When I started seeing ads for The Simpsons Movie, I recalled the episode in season four where Bart and Lisa see a commercial for the upcoming Itchy and Scratchy movie, which promises something like "63% new material." Bart was banned by his parents from ever seeing the film, and he becomes isolated from his classmates who talk about nothing else, taking on what Lisa described as the "demented melancholia of a Tennessee Williams heroine." As a result, I was compelled to see the movie on the opening weekend.

There are millions of fans, like me, who have picked apart the details of every episode of The Simpsons since its debut in 1989, and plenty more who can't remember a time when The Simpsons wasn't a part of their Sunday night ritual. Add that to the critical acclaim heaped upon the show throughout its remarkable 400-episode run, and the traditional difficulties in adapting a half-hour sitcom for the big screen, and you have expectations that couldn't possibly be met by mere mortals.

Except that they did it. From the typically brilliant self-referential opening joke, The Simpsons Movie hits all of the targets that we've have come to expect. I'm not going to give away any of the jokes (one reviewer spoiled a particularly sublime moment), but the plot centers around a Homer-created environmental disaster in Springfield. The federal government, under advisement from the corporation-run Environmental Protection Agency, intercedes in devastating fashion. Homer becomes an outcast - first from the town, then his family - and he takes it upon himself to save the town and win back Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The subplot revolves around Bart realizing that he needs a more positive male role model, and finding one in Homer's nemesis, Ned Flanders.

All of this could have come directly from the series. At its core, The Simpsons has always been about the necessity for a strong family unit as the unholy marriage of corporations and government threatens our existence, so the creative team finds themselves on familiar ground.

Article Author: Dave Lifton

Dave Lifton is a writer whose take on pop culture can be found at Wings For Wheels. He also blogs about soccer at Booked For Dissent.

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