July 30, 2007 -- “The Simpsons Movie” is about what you'd expect if you've ever seen the TV series. It is a good TV show transferred to the big screen. It is no better or worse than an average episode, just longer. It is witty, irreverent and sharply insightful of American culture. It is self-aware and it has countless movie in-jokes and other cultural and entertainment references. Best of all, it forces us to laugh at ourselves. Too often, we Americans tend to think that we're the greatest people on earth living in the greatest country in the world. In fact, Homer Simpson is President of the United States, and we elected him twice. Well, maybe he wasn't actually elected, but he got in there somehow and he still hasn't been impeached for some reason. We're a lot more like that crazy Simpson universe than we'd like to admit.

Homer Simpson is an overweight, balding, self-absorbed Baby Boomer who has barely managed to hang onto his family and job despite repeated blunders. He's got a big heart, just a little bit bigger than his selfishness, and a tiny brain. His son, Bart, is a smarter version of his father (and thus more dangerous). His wife, Marge, is a good, decent person with a big heart, the rock of the family. Homer and Marge's daughter, Lisa is a smarter version of Marge, and their youngest daughter, Maggie, the smartest of all, is a kind of elemental force of nature.

In this episode, Homer does something typically stupid which causes an environmental crisis. The Environmental Protection Agency puts a giant dome over Homer's town of Springfield to seal off the contamination, and removes all mention of Springfield from all databases. The Simpsons escape the dome and move to Alaska, only to be drawn back home when the government threatens to destroy Springfield. As usual, Homer's antics almost cost him his family, and Marge hangs in there for a long time. There are some funny bits with regulars like Moe, the evil Mr. Burns, Abraham Simpson and the goody two shoes Ned Flanders. The movie starts out with a funny prologue starring Itchy and Scratchy, which finds Scratchy stranded on the moon by Itchy, who becomes president after lying about what he did to Scratchy. This is essentially the plot of the rest of the movie in brief. This movie has a lot of sharp, smart, insightful humor in it and it is unabashadly irreverent, just what you would expect it to be. This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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