Well, it took enough damned time, but here it is, the first film foray for the family Fox built. As a fan
since the Tracey Ullman
Show shorts, I wasn’t sure what to expect when this came out but I was
cautiously optimistic. Could it be
good and capture some of the weirdness and yet the sweet moments that make the
show so special?
The answer is absolutely yes.
Springfield
is in trouble. People have been dumping so much sewage and garbage into the
local waterways that the American government and the EPA have declared Springfield a danger to
the rest of the country. Things got this bad when, after the town made a
concerted effort to clean up their act, Homer chose free donuts over
responsibility and dumped a silo of pig poo into the
water and that was the last straw as far as the EPA was concerned. The
president blindly chooses the fate of Springfield
and within days a dome is lowered over the town, keeping everyone inside and
keeping the filth within the city. Things turn ugly in Springfield as the citizens learn who is
responsible for their plight and Homer is a hunted man. He and the family are
able to escape his bloody fate. The family has never lived outside of Springfield though and is
not sure where to go, or what to do. Homer asks his family to trust him, to
follow him to Alaska,
to a new life, a new beginning, and a second chance. Marge, always there for
Homer when he needs her, places her trust in him and to Alaska they go, finding a semblance of peace
and a new happiness. In Springfield
though, things are only getting worse. When it’s learned that Homer has escaped
the dome, the order is put out to deal Springfield
the final blow, to nuke the town and to wipe all memory of such a place from America. Marge,
Bart, and Lisa cannot fathom allowing this to happen to their friends and to
the place they truly feel is their home but Homer refuses to return. He’s made
his decision; he has chosen their new home. Marge makes her own decision then, and
it is to leave Homer, to take the kids, and to return, and to fight to save Springfield. Homer, alone
for the first time, and facing the truth of what he’s done, must find the
courage and strength in himself to return, to face his shame, and to win back
his family and save his town.
This is the Simpsons we all
hoped we’d see. This is the fun, the wit, and the heart that has been traded in
so many times for the quick gags on the television show. The soul of this show,
and this film, is that, jokes and gags aside, this is a family that loves one
another, and loves where they live. The family is why this film works, and it
works outwards from there. Yes, it’s funny, very funny. Not every joke works,
but there are so many laughs that you tend to overlook the duds. There is a
great, ridiculous story that serves up a bit of cheeky satire about the
government. And it’s all put together with some very good looking animation.
Certainly not the film of the summer, but perhaps a
transition so that the television show can fade away and allow the films to
give us a longer, stronger dose of Simpsons every so
often, that’s my hope at least. Fans should love this and if you have never
been a fan, this might be a good place to see what you’ve been missing.
