The Simpsons Movie: it really is just like television

The Simpsons Movie would not be the first example of a well-liked television show that was turned into a movie, capitalizing on a huge fan base that would see the movie regardless of whether or not it was any good. But most of the time these movies just do not manage to live up to the series; Joss Whedon’s Firefly attempted a move to the big screen, and while Serenity was not a bad movie, it paled by comparison to the original series. The Simpson Movie, however, manages to be just as good as the series. If you are a Simpsons fan, you’ll probably really enjoy the movie. But if you watched the series casually, as I did, when there was nothing else on, the movie will not convert you into a hard-core fan, intent upon catching up on some eighteen years worth of episodes. In fact, it will probably just leave you reasonably underwhelmed and confused about all the hype for the movie.

Perhaps it’s a credit to the simplicity of the Simpsons characters, but I found the characters just as well introduced, interesting, and easy to understand as I did when I saw various episodes in the series. You certainly do not need to be an avid fan of the show to understand the movie. Movies like Serenity were too plot-driven, not giving you enough of an opportunity to understand the potentially interesting and complex characters that we saw on the series. The Simpsons Movie does not encounter this problem, but the characters are mere caricatures; we are not supposed to think much about them.

The film somewhat attempts a ‘larger-than-life’ plot as is common practice for television shows-cum-movies. Springfield destroys its environment by polluting the local water supply to the extent that anything entering their water is either instantaneously dissolved or immediately turned into a dangerous mutant species. When the EPA discovers the apparent threat of Springfield, they enclose the entire town under a gigantic dome to “stop the spread”. And when the town discovers that Homer is responsible for the ultimate end of their water supply – they had tried to clean it up but Homer foiled their plans by carelessly dumping the excrement of his new pet into the lake – the town and the EPA are out to get the entire Simpsons clan.

Watching the film, however, is not some new larger-than-life Simpsons experience; it just feels like watching a big long television episode, or perhaps, three episodes. The animation isn’t all the more impressive, nor is there really any obvious benefit of the 35mm format. I would have preferred to see the film on television when there was nothing else to watch; avid fans may disagree.

The movie has a few laugh-out-loud moments and some nice touches. As the town fears the approach of Armageddon due to the environmental destruction of the town, the entire church congregation walks over to the bar next door, and the bar patrons take their place in the church. Lisa finds young love with a kindred spirit; Bart wonders whether he’d have been happier as a member of the Flanders family. And when Grandpa Simpson has a fit of insanity at church, and Marge turns to Homer for help, he flips through the bible with disappointment declaring, “It doesn’t have any answers!”

The film even seems to care about the environment and have sympathy for Lisa’s cause to clean up the waters and the world. After all, the entire threat of Armageddon seems based upon the fact that humans are destroying their environment. But the science is totally absurd and when the crisis is over, and the film ends ‘happily’, I’m fairly certain the waters are still dangerously filthy but not to anyone’s real concern. I recently read that according to a recent study, The Simpsons is the most scientifically literate television show, but the entire premise of the film seemed scientifically unsound to the point that I wonder if the writers really even cared about what sort of message they were giving about environmental damage. Among other things, an animal enters polluted water and in an unlikely turn of events, exits five minutes later with fifty plus eyes. Then again, Lisa displays her physics expertise when advising Homer at a contest. With a couple of inside cracks at An Inconvenient Truth, the writers are clearly aware of the current state of the environment, and are sensitive towards it, but they seem to take it too lightly. And what almost played as satire about how we’re destroying our environment left me displeased with the result, uncertain of what its effect would be: getting people thinking seriously about the environment, or merely further desensitizing the populous.

Despite some of the cute, fun, and even clever moments, these moments or scenes are no more sophisticated, no more intelligent, nor any fresher than anything we’ve seen on The Simpsons show. This is not a film for moviegoers; it’s a film for television watchers that feel like going to the movies. If you’re mourning the loss of The Simpsons show, then you might as well enjoy the new episode on the big screen. At the beginning of the movie, Homer and family go to an Itchy and Scratchy movie and Homer turns around and looks at us to say, “Why would anyone pay to go to a movie of something that you could get for free on television? Suckers!” I left the theatre asking myself that very same question about The Simpsons Movie.