Movie Review : The Simpsons Movie

Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig,
Does Whatever A Spider-Pig Does,
Can He Swing, From A Web?
No He Can't, He's A Pig.
Look Out, He's Spider-Pig

Now how can you not laugh at that?
Maybe if it was someone other than Homer Simpson doing it.
Well, a smile at least.
There you go.

The Simpsons Movie (Drumroll Please!) can be called the work of 17 years and many, many fine artists come to fruition; or, alternatively, another merchandizing shtick by the Fox Corporation to cash in on the Simpsons before people get too brainwashed on Family Guy.
Either way, It's about time! The Simpsons Movie is 87 minutes of Good Old Fashioned Irreverant DisFUNctional Family Fun! Also Including Thrills! Chills! Satire! Prophecies! Itchy And Scratchy! Self-Parody! Underage Frontal Nudity! The Environment! And Spider-Pig!
Spiderpig, Spiderpig....

Ha Ha Ha Anyway, the film follows roughly the same format for a regular Simpsons episode - The Family goes somewhere, which leads to something happening, either to, or because of them, which leads to something else happening (all of this takes about half the time of the whole show,) and the rest of the show is spent trying to fix what they did because of the first thing. In this case it was Green Day Concert, Environment-Protection Measures, Dome Put Over Town To Prevent Leak Of Deadly Mutanagenic Pollutants, Saving Town From Imminent Annihilation, in that order. I'm not going to go into details, I'm sick of that.

Well, OK, but just a few gags and thats it. You're gonna have to see the film to find out about Cargill and Boobie-Lady.
The film opens with an Itchy and Scratchy episode to end all I&C episodes, revealing the lust for power and glory present in the hearts of all mice. Later, we see Homer daring Bart to skateboard naked through the streets of springfield (and dares the universe to protect his modesty, so to speak) (Look, Just watch the film, OK) and Homer riding a bike in a 'Maut Ka Gola!' (if anyone remembers their Circuses right.) And SpiderPig of course.

But the gags are just the tacky highlights, the spit that really holds the hair together is the strain of Love and Family that form the back-current of the story - The complex relationship of a couple after years of marriage, the questioning of a father's love after years of alienation, and, uh, I'm sure Lisa and Maggie are in there somewhere as well.

But really, the film is a true embodiement (emfilmment didn't really sound right, so...) of the Simpsons Series. It's particular form of Satire, (which by the way, still hasn't been truly ripped-off. People have tried, but failed. Badly.) is still intact in the film (which is more than I can say for some of the newer episodes) all the while maintaining a timeless quality. The plot follows the usual arc for a half-hour episode, except on a much larger scale, but not enough to be considered a milestone (other than of course, being the First Simpsons Movie.)
According to sources, the film underwent almost a hunded script changes, many during production, which almost never happens in an animated film due to budget concerns. If anyone remembers many things from the older theatrical trailer were also cut from the movie. Matt Groening has gone on record saying that almost two film's worth of material was cut from the film, but would be included in the DVD (Sources linked on Wikipedia Page).

Last paragraph-ly, recommended for Simpson's fans who miss the older episodes, recommended for fans who like the newer ones, recommended for noobs who want to see what the big deal is about. Very little of the humor is Pop-Culture-Specific, and even then plays on the image of the US as held by the Right Minded People (who not long ago really were Right Minded People, but are now Left Minded People.) The subtle humor of the film (as opposed to Naked Skateboarding and Mutant Squirells) tackles the Simpsons' two favourite topics, Politics and Religion. But, to be more on the point, it takes on the Simpsons themselves, what they have put up with all these years, how they have grown, and how they will move forward.
As Maggie puts it in the Easter Egg over the credits - "Sequel."