‘The Simpsons Movie’: Movie Review
Funny is an absolute yes, but just feels blank
I must admit, I’m not a rad viewer of The Simpsons. I only watch clips on YouTube and some controversial ‘The Simpsons Predicted This!’ episodes, but not the series as a whole. But any sane person can agree that the gags are funny as heck. And it’s no wonder they have a movie: The Simpsons Movie.
Made by the team who also made the series, the movie has a simple but interesting premise, like most of the episodes. We have our classic penis breath character, Homer Simpson, who wreaked havoc and damaged the entirety of Springfield. When it’s revealed that it’s him, the family — Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, oh and Homer — flee to restart their life. But guess what? They have to return back to stop a threat coming to Springfield.
And just by that, I have spoiled a quarter of the movie. And that’s the basis of it: it’s not meant to be like conventional movies. It’s just a sandbox for the writers to see how the narrative of a Simpsons episode could look like in a movie, nicely relying on gags to play along. And I am very polarized as to how I think of this approach. This is another episode of Movies to Watch While Waiting for Your Delayed Flight, and in that case, I love this movie. But like movie adaptations, it failed to bring new scope to the source material. You look a the long duration and you think “Wow! This must be a treat!” but only a treat limited to its gags. And in that case, the movie failed.
Gags are as always creative. Story conceiver Matt Groening still retains his original mindfuck, told through authentic animations and perfect choice of music. If not for its still-good, purposefully-cliche storyline, gags would just make me give the movie 50. After all, not all of them works well. The shaman scene is too long and makes me lose focus, and while the parodies are subtly executed, some of the camera’s zoom-ins are dizzying, not in a good way.
The Simpsons Movie is a perfect adaptation and could bring nostalgia into rad viewers of the series — something I’ve seen in a variety of reviews. But something feels lacking, and I don’t think I’ve explained it enough.
GENRE: Parody
DURATION: 1 hour 26 minutes
WATCHED ON: Disney+ Hotstar
AGE RATING: 12+
LANGUAGE: English
