The Simpsons Movie

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Well, I think Bart's skateboard ride pushed a limit, and did so with a nod to the iconic title sequence of show. But I admit there's nothing in the actual plot or character arcs that hasn't been done 17 times before.

And I conceded to "a couple funny but throw away moments" in an earlier post. Homer giving the bird was another. I reiterate my yawn.

Of course, my perspective is from someone for whom The Simpsons has only 10 seasons, and has been off my personal air for the last 8 years.

I'm from nearly the same perspective. I perhaps watched one or two more seasons (which I surely did not enjoy), and have been sure to catch at least one or two episodes from each subsequent season, just to reaffirm my belief that the show continues to suck (and I have yet to be proven wrong). But the tired plot lines and character motivations they used in the movie would have been equally tired 8 years ago.

And by way of comparison points ... there have been plenty of TV-show movies I've enjoyed that did not go beyond any plots or character arcs covered on the free TV show.

I'll reiterate that I didn't not enjoy it. It just didn't impress me.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Well, to each their own. The group I went with laughed from Ralphie's "da-da-da-daaaaaa!" pretty much until the credits rolled. I though that it WAS more than a string of jokes. Julie Kavner's VO for the wedding video scene was lovely and moving. I thought that it worked very well as stretched-out episode with interesting A, B and C storylines intertwined. And the quotes ("clap for Alaska, Lisa!" among them) were perfectly quotable.

The Simpsons, to me, has never tread the line that South Park does. And I'm OK with that. Where both are critical of society, one uses a subtle wit and one uses bombastic wit, and there's room for both. But I don't see how pushing the subtler one to a more bombastic place would stay true to the Simpsons' form. Bart's doodle was edgy relative to your standard episode (season 1-10.)

[Ghoulish Delight]

I must clarify, I wasn't looking for over-the-line edginess. Although I think that while Bart's doodle is edgy relative to early episodes, I don't think it (or anything in the movie) represents the same edginess relative to society that the early episodes did. But that's a whole other discussion.

What I mean by "more than just an episode" has more to do with actually creating something that matches the scale of the big screen on the whole. Boundary pushing is part of that, but only a small fraction.

To illustrate, I'll say that I think my favorite part was the opening bit. Not the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon itself per-se, but the self aware bit with Homer in the theater afterwards. That, far beyond anything else in the whole movie, showed a keen understanding of how to take the characters from the small screen and do something befitting the big screen. It used the medium in that beautifully self-aware, self-effacing way that The Simpsons once used television. But it peeked in the first 5 minutes and never returned to that. Boo-hiss I say.

That's not to say I wanted 90 minutes of Bart talking into the camera. But that opening got me all excited that they truly did something more than a 90 minute episode. So perhaps that's part of my perspective. In its first hit, it soared well beyond my expectations, and then very quickly plummeted back down to mediocre.

[Morrigoon]

I think it's true that the edge wasn't quite there. Bart's doodle was edgy, yes, and damn funny after all they did to set the joke up (eg: getting all "Austin Powers" with it before hand to keep it blocked and then suddenly blocking everything but), however, the biting wit of the spoken word was no sharper. (However, true to form, I believe there was at least one anti-Disney joke tossed in )

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

(However, true to form, I believe there was at least one anti-Disney joke tossed in )

I laughed at that joke but then I thought, 'Uh, isn't Fox led by someone evil, too?'

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Oh, they made fun of Fox. Remember that "ticker" at the bottom of the screen?

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Oh, they made fun of Fox. Remember that "ticker" at the bottom of the screen?

No, I hear you. I just found it odd for one evil corporation to call another evil corporation 'evil'.

[Chernabog]

All's I know is, saying "Harry Plopper" out loud always brings a smile to my face!

[Babette]

I enjoyed it. It made me giggle. There were a couple things they can't do on TV, but for the most part a long episode. But that is all I expected. I thought it was a good story and had clever commentary.

I liked when they got to the Seattle train station. Marge, Lisa and Bart ducked to hide from the EPA people, but Maggie covered her eyes. If a baby can't see you, you can't see her, right?

[AllyOops!]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Boo-hiss I say.

Don't you mean Boo-urns?

As LSPoorEeyorick said, to each his own. Opinion is merely that and nothing more- opinion.

I thought the movie was very cute. I'm going to go see it with my Boyfriend tonight (I saw it with my Grandma last night), so I'm hoping I enjoy it much more the second time! I, too, was expecting a little more. I'm somebody who has enjoyed absolutely every season of the Simpsons. Southpark, while funny on television, apalled me on the bigscreen. Again, to each his own.

Some scenes had me giggling, but not as hard as I laugh when watching The Simpsons on TV. Maybe it's because we've waited 18 years and expected something major that we hadn't seen before? Maybe there wasn't just enough time on the big screen to feature every character? All I know is...I was kinda dissapointed. Something was just..off. I fall over howling when I watch the Simpsons on TV & DVD. In the theater, I giggled outloud, but never fell over howling.

Hopefully tonight will be much more fun! Maybe it was my hormones acting wonky and the fact that I was juggling an Icee and a Soda and the people walking in front of me stopped abrubtly, thus causing me to stop too short and dump the soda all over the floor. Maybe it was the fact that I was so pissed off by the frigging soda debacle that when I finally did cool down, some wad spilled and kicked their soda down the aisle, flowing right into my purse.

Boy, I'm a DVD gal.