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I was never a big fan of the Simpsons television series. Unlike just about everyone else my age, I found the jokes on the Simpsons to be generally unfunny and contained half-assed shots at pop-culture that didn't seem to really have a punchline.

After seeing the new Simpsons Movie, however, I might have to give the television series another try. I found the movie to be generally funny, often hilarious, and, just as important, the jokes seemed to contain an acidic tone towards the government and society in general that I always thought was lacking in the television series. Ranging from having "President Schwarzenegger" running the country to the EPA resolving to place a giant dome over Springfield for environmental violations to Homer adopting a pet pig which he then names "Spider-Pig" and "Harry Plopper," the jokes range from topical attacks on society and government to hilarious off-the-wall nonsense, which helps keep the overall tone of the movie light. Without the nonsense, the movie would probably have come off as less funny and more of a disheartening (although most likely effective) satire of American politics. As it stands, the satire of society and politics remains strong while never asking the audience to take things too seriously.

The animation in the movie is top notch (presumably from a much larger budget than was afforded to the television series), the voice acting captures the essence of the Simpsons (no one seems to be half-assing this project), and the storyline is able to remain both compelling and humorous for the entire running length, thus avoiding the problem that seems to doom most movies based on a half-hour television show.

That being said, the movie is not perfect. While most of the jokes are funny, there are moments where it feels like the writers forgot that jokes need to be funny, mostly in the middle of the movie. Also, the absence of "Harry Plopper" from the second half of the movie seemed odd, considering some of the funniest moments from the first half resulted from Homer's weird "love affair" with the swine.

Although not the best movie of the year, the Simpsons Movie is probably the best animated feature of the year (although it is, admittedly, the only animated feature from 2007 that I've seen so far. It was an amazingly enjoyable movie, and should appeal both to fans of the television series and those who never found the series all that entertaining.

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Copyright 2008 Benjamin Wood