The Simpsons Movie (2007)

After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpsons family are declared fugitives.

Director: David Silverman

Writers: James L. Brooks (screenplay), Matt Groening (screenplay), and 17 more credits

Stars: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner and Nancy Cartwright

My opinion

I think the movie has a lot of great jokes, but, like all movies based on series, it has a poor screenplay. In my opinion, these films have an argument too heavy to make it more dramatic. The writers do not understand that the cartoon has become famous because of his scenes of daily life and its subtle humor caricaturing the contemporary society. The movie is very funny, but it could be simpler and better.

The Simpsons Quiz

Here you have "The Simpsons Quiz". I scored 87%!

Leave a comment with your score!

Abraham Simpson

Known near universally as "Grampa", he is the grandfather of the Simpson family (Homer's father). He lives in Springfield Retirement Castle and is a veteran of both World Wars. He is known for his long, rambling stories and incompetence. He is the typical old man that disagrees with contemporary society. He is Jewish, as his best friend Jasper.

Maggie Simpson

She is the youngest family member. She can't talk and her hobbies are sucking the pacifier and watching cartoons on TV.

Marge Simpson

She is the mother of the family and appears as a clear counterpoint to her husband: decent, fair and responsible. She necessarily has to be patient and a comprehensive woman to forgive all the follies and misdeeds of Homer and their children. Marge represents the ideal television mother in mid-century XX. She has not a known profession (although she unsuccessfully tries several jobs) and she engages with devotion to housework and family. She is a conventional woman, poor and feminine, subject to the stereotypes of contemporary society. Although she is a housewife, with the deficiencies of her husband she takes the great decisions in the family, all the Simpsons rely in her. Her role is essential, because of their support and her councils depends the happiness of the whole family.

Bart Simpson

He is the older brother of the family. He is a young rebel, thug and stupid (like his father). Bart is a bad student and he always has to stay in class after school, writing what should be done, punished by his teacher, Edna Krabappel. He is always accompanied by his best friend, Milhouse.

Lisa Simpson

Elizabeth (Lisa) Simpson is the second child of the three brothers. She is a child prodigy. She gets stressed in all subjects and plays the saxophone, she is vegeterian and environmentalist but she feels marginalized to be cleverer than the other children. She also fights with her brother Bart, plays with her dolls and watches cartoons on TV.

Homer Simpson

The main character of the cartoon is Homer Simpson. Married with Marge, he has got three children: Bart, Lisa and Maggie. He works in the nuclear plant, as a security inspector. He is lazy, guzzler and irresponsible. His hobbies are watching TV, bowling, drinking in Moe’s Tavern, eating and sleeping.

Our personal opinion

Martí

I see the cartoon every Wednesday and Friday and I have seen the original movie (in English).

I definitely think that The Simpsons is the best cartoon that has ever existed. It is a parody of modern society and each character represents a human value: Homer is the incarnation of the laziness, Lisa represents the intellect, Bart is the rebellion and the chaos, Mister Burns is the greed, Marge represents the woman who fights for her rights and the feminism... I admire Matt Groening to be able to create this complex society with the most important element is this cartoon: the humor and the mood.

Daniel

I see this cartoon every day, and I really love it. I saw for first time the serie when I was 9. Although I have seen most of the chapters, I do not care to see them again because they always get to make me laugh again and even I discover new things or I understand jokes that did not make me laugh before. I think that The Simpsons is the definitive cartoon, the perfect one, because everybody likes it. It appeals to all ages. In conclusion, we could say that it's a cartoon of a family for all families.

Some history...

The Simpsons were conceived in 15 minutes in an office reception. Matt Groening was the cartoonist of the comic strip Life in Hell, that caught attention to the producer James L. Brooks. He wanted to add a cartoons section to the program The Tracey Ullman Show on FOX TV channel. Groening finished conceiving The Simpsons while he was waiting to present his ideas to the producer. After appearing as a short in The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons became independent and it began to present as a cartoon of half an hour long, transmitting in primetime instead of the weekend.

Set in Springfield (United States) and with a highly satirical tone of many facets of the stereotype lifestyle of United States (including beer, fast food, television, and organized religion), The Simpsons has been a massive success since then and it has had a massive popular following and critics of the then United States President, George H. Bush. Critics also showed interest in the program because of the appearance of celebrities and a lot of satire about contemporary and classic films, as well as subtle visual jokes showing a great appreciation for the sophistication of the audience. The cartoon has also special episodes like "Halloween Special", "World trips" (Brazil, Japan, Australia, England, Africa, etc.), "Christmas Episodes" and others. With this cartoon becames apparent the advantage of using cartoons for a sitcom, for the amount of secondary actors and stages, that a TV serie with real characters could not allow itself.

The basic framework of the cartoon focuses on the Simpson family, especially in Bart, Homer, Lisa, Marge and Maggie.

Although in the chapters the passage of time can be seen (through events like Christmas and birthdays, or references to specific years) the characters never get older and they always are the same age.

The Simpson family as they first appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show

The longest running sitcom World Record

"In November 2010 it was announced that The Simpsons had been renewed for a 23rd season which means that the series will rack up over 500 episodes, well ahead of the 435 episodes of its nearest rival The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (ABC, USA).

Officially starting today, "The Simpsons" is the world's longest TV serie."

The fact that The Simpsons has got the longest running sitcom World Record is a recognition to this cartoon, because that means people like it. So they want to continue seeing it year after year, so producers and creators create more and more chapters and seasons, reaching to be the world's longest TV serie. All Simpsons' fans we are very happy and proud with this record and we hope we can continue watching episodes for many years!

The Guinness World Record Website

The Simpsons have been also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Simpsons' family tree

Have you ever asked who are the ancestors of the Simpsons? In this family tree you can see the family relations, for example, between Homer Simpson and Mr Burns and the faces of all the ancestors of the Simpsons.

The interactive poster of The Simpsons

http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/characters/poster

Here you have a poster with every Simpsons' character, identified.

About the creator

Matt Groening was born in 1954 in Oregon, USA. He is a cartoonist, screenwriter and producer. He is famous as the creator of the two susccessfull TV series The Simpsons and Futurama.

He spent his childhood in Portland, his hometown, an he lived in Evergreen Terrace Street, name given to the street where the Simpsons live. His father's name is Homer, his mother's name is Marge and his sister name is Lisa. In 1977 he graduated at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. In the same year he decided to move to Los Angeles, to continue his writing career. He also began his professional work as cartoonist, publishing his first comic strip Life in Hell.

In 1986, he decided to create something new. His creation had an ordinary family as protagonists, with which he would make a social critique of contemporary society. On April 19th of 1987, The Simpsons debut in The Tracey Ullman show, in a short scene of two minutes long. It was a great success. Since 1989 The Simpsons is broadcasted in Fox TV channel as an independent programme.

In 1993 , Matt founded Bongo Comics, a company that today has published hundreds of comics and books. He made ​​a new cartoons called Futurama launched in 1999 on the same channel.

Since then, he still working on The Simpsons, which released in 2007 the film adaptation: The Simpsons Movie.

Curiosities

• When he was young, Groening was influenciated by the black humor of the English cartoonist Ronald Searle.
• In college, Groening sometimes took notes in form of comic drawings.
• He's part of the rock band Rock Bottom Remainders.