the Mind’s Chew Toy

Ah, The Smpsons! Everyone’s favorite dysfunctional animated clan - and all their neighbors - finally made it onto the big screen in 2007 in a movie aptly titled The Simpsons Movie.

As much as we wanted to see the film in theaters, we missed our chance this summer, and have been waiting anxiously for the film to hit DVD. It finally has, and we couldn’t wait for Blockbuster.com to send us a copy. But, would Matt Groening and his crew be able to make our favorite small-screen characters debut in the movies be something extraordinary, or were we in for something akin to a Simpsons TV episode marathon?

All the voices from the TV show have come together for this big-screen debut, making this a truly realistic extension of the show. So many times when a TV show is translated to the big screen (or a direct-to-video sequel is made), the filmmakers decide to change the voices to include lots of famous names to heighten the excitement over the film - which instead makes the film seem like a second-rate version of the show (or the first film). Not so with The Simpsons, as the film showcases the same talented voices who have been with the show for years, including Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria and of course Dan Castellaneta.

“The Simpsons”, on the other hand, has come up with a great way to include famous voices in their shows - they simply add another animated character. With the film version, they toss in Tom Hanks and the leader singer of Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, and Tom Hanks - both of whom voice animated version of themselves. They also manage to sneak in another celebrity voice - Albert Brooks - to voice the head of the EPA, Russ Cargill. These characters, new to The Simpsons-verse, add a bit of fun for the viewers, and don’t contradict with the small-screen version, as these characters have never appeared before.

But what about continuity? With the show still running, how can the film know when to come into play? If a viewer has been watching the show this season, will they be feel a bit out of place if they haven’t seen the film? As with all episodes of “The Simpsons”, the answer to that is no. No matter what mess they get into in the show, they either don’t mention it again, or if they do, it will be as a small aside that won’t matter to the overall enjoyment of the show.

The only discontinuity between the film and the TV show is during the credits roll at the end, when Maggie is about to speak (to say ’sequel?’) and Marge exclaims “she’s about to say her first word!” - something she already did during the episodee entitled “Lisa’s First Word” (in that episode, Maggie’s one word exclamation of “Daddy” was voiced by Elizabeth Taylor - in the film, she’s voiced by Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa). Kinda bizarre, but not really integral to the plot.

The plot itself, thankfully gets a lot bigger for this extra-long episode, and includes “President” Schwarzenegger, the EPA, a giant dome around Springfield, and also finally discloses Springfield’s location (it borders Ohio, Nevada, Maine and Kentucky). Of course, the dome around Springfield is all Homer’s fault, and half the film is about Homer’s family escaping certain death from the townspeople and having an adventure of their own.

Some of the special features on the DVD are rather comical, including the 4 Animated Shorts, which include A Simpsons parody of “American Idol”, Homer introducing “American Idol”, Homer replacing Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” and a Homer-ized version of the old theater ad, ‘Let’s All Go To The Lobby’. While ‘Let’s All Go To The Lobby’ is the funniest, the rest are decent too, and are a good addition to the DVD.

Basically, the film comes down to this, if you like “The Simpsons”, you’ll like The Simpsons Movie, as it’s basically just a longer version of the TV episodes. It’s got enough plot to fill the time, so you’ll definitely be entertained, and the little jokes - from Green Day’s rendition of ‘The Simpsons Theme Song’ to Abu asking Mr. Burns to “look in your heart” (to which Mr. Burns responds by sending the dogs after him) will keep viewers laughing throughout.

Sure, it gets a little more dramatic in certain sequences, but - like the episodes - the viewer is never really in doubt about the outcome - it’s the getting there that’s the fun part. Overall, not a bad transition - but the viewer is left feeling like it could have been something more.