15th Anniversary of "The Simpsons Movie" - July 21

I can't believe we're paying to see something we get on TV for free. If you ask me, everyone in this theater is a giant sucker! Especially YOU! - Homer Simpson

Well. Here we are, folks. A decade later. The Simpsons Movie was quite possibly the most anticipated film of the 2007 summer season, right there with Spider-Man 3. The marketing was insane. There were 7-11's that became Kwik-E-Marts that sold Simpsons merchandise, Burger King did constant promotions for the film, there was a popular avatar site where you could make yourself into a Simpsons character that may have ended up on the actual show. It was huge.

How could it not? The Simpsons themselves were celebrating their 20th anniversary as characters, as they made their first appearance on The Tracy Ullman Show as a bunch of shorts that later became the longest running cartoon of all time and one of the most influential shows ever made. The show was widely beloved during its so-called "golden age", which many fans say were seasons 1-8, before a dip in quality that ranges from "still good but not as good as before" to "cancel this crap!". So there was a lot riding on this film to impress the fans that have felt its declining nature. Did it succeed? Well, for me, as a huge Simpsons fan, not really.

Don't get me wrong. It's good, but not as good as it should've been. They had all the best Simpsons writers working on it (excluding Conan O'Brien), the best director The Simpsons show ever had in Monsters Inc-helmer David Silverman, and a long time for them to make up a good excuse for the big screen. Yet, it felt like a long episode of the show. The marketing didn't reveal what was the plot for the film and I assumed that Homer finally did something to ruin the entire planet this time. I thought that was a big deal. Instead, the problems were limited to Springfield being nearly destroyed, again. There wasn't anything that warranted anything but a three-part season finale. Not even the subplots like Bart wanting Flanders as a father (very contrived), Lisa in love with Bono's son (who we never see again in the show), and Marge questioning her marriage to Homer (nothing new. She's left him many times). It doesn't help that a lot of the characters are absolutely wasted. Apparently, there have been an hour of deleted footage that will never see the light of day. Would've loved to see what got cut, like Sideshow Bob appearing throughout (it's a sin Bob wasn't the villain. Instead, we got a generic business-suit baddie).

Of course, the most important part of The Simpsons has always been the humor, so how did it hold up? 50/50. Some of it works, like the opening line Homer gave that I provided, and there are some that try to hard, like frickin' Spider-Pig. A lot of the jokes are definitely made for 2007 and have certainly dated, like at one point, there's a "take that" at Fox for advertising their shows during their films, shows that have now been canceled. Not to mention the satire is way too obvious and not as cutting as others films of it's ilk, especially South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. It's kinda disappointing that they had so many years to think of the best jokes to use for the film and it's so scattershot.

It's production values are great, I can't deny. It's nice to see a mainstream, 2D film during a time when there's only CG animated films. There's some obvious CG here and there but for the most part, it's gorgeously 2D and it makes use of the widescreen composition and coloring. Hans Zimmer does a great job with the score, giving each character a leitmotif, something not done in the actual show, and giving it that wacky feeling yet upgrading it to "blockbuster". His take on the theme is wonderful. The voice acting is as good as ever but major props to Dan Castellaneta. He's always done a great job as Homer but he's the best he's ever been here. The timing, the emotional parts, he excelled at them. Albert Brooks is always fun but he had nothing to work with as the antagonist (why wasn't it Sideshow Bo... letting it go. Letting it go). The others cameos were good, too.

Overall, I didn't hate it. I just felt for such an anticipated event, they could've done a better job with the humor and plot. Give us something we haven't see before. If you're a fan, it's worth a watch but I don't know if I can recommend it for those who've never seen the show. It stands perfectly on its own, aside from some Easter eggs from the show, but I can't see it converting them to fans. It's a serviceable animated comedy.

3/5.