The Simpsons were a juggernaut of a franchise and can still hold the title of being one of the most referential shows ever created. Originally starting off life as shorts for The Tracy Ullman Show in 1987, creator Matt Groening probably had no idea the impact this satirical animated family sitcom would have when it became a proper cartoon series on the Fox Network, becoming the longest-running American animated series, longest-running American sitcom, and the longest-running American scripted prime time television series. Unlocking a media frenzy that spawned a billion-dollar merchandising industry, the show clearly left its mark on pop culture for its witty writing that inspired countless other animation companies like Pixar, its satirical look into typical suburban America that simultaneously mocked and embraced the stereotypes associated with it, and multiple fantastic episodes that still hold up to this day for their humorous but also honest portrayal of this middle-American family. Much like any popular brand, a feature length film was imagined and created after a long period of rewrites, with the film in question being released in 2007 and despite the amount of time it took for it to reach the cinema screens (long after its initial hype), the reactions were thankfully still largely positive. In a typical day in the town of Springfield, Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) often finds himself causing more harm than good, which puts him at odds with his wife, Marge (voiced by Julie Kavner) and his children, Bart (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) Lisa (voiced by Yeardley Smith) and Maggie. Things go too far one day when Homer illegally dumps a load of waste into Springfield Lake, contaminating it to the point of mutating the animals in the water, and getting their small town noticed on a state level. Once this gets to the White House, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (or EPA), Russ Cargill (voiced by Albert Brookes) proposes to the president that Springfield be sealed in a gigantic glass dome to prevent their pollution from spreading further. Trapped with no way of escape, the town soon discovers it was Homer fault and go to lynch the Simpson family, which forces them to escape out through a sinkhole, and run away and restart their lives in Alaska. Although they seem to settle in fine, things change when they discover that Springfield is set to be destroyed to cover up the actions of the EPA. After Homer refuses to help, Marge and the kids leave him behind and try to save their old home themselves, causing Homer to self-reflect and come to the realization that he needs to amend for what he’s down and confront the pain he’s caused to the town, his friends and especially his family. Its often easy for these kind of films to fail, but The Simpsons Movie did very well at the box office (becoming the eighth highest-grossing movie of 2007), did well with critics and audiences, and even got nominated for a Golden Globe. While nothing groundbreaking, this film did just enough to make it more than just another film based on a popular title, although it wouldn’t stop on its trek to the realms of overexposure.

Many considered this to be a return to form for The Simpsons, with many believing the material and passion put behind this film to be more engaging and true-to-form than the series had at the time of its release. While they hadn’t reached the level of pure reject status that they have nowadays where it truly feels like this product has long past its expiration date, they had still definitely passed their heyday, so that kind of encouragement would’ve been appreciated. It seems this movie was constructed solely from the minds of the creatives behind the TV show, with little to no interference from studios dictating how to map the film out. A lot of old writers returned to work on the project, director David Silverman worked on a lot of the earliest Simpsons episodes (including one of the best episodes, Bart Gets an F), one of the main screenwriters for this film, James L. Brooks, was well known for his other work on critically acclaimed films and TV like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets, Taxi, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Matt Groening helped create the script from scratch, and they continued to improve the script much like how they would write a Simpsons episode (in that they would sit around a table, write stuff down and try to make the other writers laugh), so this is very much a project that’s true to the series and its creators rather than a corporate decision to milk more money out of a popular brand. One of the elements that was key in creating the film was in going further than what could be expected on the show, and in that regard, they do that quite well. In many of these feature-length films based on series, it often feels just like a higher-budgeted episode and never really like it deserves being cinematic. The Simpsons Movie to its credit, does feel very cinematic from the higher stakes, the improved animation, and even the cinematic feel to the angles, visuals, and emotional beats. Its hard to say the story is anything that special as the plot feels like a traditional conflict the show would have, just with a slightly increased sense of peril, and each character is given their own cliched conflict to deal with (Homer and Marge marriage issues, Bart having trouble with his father, Lisa having a crush on a boy, etc), but despite it, they are delivered in a way that feels fitting of a movie while still mostly feeling like typical Simpsons tone and writing.  While the overall premise is passable in practice, it feels like the movie is constantly shifting around to adhere to these singular ideas, leading to the movie feeling very segmented even though technically each part is connected. It reaches a point where some of the plot lines that were raised earlier on become completely pointless and forgotten about once it continues (that pig that was all over the advertising and kicked off the conflict of this story just disappears around the halfway point of this film), and even when conflicts are discussed and resolved, they aren’t handled in a way that is surprising or even that overwhelming fulfilling.

This cast of characters is very iconic already, so the film doesn’t even need to establish anything going into it because it’s already aware that a majority of audiences know who they are and what they’re like (going into this movie without context from the show is possible, but not a smart idea). With that said, these characters always worked best when they interacted off of each other and the supporting cast in a humorous but meaningful way. People forget that even though the show has become known nowadays as a zanier, off-the-walls kind of series with a lot of slapstick and fast-paced jokes, it originally had a more mellow pace to it and the humor was much more reliant on its satire and wit rather than on anything overly physical. They definitely needed to improve from that step earlier on as that tone did come with its own issues, and they did eventually find a balance during its strongest period, but the point is that its strengths came from its unexpectedness, its wittiness, and its uniqueness, and for the most parts, its kind of there in the writing but not especially in the characters. The arcs that each character goes through is not only something that any series-based film could insert into their films with similar kind of characters, but even these specific elements have been tackled in the show and done much better there. Lisa’s crush on a boy leads to nothing special, therefore making her feel pretty pointless in the overall story, Bart’s relationship with their neighbor, Ned Flanders, against his own father starts off okay, but kind of has a rushed climax, and even the relationship between Homer and Marge has some good stuff to dissect, but nothing really new is presented that hasn’t already been explored in the show prior. With that said, none of them are handled poorly, the writing for them is still the same, and the voice actors are still giving it their best efforts. Albert Brooks as the villain does a fine job acting wise, providing an almost wholesome voice against a pretty scummy government figure, but the character doesn’t have much going for him or even any connection with any of the characters, so there’s little satisfaction upon his defeat.

This is easily the best The Simpsons has looked, even taking into consideration the more recent seasons. The show had a very unique style that impacted the character models, environments and overall designs, but they managed to work within their budget and limitations with great writing, memorable characters and enough of a clean look to be distinct and colorful. This movie has very impressive animation all around with great colors, impressive lighting, cinematic angles and scale, and clearly a big budget that benefits from being on the big screen so that it can all be shown off very clearly. Its also nice to see that the film actually warrants its PG rating, with an edge than not a lot of animated films at the time would’ve been willing to go to. The Simpsons has always been a show that leaned heavily into its adult edge to make it feel more well-rounded and work nicely with the satire, and this movie has a lot of stuff that feels genuinely edgy for kids without going overboard or graphic in any way. The language, the writing and even sometimes the visuals get away with stuff that is honestly impressive and funny seeing how many kids no doubt would’ve gone to see this movie and not even realize what they’re seeing was considered edgy material (like Bart says in the movie, they even see his ‘’doodle’’). With that said, its hard to say the film is overwhelmingly funny. Even though they have classic writers and there’s nothing groan-worthy featured, but it does fall into a very base-level of humor that while definitely still unique to Simpsons and contains a nice element of bite, kind of just resolves down to basic slapstick that isn’t anything that special. Once and a while there’s a fun joke that feels effectively classic like bar patrons and the church service switching locations during a panic, but outside of those few moments, it doesn’t have the same level of memorability.

Something important to remember about this film is that it feels like it came too late. For a show as big as The Simpsons, a movie was going to be guaranteed, but it took a total of 18 years since the shows creation to even get a project onto the big screen, and this was long after the show reached its peak popularity, let alone fall into less than favorable waters. If early Simpsons is a fresh and healthy cow being milked, and if the current Simpsons is a mutilated cloned cow forced to produce rancid milk on the double, this movie is a very tired cow producing one last solid bit of milk, even if it is starting to have a few specks of sourness. The Simpsons Movie is a solid film to watch and features the content you’d want to see in a Simpsons film; its bigger and has a good budget behind it, it feels properly cinematic from the visuals, upped drama and presentation, the characters all feel the part, and it will result in a few choice chuckles and even a bit of emotion if you’re really into it. It is a messy project with a disjointed story, characters without much development or arcs, the writing isn’t the same kind of satirical gem that it used to be, and it can feel a little shallow at times, but its far better to sit through than what the show would eventually become. Return to the world of Springfield when it still had some hope in its eye and remember a time when The Simpsons used to rule the world.

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