The Simpsons Movie

The highly anticipated Simpsons, The Movie is set to release worldwide on July 27, 2007. Personally, I love the Simpsons and I think they have forever changed our perception of animated television series. Simpsons was the the first animated television series (started in 1987) to become successful worldwide. With the outset of their big movie premiere, their popularity is higher than ever...or so, it seems.

Like many great television series, the Simpsons also had a peak in popularity, which I believe was from 1999 to 2002. This was the time of some of their most hilarious episodes where writers like Conan 'O Brien, Matt Groening, Mike Scully, James L Brooks, and others brought their best material forward and created some of the most memorable and hilarious episodes ever. However, now, they seem to have reached the other end of the peak, where everything is going downhill. They seem to have run out of material and are unable to cope up with the high expectations that were set during their peak. This decline, however, could be attributed to the movie that is set to release in 2 days.

The cast and crew of The Simpsons started work on the movie in 2001 and have been making hundreds of revisions, time after time. Matt Groening commented that they have enough material for two more movies from all the cuts that they've made. Much of the manpower and creative juices were sucked by this movie, which may be one of the causes for the slow decline in The Simpsons television series. Apparently they have been writing and rewriting the script well into 2007, even after the animation had begun. Apparently, "Camp Krusty" was supposed to be a movie, but the creators did not have enough to pass it as a feature film. I remember watching this 3D film, where there was a small 10 min (roughly) episode of the Simpsons where they venture into the 3D world. It was later made into a halloween episode, which I'm sure you all remember (Homer: "This is some place I've never been before". Selma: "The Shower!" HAHA). So there has been a lot of experimentation while making this movie and we can only hope that the final product is one for the ages.

The plot has been closely guarded under the name "Yellow Harvest"(Similar to "Blue harvest", which was the codename for Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi). However, from the trailors and speculations, it seems fairly random (like most Simpsons episodes). Homer gets a pet Pig, Lisa tries to save the environment, Bart goes skateboarding naked and adopts Ned Flanders as his father, and Marge is a nagger (as always). Homer apparently drops the pig feces in a lake, which drowns the popular Band Green Day, killing them. Thus the whole town is enraged and run Homer and The Simpsons out of town vandalizing their home and property. The family moves to Alaska, and I guess later comes back to prove their position in the town of Springfield, etc, etc... Anyway, the plot is not important at all. How many times have you watched the Simpsons for the plot? It is the jokes that are embedded within the plot that makes The Simpsons a great show. If you think about the plot, you will notice that all episodes start with some topic, but end with something totally different. This movie, considering all the changes, writers, and anticipation, is sure to be a hearty laugh from beginning to end. Afterall, the writers, who are able to produce amazing episodes every week, have been working on this for 6 years. It is bound to be one of the most hilarious movies you have ever seen!

One thing that concerns me is the animation. The characters now have shadows and are much more technically advanced. In my opinion, they should have stuck with the original animation of the television series that has made them this popular. Hopefully, it is not too different to be distracting to the audience. Well, at least they didn't do anything too different such as 3D or CGI animation or even like real people or something (that would be a flop for sure, you cannot put a real face, or add realism to a cartoon).

The marketing for this movie has been excellent so far. Several 7-Eleven stores in the US and one in Canada are converted to Kwik-E-Marts with special products such as Simpsons Donuts, Duff Beer, etc. The sales at those stores apparently increased by 30%. Burger King has been giving out Simpsons Toys with their kid's meals and have this website where you can upload your image and it simpsonizes you! I tried it, and it doesn't seem to work very well. It requires images of fairly high resolution, and I'm yet to succeed in simpsonizing myself. If you want to check it out, the link is www.simpsonizeme.com Several dummy simpsons are put up in movie theatres everywhere and there has been a lot of speculation in the internet. All in all, the marketing strategy for this movie is fairly unique and creative.

What's the final verdict? Definately, watch this movie. It is going to be the most hilarious and talked about movie this summer. I know I will be talking about this forever :P

Check out this trailer: