. It was a great call back to my joint favourite episode ‘The Way We was’, and really made the audience feel for Homer, who realised his life had been ruined. Without this scene, it would have been hard to have been too bothered whether Homer saved the day, because it wouldn’t have had a good emotional pull. Thankfully it did, and it kept the audience rooting for Homer in the end.
Plot-wise, it’s not the most intellectual plot ever, but what adventure films are nowadays? Every CGI film, seems to have a ‘A bunch of animals, mainly penguins or fish, are lost and need to find their way home’, and when has The Simpsons always had an intellectual plot? ‘Homer goes into a coma after Bart rapidly shakes a can of Duff Beer’, ‘Marge starts selling pretzels, only for the mafia to want her dead for not giving them they’re deserved money’, ‘Grampa Simpson becomes a matador after wanting to end his life’, etc. After 400 episodes, it’s a struggle to think of a wacky idea the show hasn’t done, let alone an intellectual, thought provoking plot which they haven’t done. Nevertheless, i think the story in the film is adequate enough, and see’s that Homer has doomed Springfield, which was kinda the only direction the film could have gone, it had to be epic, which it was to some extent.
There isn’t really too many downpoints for me, with the film. The plot wraps up nicely, and like every Simpsons episode should, everything is back to normal in the end. One downpoint is that some of the secondary characters were underused, like Patty and Selma, Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns etc. However, when you have less than 90 minutes, with over a hundred secondary characters, it’s inevitable some of them aren’t going to be featured too heavily. Also, some people might complain that they focused on ‘the family’ too much, which is poppycock, because ‘The Simpsons’ is about the ‘Simpsons’ family, if the film was called ‘Springfield’, then i’m sure the whole town of Springfield would have been used more. Also, i’m positibe that they’ll be loads of deleted scenes with the secondary characters in it, on the DVD, so i suggest wait for that, if you’re that desperate to see more Frink, Barney or Kang and Kodos.
Now a lot of people have said, ‘it’s just a stretched out Simpsons episode’...well what did you expect? Did you expect it to be a shortened Simpsons episode? Or did you expect it to be a stretched out Family Guy episode? It’s a Simpsons movie, so i don’t understand what sort of complaint that quote is trying to make? Maybe the film wasn’t the most needed thing in the world, and maybe the film would be generally better suited to have been made in the mid nineties, but at least they did it. And it was a success, critically and in the box office. Sure, it’s not the best film ever made, but it gives it a good go, and after the recent dip in quality, this movie has certainly new expectations for the 19th Season. This film could have been a real ‘Doh!’ but instead it was a real ‘Woo Hoo!’ which leaves me wondering, why does every reviewer of this film, have to make puns with the catchphrases of the show!
4.5/5

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

"Point out your plot holes elsewhere!"

My problem isn't so much with the pig as it is with how Homer got to Springfield so quickly. If they had left in the truck scene, as James Brooks said, then I would be satisfied.

[PaintDrinkingPete]

AWSOME... Best. Movie. Ever.

I love the way they brought in characters from single episodes such as the mother of Krusty's daughter, You Thai Now owner (I forget the others). Alos it also LOOKED like a movie, opposed to Stewie Griffin Untold Storie which was another episode.

[Jeff Vader]

Finally saw it.
My initial rating is 3.5/5: Really good or 4: Excellent.
I really enjoyed it, but want to digest it a bit more before I review (and read all your 13 pages of posts).

[Buzz]

5/5. Great movie. It was full of great jokes and the story idea was great. I really liked how they finished it, but I don’t know what happened to the pig. There were way more good jokes than there were bad jokes ( and there were only a couple of jokes that I thought weren’t funny)

Many of the jokes were great, but there was a couple that were just awesome. When Ralph says “I like men now” after seeing Bart skateboard naked was hilarious. Also the whole scene with the moth was great.( “I hope its okay!”) Also seeing the town go crazy after being stuck in the dome for a while was funny. When the pig imitates Homer and Marge, the whole theatre was laughing. These are only a few of the great jokes in the movie.

There were only a couple things that I didn’t care for. Bart skateboarding naked was funny but it still would have been fine without seeing Bart's penis.

Also I did not expect Marge to say god damn. It was funny, but unexpected.

Overall, this movie was great. It was worth the wait. I’ve seen it twice already, and I would see it again. Can’t wait for the dvd. A+

[elipeli]

^Exactly. There are some serious, SERIOUS story problems within this film. And watching it again with family proved it even more today. In fact, the only way this film has been so well-recieved is because it's so goddamn funny, the characterizations are well done, and the animation is amazing. For some reason, this completely blinds people when thinking about story problems, except (and it's always this) the pig. I mean, even the general public viewing audience noticed it. My dad, my two friends, my sister, my neighbor, my neighbor's FIVE YEAR OLD SON, a bunch of people in the theater ALL THREE TIMES...what do they have in common? They all were asking, "What the hell happened the pig?!" When a five-year-old, someone who is watching a movie where over half of it flies over his head, notices a plot hole, you have serious explaining to do. I can forgive the shallow execution of the conclusion of Lisa/Colin, I'm not too happy about the poorly structured Russ Cargill arc, but last minute changes might have something to do about that...but the pig has no excuse. They even said they had a scene at the end. THEY HAD A SCENE!!! If it's about pacing issues, that's bullshit, because they could have put it during the credits. Then they said they took it out but resolved it with the Kang and Kodos scene...WHICH THEY THEN TOOK OUT!!! I'm shocked, honestly, when they were approached with this question at Comic Con, and Al Jean answers, "he appears in the season premiere". I'm dead sure that someone, probably Groening or maybe even Jean stated "you don't have to watch the show before or after to enjoy the movie". Yet we have to WATCH the show to find out what happens to Plopper. I'm sorry that I keep raving on about this, but I just can't believe it that they actually had a scene about Plopper and couldn't bother putting it in when supposedly they were still working on it only a month ago. It's just ludicrious...

This kinda pissed me off too. I mean WHAT THE HELL. There had better be a damn good excuse, no Sideshow Bob, no Kang and Kodos? WHEN THEY HAD A FUCKING KANG AND KODOS SCENE THAT NOT ONLY GAVE THEM AN APPEARENCE IN THE FILM BUT RESOLVED THE PIG STORY? And who gives a shit about the new episodes, it seems like Al is always plugging HIS episodes, why the fuck would I wanna watch them? I've got the movie, which was, other than the lack of certain characters, awesome. If this season is anything like the last couple of years I don't care, the show is dead to me again.

By the way, didn't post this earlier but went to the 26th midnight showing, best damn Simpsons in a long fucking time, movie was well worth it.

[Kiyosuki]

I heard apparently that 20th Century Fox was really really insistent on the film being less than 90 minutes somewhere. So of course if thats true they probably had to make do with that they could manage as far as cutting stuff. I really doubt the guys making this really wanted to cut certain scenes, especially some of the fully animated ones as well as some of the more arguably necessary ones.

[Ryan]

I heard apparently that 20th Century Fox was really really insistent on the film being less than 90 minutes somewhere. So of course if thats true they probably had to make do with that they could manage as far as cutting stuff. I really doubt the guys making this really wanted to cut certain scenes, especially some of the fully animated ones as well as some of the more arguably necessary ones.

I highly doubt the cut Plopper scene was over three minutes long...

[Xt'Tapalatakettle]

Perhaps they removed the Plopper scene so idiots like us would want to know what happened to the pig. That way, they could include the scene on the DVD, which we will all buy.

[KoenSoontjens]

I heard apparently that 20th Century Fox was really really insistent on the film being less than 90 minutes somewhere. So of course if thats true they probably had to make do with that they could manage as far as cutting stuff. I really doubt the guys making this really wanted to cut certain scenes, especially some of the fully animated ones as well as some of the more arguably necessary ones.

why would fox want it to be less than 90 minutes as far as i know everyone would have liked it to bee like 100 minutes.

[Ryan]

^Less time equals more showings, which equals more money...

[Binky]

Just saw the movie for a second time, and loved it just as much. 4.5/5 from me. Only thing that kind of sucked was that by this point, nobody in the crowd was much of a fan of the show and nobody laughed at any of the many references to the show that everyone was laughing at on opening weekend.

Might go see it one more time while I still can when it's nearing the end of its run.

[Matt B.]

I just came back for the 5th time. And it gets better and better. But like what Binky said by this point the crowds are just non fans of the show. But it did get a couple laughs.

[lemon_melon]

ok, so when is the "no homers club reviews the simpsons movie" book coming out. just make one big fat n phat ass comprehensive review book outta these 14 pages and mail it to matt groening.

i read the negative reviews at the top.spider pig being at the end would provide more closure for the porkophiles i guess.i don't find it THAT incredible that a five year old would predominantly inquire about spiderpig as opposed to the other stuff,i.e the whole movie. but anyway :\ . anything less that 2.5/5 is pure crap, by any standard. 3 should be the minimum.

[Ryan]

^Yes, but I don't think I've ever heard a five year old complain about plot holes before. When I was five, I watched the movie, and if it entertained me, I was happy...the pig's disapperance was just a royal fuck-up on the writer's part, but it wasn't so much their faults, it was the marketing for hyping up the pig with a trailer that came out right when the movie was finished and in the can...

[Gatorgod]

Saw the Movie a second time, Loved it just as much as the first time. a Third time might not be out of the question.

In the wedding videotape, we see a (previously unseen) ceremony, which was attended by (at least) Lenny, Carl, Barney, and Grandma Bouvier;

It took the second viewing for me to think about that. If I remembered right, Marge & Homer were married by strangers in some far off Nevada chapel?

..No biggie, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

[George Cauldron]

I saw the film a second time -- this time it was a subtitled version as I'm slightly deaf. Though I was able to understand some of the jokes the first time round, I was able to appreciate all of them the second time. Even though I knew the plot and what jokes were coming, the novelty did not wear off on the second viewing, so for me at least, it definitely holds up on at least one repeated showing, which is more than can be said for some episodes. Good sign.

[Kiyosuki]

Copy and pasted from the a/v version.

Did my sister a favor and took her to see it, so thats my second theater viewing. My opinion hasn't really changed, flawed but I still generally liked it, 3/5. My sister though while she's seen a good portion of the series isn't a huge fan or anything and she shared most of the same opinion. Kind of a mishmash of different kinds of humor, like it was really trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible at times. She thought it was kind of too bad because it distracted from the film's better moments, or may have been better filled with pacing or something a little less stuck on.

She wasn't too fond of the scene where Homer goes crazy thinking his reflection escaped the dome. I was proud of her. She noticed too though that it seemed like Homer went backwards in the film, like he started out a lot like he is in some of the more obnoxious current episodes but that was slapped out of him literally by the end to a point.

End of copypasta. You know call me a putz, but seeing the town and the Springfielders in the sorriest shape they've ever been in was kind of heart wretching for me a little. I guess I've just grown too attached to the imagery or something.

[coltonwiggum]

There's some really good posts here, and I hope the staff takes a look. They probably already have, but it is even more important that they listen to some of the criticisms.

[homer2121]

best move ever 5 thumbs up :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup but i did see on it on july 28th

[TriforceBun]

Kiyo, you've expressed your distaste at the reflection gag before. I thought what saved it was Homer's barely-audible, disappointed "Ohhhhh" offscreen, like he suddenly found himself inside his house again and everything came together for him. Plus, the absurdity of Homer seeing HIMSELF and thinking that was him in another area (in third-person view) sort of blows my mind...

[Kiyosuki]

Kiyo, you've expressed your distaste at the reflection gag before. I thought what saved it was Homer's barely-audible, disappointed "Ohhhhh" offscreen, like he suddenly found himself inside his house again and everything came together for him. Plus, the absurdity of Homer seeing HIMSELF and thinking that was him in another area (in third-person view) sort of blows my mind...

I know but I still didn't like it. I can stretch the "the absurdity of it is funny" defense pretty far but not with that scene. I think it was just plain stupid. lol

Like Conan O Brien said once, Homer being silly, dim-witted, and sometimes obnoxious can be fun..but then there comes a certain point where you gotta ask yourself "is this too much?", and I think it was there.

[chocolatey socrates]

Sodier-"Sir, i think you're going mad with power"

Russ cargil- "Of course i am, have you tried going mad without power? It's boring nobody listens to you"

Classic A. Brooks character, the best after hank scorpio.

I have much more to say so watch this space for an edit.

[Tab]

The movie was alright. I laughed a bit, but it wasn't as good as everyone made it out to be (looks at you all)

[Mike Scully]

FLANDERS: Uh, excuse me, I'd like to hear from Channel Surfer...

[Ryan]

I thought he already voiced his opinion that he liked it, either here or in the a/v thread...

[aoife]

It was pretty good. It even had a few really funny jokes/gags, and the schmaltzy parts weren't annoying.
I could have done without a bunch of things, especially the rock and a hard place gag.
On the whole, it really was fairly good. I wasn't disappointed.

[shrapnel_hurts]

The crowd hated the Titanic joke.

I gave it a 4.5/5, but it deserved more, IMO. Best jokes: Spiderpig, Guy crushed by the dome and the part where Lovejoy and co switch with the barflies.

Cheers to the writing staff, this movie was very funny, and by that I mean HILARIOUS. Not only were the spoofs and one-liners funny, the visuals and sheer absurdity (read: creativity) were pure genius. It wasn't *perfect*... but maybe ten movies in the past hundred years have been perfect, so let's move on, shall we? The high points for me were very high: the animation was gorgeous, the voice acting was top-notch wonderful (as always), and the story was well-written and satisfying. This is a film I could watch over and over (and I will).

I can't see how anyone can't like the Titanic spoof, it was my favorite. I mean how often do you get to see Green Day play "Nearer My God, To Thee" on violins they grab out of nowhere before sinking to their deaths?? 2nd favorite part was the cops kissing. Was TOTALLY NOT expecting that. I almost spewed my Coke all over the head of the guy in front of me and laughed silently to myself for the next 5 minutes. Other favorite moments include Homer's daydream dancing with his pig in hippie gear, the bomb robot's suicide (I laughed so hard I scared my friend), the mob clawing at Homer's head, Bart's noodle (and Ralph's "I like men now!"), Homer's flipping through the Bible ("This book doesn't have any answers!!!"), the Church-goers and Boozers switching sanctuaries, pretty much everything in Alaska was gold (boob lady, LOL), and of course the classic--Marge swearing

[Edit]: Reading through some more posts I see people are concerned for the pig? Although I've wondered what happened to him, I don't really CARE since he pushed his family off their plank. He was only in it for the first half hour and he served his purpose. End of Spider-Pig, who cares?