Title: The Simpsons Movie
Genre: Animation/Comedy
Cast: The Simpsons, the other characters from The Simpsons, …
Director: David Silverman
Release: (2007)
Yes, I confess, I never went to see this demographically-mandated movie when it came out last summer. But I had a good reason. Or, at least, I’m about to pretend I did and transparently use that angle to teach you something that I believe the time has come for every Simpsons fan to know. My pretend reason is this: I was scared. Scared of how difficult, how emotional it might be for me to have to watch the violent destruction of so many of my own childhood memories, and witness the death of the most famous star I grew up with. As much as I love The Simpsons, and as much as I had been anticipating this movie prior to its release, I was devastated to learn from all the commercials and trailers leading up to it that the story was to revolve around the annihilation of my hometown of Chelmsford, Massachusetts – or as you might know it, Springfield.
Yes, friends, I think it is time I let you in on a little secret that we Chelmsfordians have all known for years. While Springfield, Illinoisers and Springfield, Vermonters are out gang-warring with each other at conventions and blogging about all of the referential clues hidden in episode dialogues and details that “prove” theirs is the real Springfield, we Chelmsfordians have never felt the need to be out convincing anyone. We’ve always known the truth, and known that there just isn’t any debate. No key snippets of dialogue necessary. No calculating distances between points on a road trip episode to triangulate their location needed. If we ever want proof, we need only to sit back every week and use our own two eyes to see the unhidden truth, plain as day. It’s the elephant in America’s living room every Sunday night (and twice on weekday afternoons) that no one else can see – Chelmsford is the real Springfield.
So then, you can imagine my dismay at the thought of actually watching the on-screen destruction of the town I grew up in and where so many friends and family still live. Even worse was the thought of losing my biggest secret source of hometown pride, not to mention one of my better interesting-story-at-a-party trump cards, if The Simpsons were to ever leave Chelmsford (and, yes, I am now calling Springfield by its proper name for the rest of this review) behind. My next coolest hometown-Hollywood connection after that was about a girl from my town who danced on-screen with Brendan Fraser for two seconds in School Ties. I didn’t want to have to drop down to that – that story sucks almost as much as if Brendan Fraser himself was from my hometown. But despite that risk, I was finally able to work up the courage to see The Simpsons Movie this week and face up to these potential repercussions. Boy did I have it wrong.
The Simpsons Movie follows TV’s yellowest family on a whirlwind journey to escape from, and then return to try to save, Chelmsford after Homer inadvertently causes the federal government to order the sealing off and destruction of the entire town. Although this is the main storyline, it doesn’t really get going until a good way into the movie. The first quarter or so of the movie is largely dedicated to cramming in a lot of really “gaggy” and disconnected events that seem to be more a way of getting all of the mandatory appearances by all of the supporting characters in town out of the way early, since the writers know they have to get everyone in or the fans would riot, but most of them couldn’t have any reasonable role in the main plotline. So, whatever, I understand that. But like I said, a lot of them did just feel kind of cheap and gaggy. It may depend on your own level of Simpsons sophistication to determine how funny you think they are. I wouldn’t consider myself super-sophisticated about it, but enough so that I was hoping for a little more humor out of scenarios and interactions that would be specific to these characters I’ve come to know so well, not just slapsticky gags that would work equally well with the gang from Shrek. Once most of that is out of the way (though it never totally goes away) and the real story starts to take shape, there does begin to be some more development of a core group of the characters, with the relationships between Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa being explored, explained and exploited for material the most. As they make their way from Chelmsford to Alaska and back again, the unpredictability and consequences of Homer’s decisions eventually forces them all to decide whether what’s best for the family and what’s best for themselves are still compatible options.
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