The Prague Post
November 22nd, 2008
Endowment Fund     Business Listings ONLINE      Reservations      Classifieds    Subscriptions
Hotel Prague Centre

Home » Archives » Night & Day

Adult entertainment

The Simpsons get bolder on the big screen
Cinema Review | Search restaurants | Archives

By Steffen Silvis
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
August 15th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Escape from Springfield. America's first family flee for their lives in their movie debut.
enlarge
The Simpsons Movie

Directed by David Silverman
With the voices of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Albert Brooks, Tom Hanks and Joe Mantegna

The most refreshing aspect of The Simpsons — besides proving to the world that America isn’t just a land of programmed shoppers, armed rustics and snake-handlers — is that there is nothing sacred. No topic, however fervently held by the nation’s various factions, is beyond satirical send-up, whether it be the pieties of primitive Protestants or the humorless guardians of political correctness. In Matt Groening’s Springfield, all shibboleths are scourged. The Simpsons is one of the few internal correctives to the PR of “American exceptionalism.”
In The Simpsons Movie, the Simpsons crew wastes no time in insulting its own audience. It opens with Itchy and Scratchy landing on the moon. Itchy decides to take all the credit for the historic moment, and attempts to brutally kill Scratchy with the U.S. flag. As the cat-and-mouse struggle gets even more violent, Homer Simpson’s voice is heard. He is sitting in a cinema watching what turns out to be a full-length Itchy and Scratchy film. “I can’t believe we’re paying to watch something we could see on TV for free!” Homer complains. “If you ask me, everyone in this theater is a big sucker.”
There’s something to that. But The Simpsons Movie, like the TV series’ historic run on the FOX Network, proves that, so far, there is no such thing as too much of The Simpsons. If anything, this first full-length feature demonstrates the series still has unlimited potential to shock and entertain.
The cinema has also liberated the Simpsons creators into being even more baiting and biting, particularly with American religion. As no-holds-barred as the television shows are, you probably wouldn’t find Grandpa Simpson rolling around on the floor of a church in a Pentecostalist fit, babbling in tongues, while Homer frantically rifles through the Bible only to find that “there are no answers in here.” Add to this a brief bit of frontal nudity from Bart, and the film has made its case for expanding out from the clutches of FCC censors.
Befitting its widescreen format, this Simpsons is epic, Homeric even. If Transformers manages to take-out much of LA, while Die Hard 4.0 does the 9/11 hijackers proud by actually succeeding in blowing up the Capitol building in Washington, The Simpsons Movie presents no less an apocalyptic vision, as Springfield is cordoned off from the rest of the world under a giant plastic dome by the EPA. This is in response to Homer having turned Lake Springfield into a biohazard after dumping pig manure in it as he was racing to a sale at Lard Lad’s Donuts.
The citizens of Springfield (and they are all here) do what any small U.S. town would do in such a situation: they form a lynch mob. Fortunately, Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie find a way to slip under the dome and make their way to Alaska, where they are immediately handed thousands of dollars in hush money from the oil companies so that the despoliation of what’s left of the natural beauty can continue unhindered.
But after a television commercial starring Tom Hanks is aired promoting a new Grand Canyon where Springfield should be (“Hello, I’m Tom Hanks. The U.S. government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine.”), the family attempts to save its hometown.
Along with the vicious parodies and mockeries are a host of great lines. “Stop in the name of American squeamishness,” commands Chief Wiggum when a naked Bart whizzes past on a skateboard; “I was elected to lead, not to read” (this last a quote from President Schwarzenegger).
Then there’s that pantheon of voice artists — Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Marcia Wallace — joined by Hanks, Albert Brooks, Joe Mantegna and the band Green Day. In fact, it’s worth hanging around for the credits. Not only are there still a few jokes to be had, but each voice artist is given his or her own character gallery, so that you finally realize just how versatile the likes of Azaria, Catellaneta, Shearer, et al. are.
As on television, The Simpsons Movie is one of the few pieces of adult entertainment available.
 

Steffen Silvis can be reached at ssilvis@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (15/08/2007):

Browse the Current Issue

If you enjoyed this article, why don't you subscribe to the print version!
We accept secure online transactions provided by PayPal and Moneybookers

Be the first to add a comment!


Full Name: *
City: *
E-mail: **
This comment can be published in the print version of The Prague Post
Enter the text on the right:
 visual captcha
Comment: *
* Required field. In order to be approved for display, comments must have a first and last name and a city.
** E-mails are required and will only be used for internal purposes.

Most visited in Business Listings

Provokator
Hotel booking
The Prague Post Online contains a selection of articles that have been printed in
The Prague Post, a weekly newspaper published in the Czech Republic.
To subscribe to the print paper, click here.
Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.