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News > The Simpsons Movie: D'oh!
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  The Simpsons Movie was finally released this past weekend! People around the world flocked to see this feature length version of the television program that we all fell in love with in the 90's. But, the 400 episode legacy of Matt Groening's vision of the American family proved to be a difficult fit into an hour and a half movie.
Allow me to give a brief synopsis of the story. At church, Grandpa Simpson receives a ominous prophecy about the fate of Springfield. Homer, with the help of a pig he rescues from Krusty Burger, dooms the entire town by polluting Lake Springfield with pig excrement. The EPA seals off the town in a giant glass dome to contain the pollution, and it is up to the Simpsons to rescue the town. Add a dash of Tom Hanks and a spritz of watching the band Greenday die (finally) and you have the long awaited Simpsons Movie.
I was born the same year that the Simpsons were, 1988. As a result, I have grown up with our favorite yellow-skinned family. I was there when Marge had her affair with the French bowling instructor. I was there when Homer's barbershop quartet, the "Be Sharps," broke records and proved to be 'bigger than Jesus.' I was there when Lisa was mentored by "Bleedin' Gums" Murphy and when Bart met the mental patient claiming to be Michael Jackson. I was there for Maggie's first word.
As I sat in the movie theater this last weekend for the feature length movie based on the Simpsons, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed. I met the sudden reality that the twenty year accumulation of the Simpsons experience could not possibly fit into one movie. There was so much that could have been in the movie that wasn't. I can't blame the filmmakers for that, though; it isn't their fault they only had an hour and a half. The Simpsons experience has become incredibly diverse, with characters as obscure as Disco Stu or Hans Moleman. My initial disappointment may have been because of the lack of depth that these characters have inspired. That, however, was my mistake and I should have been smart enough to assume that the lack of depth would be an issue with the movie.
Another problem that I had with the movie? Too little, too late. The Simpsons have been on the air for twenty years, and this is hardly the series high point. A Simpsons movie should have been made six years ago when the series was still as lovable as it had been in the past. From seasons three to ten, the series was solid gold; every episode was funny, enlightening and heart warming. Today, an episode is rarely all three. It seems to me that the creators of the Simpsons have waited for the series to become a shadow of it's former self to begin working on the movie.
In all fairness, though, I thought the movie was very funny. I found myself laughing at something every five minutes. The cameo by Tom Hanks is maybe one of the funniest things that he has done (and that is saying something for Tom Hanks). While I give this movie a rating of three stars, I am going to say that it is worth seeing. Just don't put too much hope in it, and you'll have a great time.
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