The Simpsons Movie

How funny is it? Imagine the best bits of all your favourite Simpsons episodes rolled into an 87-minute package. Then add a sensational skateboarding session from a naked Bart, a hilarious guest spot from Green Day, and Homer's pet "spider pig"...

Put simply, if somebody had to make a "Simpsons" movie, this is pretty much what it should be -- clever, irreverent, satirical and outfitted with a larger-than-22-minutes plot, capable (just barely) of sustaining a narrative roughly four times the length of It's as funny as its quadruple-episode length should be, while easily sustaining what is, deep down, really a typical single episode storyline - Homer makes monumental stuff up, Homer attempts to fix things, all around him suffer... a standard episode...

At the risk of Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Film3-Critic becoming the party game de jour at every Simpsons fan party, I will nevertheless pose the question: does half an hour of primetime hilarity have the stamina to become a 90 minute cinematic laugh-fest? reckon - probably not, but its pretty damn close...

The Simpsons have always been geniuses at satisfying a wide spectrum of audience by mixing complex high-brow moments with Homer thwacking his head. I just wish the film could have leant more towards the former, especially its second half. (I should also mention the visual lushness, the colours were beautifully mixed for the big-screen)...

As entertaining as The Simpsons Movie is – and it is one of the funniest films you’ll likely see at the cinema this year – the portly cue ball’s still got a point. The insane levels of plot secrecy surrounding the film led us to expect something truly incredible was in the works, something that might take the show into the realm of the spectacular, the surreal even (remember the 3-D episode?). Instead, what we get is an extended episode: a very good episode, at times scaling the giddy heights of the show in its prime, but an episode all the same...

I don't think it was quite as good as the rabid Simpsons fan inside me truly wanted – this is no magnum D'oh-pus. Not much time is spent with any of your favourite peripheral characters – more Mr Burns would have been excellent and you'll spend a long time waiting for Duffman – but there are limits to what you can do in 87 minutes...

Thank goodness the world can count on Homer's idiocy for a steady stream of laughs. This, combined with his total haplessness, wins you over - the bulging eyes of sudden realisation as he flips the fingers to an angry mob and becomes lodged halfway into an escape tunnel. Cutting edge animation isn't required; the charm is in the familiarity of these regular houseguests. In other ways too, silliness triumphs over sophistication...