The Simpsons..........Movie (2007) - Why the Long Pause? That's How Long it Took Them to Make a Movie

I have to admit...I haven't watched the Simpsons on TV for several years. Probably not since the 6th or 7th season, but I'm a huge fan of animation. I haven't watched the Family Guy or Futurama either...I tend to stick with the animation of old, like Looney Tunes and the Hanna Barbera classics, which may not have been funnier, but it was clever. It was a little more subtle. Maybe I'm missing out on some of the new stuff...I'm told Family Guy and Futurama are hilarious. One day I'll rent them all at once and see for myself. Maybe I'll add them to my Netflix queue right now.

But I'm not here to talk about that...I'm here to talk about The Simpsons Movie. I went to see this by myself first of all...I haven't done that in a while, but Katharine was SO not interested. I sat down, not sure of what to expect. Should I expect the same old Simpsons I watched on TV seven years ago or would it be new? Would they have characters I didn't recognize? Would any of the characters have aged? Of course not. It was exactly the same. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it...well, most of it. It was certainly large enough to be worthy of the big screen...at least after the first 30 minutes went by. I was worried when it started..."it was just a giant episode"..."why pay for something I can see at home for free in my living room?" And then they kicked off the plot of the movie about pollution and Spider Pig and Homer being a dolt and the Simpsons leaving Springfield. A little preachy, but with many funny bits.

Wait...here's where I think they went WRONG (and of course this is my opinion and mine alone). This was their big chance to start again fresh. Their chance to LEAVE the Simpsons somewhere else and begin with new characters, new plot lines, something new for the fans to look at. Something to start off the next season of the longest running primetime show on television in a setting you've never seen before. But maybe that's not what die hard Simpsons fans want. I think it would have been GREAT!

One reviewer said that the Simpsons Movie wasn't just a long episode...I think it kind of was, but as I said earlier, with the visuals they provided, it was a long episode worth taking the time to go see in theaters because seeing it on TV...on DVD...really makes it just another episode of the show.