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The Simpsons Movie (2007)

Director:
David Silverman 
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Animation/Comedy
NORWEGIAN TITLE
The Simpsons Movie
RUNNING TIME
87 minutes
Producer:
James L. Brooks
Matt Groening
Al Jean
Richard Sakai
Mike Scully
Screenwriters (among others):
James L. Brooks
Matt Groening


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Homer (and others) (voices) Dan Castellaneta
Marge (voice) Julie Cavner
Bart (and others) (voices) Nancy Cartwright
Lisa (voice) Yeardley Smith
Various voices Harry Shearer
Various voices Hank Azaria
Fat Tony (voice) Joe Mantegna
Russ Cargill (voice) Albert Brooks

 

Review

It starts with a freshness and inspiration that the series has been missing for a while, and the audience embraces these beloved characters' transition to the big screen. The jokes and situational comedy is among the best Groening has ever done for his Simpsons, as the film toys with religion, pollution, and - above all - television censorship. There are golden moments (like the sequence involving Bart's penis) that are able to take the world of Simpsons to a level that American television standards have never allowed.

At a sensible 87 minutes, The Simpsons Movie fills a regular full-length cinematic spot with an amusing, funny and engaging film. Still, the new format also becomes something of a prison that is very typical for many TV-series converting to the big screen. This concerns narrative and structural build-up and a little too much focus on typical and largely unnecessary wrapping-ups that not even James L. Brooks and Matt Groening can avoid making overly sentimental and dull. The film struggles with a plot that could have needed some trimming concerning proportions, but this is typical cartoon-to-film problematics. It doesn't, however, change the fact that The Simpsons Movie is a fulfilling and highly dignified transition - one that neither will disappoint fans nor scare away new viewers.

Copyright © 30.8.2007 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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