First of all, I want to like it, because I have enjoyed the humor in many episodes of the TV series. Still, I found the film a bit stale. Too many jokes were tired after having been done ad nauseum in the show. Bart even behaved quite out of character for a while. Despite its flaws, there were a few laugh-out-loud moments for me, and I thought the Russ Cargill/heavily funded EPA plot line was rather amusing. I won't share which jokes in particular I found most amusing, as it would spoil them for my readers. On the whole, this film turned out to be a below-average episode of the show.
Many people have said that a below-average Simpsons episode beats most of what's on television and at the theaters. This may be true, but I tend to be a bit snobbish. I like to really enjoy the TV and movies that I watch. For some reason, this film didn't capture my fancy as much as others that I've seen this year. I give it three antelopes.
2 comments:
You really summed up how I felt about this movie. There were definitely some funny parts but overall, I felt like I was watching an extra-long episode of the Simpsons--and not an exceptionally good one.
Strangely enough, this movie was part of my holidays, too. It was one of the few from a list of video rentals that was deemed reasonably acceptable to the whole family AND my 18 year old sister. It didn't really work out that way, but I did end up watching it again.
In the theatres, I didn't know what to make of it, and i wasn't sure that i even liked at all until the end credits, which are chock full of great bonus gags until the very end.
Watching it a second time, i have been convinced that it is better than it seems on first viewing.
Rumor has it that it was screen-tested to death, partially because of high expectations, and it is a bit of a jumble. It regresses quite a bit to pure 1st season animated comedy drama about Bart and Homer. And yes, Bart's secret longing for a better father has never been shown on the show as far as I can tell, it seems to have been "yoinked" straight from Lisa.
What is good about it is that it is a big mildly satirical cartoon plot in a movie time slot, enough for about 2 1/2 episodes (e.g. Alaska trip, Motorcycling stunt, Springfield in a jar) that are interwoven quite well into 1 movie. and if it isn't enough, you can always end up with Spider-Pig stuck in your head for days and days... more razor sharp satire would have been nice, but the show is part farce too...
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