The Simpsons Movie was good

CRChair and I saw the Simpsons movie yesterday and it was very good. Not great, in my opinion, but very good. It was like a very long episode - in mostly the good ways, since we love those episodes. It was not perfect, and yes, you do see Bart's doodle for approximately 1 second so parents may want to screen this before letting their chidren see it. I was going to write a long review, but I think this one at AICN says it about as well as I could, though he loved it a bit more than I did.

And one reason I’m glad I saw this with the crowd I did is because they were into it. They were with the film all the way through. Everyone reacted to different things. Some of the biggest moments got deservedly outsized reactions, and some lines had maybe one or two people in the whole place laughing, but it was a kick to see what people responded to with this one. It’s fun because we all love something different about THE SIMPSONS at this point. If you’re a fan of it, I’m sure you’ve got specific scenes or jokes or characters or images that define why you are a fan. A lot of what I really respect and enjoy about the show is represented in the approach they’ve taken to putting this together, and realizing that... the creeping sensation of watching someone get something exactly right... is one of this summer’s most pleasant surprises.

The other thing that is nice is the movie keeps up the tradition of respecting Ned Flanders as an honest man trying to do good, despite all peer pressure. The last few seasons the writers have played with that formula and weakened the character considerably. This time, it is front and center (except for one line) and it is a welcome return. Cynicism only really works in the presence of at least one truly sincere person.