Friday night, I watched The Simpsons Movie. Personally, I think the movie should have been billed as the latest Tom Hanks movie, since he provides the voice for…Tom Hanks.
In any case, those who have seen the TV show and hate it will hate the movie as well. If you like the TV show, you’ll like the movie: it’s basically just an hour and a half long TV episode (which, when you count the time for commercials, means it’s roughly four episodes in one).
The movie tended to be a bit more anti-religious than the TV show is, although in typical Simpsons fashion the Christian side still wins. Homer, who represents the pagans (at one point during a crisis, he flips through a Bible and says, “This book doesn’t have any answers!”) is the cause of all the troubles that happen. Meanwhile, Flanders (the Christian) ends up being the man others (in the movie, specifically Bart) turn toward. So while there is much to offend Christians, there is much to offend atheists as well. And indeed the movie ends up offending just about everyone at some point (especially if you work for the EPA).
In any case, the movie is a bit more risque at points since the animators could do things that they couldn’t show on TV, but on the whole it’s a typical PG-13 comedy.
To sum it up, as Homer says at the beginning of the film (paraphrased): “I can’t believe you people are paying money to watch what you can see every week on TV for free! You’re all suckers, and the biggest one of all is YOU!” If you find this to be just a truth statement, don’t watch the movie; if you find it to be funny, the movie is for you.
