It seems pretty random for the creators of "The Simpsons" to create and release a 5 minutes short, standalone, The Simpsons short. I mean, what can this short do that hasn't been done- or can't be done in any of the 20 minutes long "The Simpsons" episodes, that runs since 1989. Well, the key to the short its success is that this truly is a standalone movie and as a matter of fact, it's OK to watch this short, even when you have no idea who The Simpsons are or simply have never seen a single episode, which is hard to believe.

But of course also fans of the show can still enjoy and appreciate this movie. And I do believe most of them will, since it features one of the most liked and yet underrated characters, as the movie its lead; Maggie.

It's of course also done in the exact same and familiar "The Simpsons" animation style, though I must say that it's still a tiny bit better looking than the average TV series episode. There is some more detail and obviously some more time and effort than usual went into it.

It's all rather amusing to watch Maggie going on an adventure and see things form her perspective. That also means that the entire movie is dialog free, which in return also means that the storytelling, as well as its comedy, is all visually orientated. Typical cartoon like stuff but all done and incorporated into the movie very well. You could tell that all of the persons involved with this short had years of experience in the business. They even got Hans Zimmer involved again, to compose a pretty good little musical score, to go along with the movie.

The biggest complaint about the movie though might sound like a backhanded compliment but it in fact is truly a problem with this movie; it's just too short. The story is supposedly to take place over the course of a couple of hours, when Maggie gets dropped off at the daycare by Marge and picked up again by the end of the day. But since the movie is only 5 minutes short, it also feels like it's all taking place during the course of those few minutes. And really, why not actually turn this into a 20 minutes long "The Simpsons" episode instead? Seems like there were plenty of good ideas and material for it. 5 minutes is just a bit too short for this movie to truly leave a lasting impression with anything really.

But oh well, it of course all by no means make this short a terrible one to watch. Just one that leaves you hungry for more and makes you wish the movie was just a tad bit longer and had some more different story-developments and characters in it.

7/10

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(Review originally written at 25 February 2008)

This movie started off really well and promising and seemed like an extremely entertaining animated movie, focusing on the famous animated family the Simpsons, of which the first television series episode first aired in 1989 up till still this very day. However as the movie progressed more and more problems raised.

By saying the movie could had used some more Spider-Pig I don't literally mean that the movie should had featured some more of Spider-Pig (on second thought, well maybe that's also what I meant!) but more that the movie handles different plot-lines but none really gets featured or wrapped up properly. It was like the 11(!) writers of the movie each came up with a different plot-line and everything got thrown together on a pile in the end. The Homer and Bart farther son relationship, Homer and Marge's marriage crises, pollution, Lisa falling in love, it's all good but nothing gets really handled satisfying enough in the long run.

Nevertheless, its very main characters and silly main plot-line make sure that "The Simpsons Movie" at all times remains a perfectly watchable and entertaining movie with even a couple of moments of brilliance. Especially the character Homer never seizes to amazing and entertain to the max.

Also basically every other character from the Simpsons series makes an appearance in this movie, some featured obviously more prominently than others. This perhaps shall disappoint some of the fans of certain characters but good news is that this movie doesn't waste too much time on introducing any new and main characters. And why should they, when you already have Springfield filled with all kinds of colorful characters. The movie in its core is in fact about nothing else than the Simpsons family and that's also the way it should had been really.

Of course they obviously had more money to spend on this movie than on the television episodes. So this can be seen in some of the more detailed animations but overall the movie maintains fairly much the same style as the television series.

The humor of course also basically remains the same, although this movie goes a bit over-the-top at times in terms of how ridicules the humor gets at moments, as the story in general.

Fun, though flawed, entertainment.

7/10