The Simpsons Movie should be a way out-of-the-park home run in terms of boxoffice. After a spring and summer during which I have watched Hollywood put forth its best franchise efforts and still been sadly disappointed, I am delighted to find relief in the big-screen welcome of an 18-season television icon.

In this 87-minute feature-length cartoon, Homer Simpson again finds himself on the outs with his family and the entire town of Springfield. While the town unites around cleaning up the grossly polluted Lake Springfield and succeeds in turning it from a toxic waste dump into a protected “look but don’t touch” symbol of civic determination, Homer is busy building a relationship with a pig that he has rescued from Krusty the Clown’s fast-food kitchen. Homer loves the pet—whom he calls Spiderpig—and allows himself to sacrifice all of his relationships for porcine company.

The conflict of the movie revolves around Marge’s insistence that Homer get rid of a silo full of pig poop that is leaking into the back lawn of their home. Homer, with his usual charming and casual disregard for any other person or thing on earth, dumps the silo into the now pristine Lake Springfield and that brings in the EPA—which signals government regulation and allows all the bad stuff to begin.

The genius of Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), James L. Brooks (developer and writer along with Groening), and David Silverman (director) literally absorbs the audience from the opening moments of the movie and doesn’t end until the conclusion of the credits. (More and more moviemakers are adding entertaining things to watch and listen to while the credits are rolling. If you don’t watch until the very end, you’re missing some fun stuff!)

You would think that after eighteen years there wouldn’t be anybody left to lampoon or any more jokes to crack. But the beauty of The Simpsons is that the show has always been patterned after life, and as long as we’re all still here, there is daily creation of more material. Think about it. How many times everyday do we hear someone say, “Who thought that was a good decision? What on earth is the government doing now? How stupid (or dumb or ignorant) can a person be?” All Groening, Brooks, and the rest of their writers have to do is live with their eyes and ears open and this franchise could run forever. People in all their diversity and humanity are lovable, laughable, reprehensible, intelligent, shockingly ignorant, disenfranchised, exceedingly amusing, amazing, and unbelievable—you name it! Groening, et al., have plumbed the mine of human civilization and haven’t even yet hit the mother lode.

I also applaud the ability of the writers to take their script beyond the usual 22-minutes that they have on television. Not all television-length animations have been successful in adapting to the big screen, and it usually shows most blatantly in a lagging storyline and in a lack of attention to detail in maintaining uniform color and continuity in the drawing. The Simpsons Movie is a rocket ride from beginning to end and borders on being almost too well done, especially with regard to sight gags and spoken asides (that I almost just missed). All of the beloved (and not so beloved) characters are present, the artistry, color, and sound are superbly accomplished, and the editing is tight with a perfect length of 87 minutes.

The Simpsons have supplied a great deal to talk about for the past 18 years. The same truth is found in The Simpsons Movie. There isn’t a subject I could name that the writers left out in their harpooning of human and institutional foibles. To those who would attack the subject matter as profane or of no consequence I would have to respond with, “Oh, to the contrary!” Very many times in my life I have learned some of my deepest truths and lessons from humor-based material that started out being funny but led me into some pretty profound contemplation and redirection of thought and action. The Simpsons causes people to look at themselves, laugh at themselves, like what they see or hate what they see. The choice to act or not is always the individual’s and there is room to laugh and learn.

The Simpsons Movie is rated PG-13 for “irreverent humor throughout.” Is this not the lamest reason ever, or has anyone on the panel never watched The Simpsons? I have never seen the MPAA use this phrase before and what it tells me is that they quite frankly didn’t know how to rate this movie. The MPAA should have said “PG-13 for mature themes” and left it to parental discretion. All that aside… this movie won’t burn anybody’s ears or sear the eyeballs out of anybody’s head. Young children will not understand the humor of the movie any more than they do that of the television show, but the color and action will keep them occupied if you insist on taking them along.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Kathy attended a promotional screening of The Simpsons Movie.