The Simpsons Movie doesn't do anything surprising or stretch the boundaries too much; it's essentially a very good 90-minute episode of the TV show, with one or two small "you can't do that on TV" moments. But when a TV show is as consistently good as The Simpsons, a very good 90-minute episode is all a movie needs to be.
The plotting is actually a bit more cohesive than the show usually is. Homer causes an ecological catastrophe by dumping his pig's waste into Lake Springfield, and when the EPA takes action, the Simpsons are chased out of town. They take refuge in Alaska, only to return to save the town when President Schwarzenegger and EPA chief Cargill (frequent Simpsons guest voice Albert Brooks) plan even more drastic measures.
Fans of the TV show will surely get the most out of the movie; there are lots of little flashbacks and homages to various episodes. But the movie will be perfectly entertaining, I think, even to those who've never seen an episode (there are a few such benighted souls, I'm told). The voice cast does its usual fine work. Dan Castelleneta, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, and Nancy Cartwright shine in their multiple roles. Yeardley Smith and Julie Kavner don't always get as much attention, because they play fewer roles, but they do fine work; as Marge, Kavner has one particularly lovely moment which had my eyes misting over.
It's rare to leave a movie wishing it had been longer, but that's how I felt after this one. I wanted more of the extended Simpsons family of minor characters -- more Apu, more Burns and Smithers, more Carl and Lenny -- and I had hoped for one of the show's trademark musical numbers. I suppose it's better to leave wanting more, though, than to leave feeling that the movie had been too bloated. The Simpsons Movie is lots of fun, and even the obligatory hint at a sequel is handled in clever fashion.
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