Sunday 3 January 2010

Film Review: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (2007)


Director: David Silverman
Running time: 87 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): PG

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 3rd January 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I’ll first admit to being a bit of a fan of the Simpsons, and I have seen this movie once before when I was really tired and ended up falling asleep. That’s no reflection on the film, it’s more a reminder to me not to try and watch films when I’m tired. Anyhow, I digress, Springfield Lake is on the edge of going toxic and Lisa persuades the town to stop dumping trash in it. Things are so bad that just one more item will push it over the edge.

Homer has rescued a pig from Krusty the Clown and has been keeping him at home. At first he’s called ‘Spiderpig’ and later ‘Harry Plopper’. Marge is worried about his ‘leavings’ but Homer reassures her that he a built a silo to contain it. Unfortunately it’s full (already) and Marge tells him to take it to the Hazardous Waste Depot and dispose of it. Homer gets distracted and in a rush to get some free doughnuts he dumps the silo in the lake. The EPA (Environment Protection Agency) hears about this and persuades the president to put a dome over Springfield. Having found out who is responsible, an angry mob come for Homer but he, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie escape through a sink-hole to the outside of the dome. Homer now persuades Marge and the kids to move to Alaska, where they find out that the government now plans to blow up Springfield! Can Homer do the right thing and redeem himself?

Of late the Simpsons episodes on TV haven’t been that good and so it is with some trepidation that I watched this film. I was very glad I did as it was somewhat of a return to form. It was great that they got all the original cast to do the voices, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria. I won’t say who did which voices; I’ll be typing all night! You can look them up on the IMDb site (link below) anyway.

A most enjoyable film that did meander a bit in the middle, but had plenty of gags both for Simpsons fans and non fans alike. If you haven’t seen it and have a spare ninety minutes or so, it’s worth a watch.

My score: 7/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/
Official Site: http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi2918056729/

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