The Simpsons Movie (DVD, 2009, Widescreen; Movie Cash)

Confession: my husband and I are HUGE Simpsons fans. We have every season on DVD that has been released to date and a house full of figures, t-shirts, and ... I can best sum it up with one of the great true-isms of our home and every conversation we have: "Everything comes back to the Simpsons."

That being said, we speculated in detail for months about the movie. Would it (like some of the Star Trek movies and the X-Files movies, which come immediately to mind) just turn out to be a good-but-not-great episode? Would they use real actors or the animated characters? Would they pack in as many celebrity cameos as they could possibly fit into 90 minutes?

We'd finally decided that the only possible storylines that could "carry" a movie would be Homer's mother coming home and falling for Flanders, or that the "mystery" behind what happened to Marge's father would at last be revealed. Thin, perhaps - but we figured the talent could pull it off easily.

WRONG!!!!

Without missing a beat, the movie starts with the Simpsons' trademark in-your-face sarcastic humor, and the ball stayed in play for the beginning through the end with a storyline so creative and ingenious, neither of us had considered it in our wildest fantasies! That's Matt Groening, and THAT is why The Simpsons is still alive and fresh after decades.

If you missed it in the theater, be sure to sit all the way through the credits. You do NOT want to miss Maggie's first clearly-understandable word. Another nice and long-overdue little feature was included in the closing credits: as each voice talent was credited, a thumbnail portrait catalog of all the major characters each actor voices was included. GREAT touch ... and Tess, Marcia and the others got the equal billing they deserve!

It was a huge and glorious adventure - far too grand in scale to be broken into "to be continued" episodes. It was a MOVIE. A meaty, substantial movie with a great plot, plenty of twist, and a highly satisfying ending. This is NOT just a long episode - it's a work unto itself. Far exceeding our hopes, the troop did not let us down.

The Simpsons Movie is worth owning just as a REALLY funny movie - whether or not you've ever been in to the Simpsons. If you *are* into the show, this is an absolute MUST-HAVE ... but you already knew that.

Worth every minute and every penny. An instant CLASSIC!

We rented The Simpsons Film DVD last night, and realized we hadn't blogged about it since it first came out.

The Movie itself in our humble opinion was just not that big of a deal on the Big Screen. We expected more and didn't get it.

However the Spider-Pig song cracks Tina up!

The Credits show how few voice actors are needed to voice most of the cast of the TV Show... truly amazing!

Near the end of the credits is Maggie's First Word... "sequel"!

The DVD Bonus Features:

Deleted Scenes- The DMV scene with Marge's sisters was funny.

However there were not enuff deleted scenes... could there have not been that many???

Special Features - The Jay Leno sub scene was OK. The American Idol scene with Simon was funny. The Lobby Treat was funny per Tina.

Trailers - The trailers were funnier than the movie. Tina says because the trailers were 'concentrated' with all the best scenes...

This DVD is worth watching at least once for a mainstream viewer, and for The Simpsons fanatics it would be worthwhile in their collection.

Thanks for reading this popular culture - comics - comic books blog post!

Michael (and Tina)

Spiderpig, Spiderpig,
Does whatever a spiderpig does
Can he swing from a web?
No he can't, he's a pig.
Look out! He is a Spiderpig!

If there are any kids in your neighborhood, you already know this little song by heart, and if not, let me warn you that once you hear it, it's stuck in your head FOREVER. Cockroaches may become extinct, Pampers may degrade into mulch, Paris Hilton may be forgotten, but this tune will live on.

The movie contains the normal Simpsons type violence, cartoon nudity and some jokes that will go over the heads of younger kids, but I've seen seven and eight year olds cracking up with laughter anyway - and yes, singing the Spiderpig song over and over again.

In a nutshell, the good folk of Springfield (except Lisa and a new kid in town named Colin) care diddlysquat about the environment and as a result of careless dumping of waste materials, Lake Springfield becomes a toxic bog. A vision predicting certain disaster is ignored by all but Marge, and the pollution continues.

Homer meanwhile adopts a pig from a Krusty Burger commercial, and when the pig becomes a family member, Bart starts looking for a new father figure. Pigs however will be pigs, and the silo that Homer has been using for manure collection quickly starts overflowing. The problems then really get started when Homer is forced to get rid of the stinky stuff, and the Environmental Protection Agency moves in to take care of the situation, albeit with the not-quite-carefully considered approval of President Schwarzenegger.

Draconian measures soon become desperate measures, and of course it's up to The Simpsons to save the town, even though they have become public enemies numbers one through five.

Essentially an episode stretched into a movie covering family relationships, religion, politics, environmental issues and of course Spiderpig, this one is not only for Simpsons fans, but for lovers of cartoons, slapstick humor and satire. Go see this movie for the Simpsons - leave it remembering the pig.

Homer has long been the life of The Simpsons, although early in the show's success it seemed that Bart was the main character.  Bart got the main bits in Butterfinger adds, and he had the catch phrases on the T-shirts like "Cowabunga", "Eat My Shorts", and so on.  Over the course of the show, Homer has done some of the dumbest things known to mankind.His character has thus been transferred to the feature movie format, and he is again in the spotlight.  Because of his love for donuts, he puts the town of Springfield in an Armageddon type of situation.  Then he and the family escape to Alaska only to return to try to save town.  Along the way are numerous funny adventures that'll leave all family members laughing.

What I liked the most about this movie is that pretty much every character gets involved and at least has a line or two in the picture.  This movie is excellent and is definitely a must see for fans of the show.  It's fun, dumb, and intelligent all at the same time.  Exactly what a comedy is supposed to be.

I am a long-time fan of the Simpsons TV show, so I was excited about seeing the feature. I appreciated the fact the opening sequence made fun of the idea of paying to see something on the big screen that one can see at home for free. The animation was obviously a little more expensive than what one sees on the small screen, especially this season. The movie was funny, like the show. Homer was irreverent as always.

The language was a little racier than network allows which was a little disturbing. You see, the Simpsons family is one of the few TV experiences I share with my own family, which includes 6- and 9-year old daughters. The language aspect was the most troublesome part of the movie for me since Marge (usually the moral conservative of the bunch) curses during the film's climax. I wasn't as disturbed by Homer's sacrilegious rants. He's the show's buffoon and we've heard such impropriety from him before. But for Marge to say "goddamn" was unsettling.

I did purchase the DVD for various friends and family members (including my own) as Christmas presents. Allowing for my caveats, I do recommend the movie for those already inititated in the mirth that is the Simpsons.