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The Simpsons Movie |
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| The Simpsons Movie | |
| File:The Simpsons Movie Official Poster.jpg | |
| Directed By | David Silverman |
| Produced By | James L. Brooks Matt Groening Al Jean Mike Scully Richard Sakai |
| Written By | James L. Brooks Matt Groening Al Jean Ian Maxtone-Graham George Meyer David Mirkin Mike Reiss Mike Scully Matt Selman John Swartzwelder Jon Vitti |
| Starring | Dan Castellaneta Julie Kavner Pamela Hayden Nancy Cartwright Yeardley Smith Hank Azaria Harry Shearer Tress MacNeille Albert Brooks Karl Wiedergott Marcia Wallace Russi Taylor Phil Rosenthal Billie Joe Armstrong Frank Edwin Wright III Michael Pritchard Joe Mantegna Tom Hanks |
| Music By | Hans Zimmer (Theme) |
| Editing By | John Carnochan |
| Studio | Production: 20th Century Studios Gracie Films Animation: Film Roman Rough Draft Studios |
| Distributed By | 20th Century Fox |
| Running Time | 1 hour and 26 minutes |
| Country | (USA) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $75 million |
- “See our family. And feel better about yours.”
- ―The movie's tagline
The Simpsons Movie is the first feature–length film based on The Simpsons. It was produced by Gracie Films for 20th Century Fox with animation produced by Film Roman and Rough Draft Studios, and was released worldwide on July 27, 2007, just after 18 seasons. The film has been produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully, and Richard Sakai, and has been written by eleven of the television series' most prolific writers: Scully, Jean, Brooks, Groening, Ian Maxtone-Graham, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti. The film is directed by David Silverman, a former Simpsons supervising director. The film stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Pamela Hayden, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Tress MacNeille.
Plot[]
The movie opens up with the usual 20th Century Fox intro, there's a twist thanks to Ralph Wiggum (humming the tune, then echoed with instruments). Then a screen purposely smaller than the screen of the viewers appears, and an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon plays. Itchy and Scratchy land on the moon; after touching down, Itchy stabs Scratchy with a flagpole and abandons Scratchy. Back on Earth, Itchy becomes a hero through lying about Scratchy, and eventually becomes the President. In his office he sees Scratchy is still alive and holding up a sign that says, "I'm telling." Itchy ponders on what to do and eventually decides to commence an "accidental" nuclear launch, launching hundreds of nuclear missiles at the moon. Scratchy screams, allowing himself to swallow the missiles. His stomach now full to the brim, the last missile stops right at Scratchy's stomach; it then takes a boot out of the tip and kicks him, who then explodes. The entire scene is revealed to be a movie that the Simpson family and many Springfieldians are watching in a theater. Homer stands up calling the movie "boring" and announces that "everybody in the theater is a giant sucker" because they can watch the TV show at home for free, and then points at the viewer, breaking the fourth wall, and yells, "Especially YOU!"
The Simpsons opening then commences, except instead of just the title floating towards the viewer through the clouds, Professor Frink flies by on a flying bike with a banner attached, with the word "MOVIE" inscribed on it, forming the movie's title. The screen then expands after Frink says "Movie...on the big screen." The camera then flies through Springfield showing Waylon Smithers brushing Charles Montgomery Burns' teeth, Apu changing the expiration date on a milk carton from 2006 to 2008, Martin Prince getting hung on the flagpole by Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney saluting the flag, Bart's chalkboard gag, "I will not illegally download this movie" (also breaking the fourth wall), and finally Green Day playing at the end of their two-and-a-half-hour concert at Lake Springfield during the summer night.
As Green Day finishes their song, they try to talk for a moment about the environment, which enrages the audience, prompting them to jeer and throw trash at them. The pollution in the water (about which they were trying to talk to the audience just prior) dissolves the barge floating on the lake that Green Day is playing on. They put down their rock instruments and take out violins, as Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt, saying that "it's been an honor playing with you tonight", begins to play "Nearer, My God to Thee" (from Titanic) alongside his bandmates as the barge sinks and kills them.
At the church service the next day, there is a brief tribute to the passing of Green Day, the most recent band to die in Springfield. Gertie, the organist player plays a funeral rendition of "American Idiot" while the Simpsons arrive late; Homer's frustrations about going to church is heard from inside. Reverend Timothy Lovejoy is up to the prayers of the faithful; first, Ned tells the reverend that he had to confess to an "immodest sense of pride in our community" (although Homer hoped that Flanders would confess to being gay). Lovejoy then amends his statement to exclude Flanders before the latter could confess. Lovejoy says that whoever is chosen by the light will come up next; said person would be a sleeping Grampa, who suddenly awakens and begins to scream of a coming disaster involving a "twisted tail", "a thousand eyes", "trapped forever" and "Eeeepa". The result is an unusual prophecy - and foreshadowing what happens later on. This leads Marge to believe that God is sending them a message warning them about a future catastrophe (which would prove ultimately correct). The family drags Grampa back into the car, taking the church's carpet with them. Marge reflects on Grampa's breakdown as Homer takes the family out for waffles, seemingly oblivious to Grampa's meltdown earlier.
Later that day, Homer does some chores, including the removal of a hornet's nest (which he places inside the Flanders' mailbox) and the fixing of a sinkhole in the backyard (which he covers with a sandbox, and then using Maggie as a makeshift plug when that didn't work). After an unsuccessful attempt to fix the roof, Homer and Bart play a game of dare. Wanting to have some fun, Homer dares Bart to climb the TV antenna, and although Bart succeeds rather easily, Homer shakes the antenna cheekily, calling it an "earthquake!". Bart nearly falls off the house, hanging on for dear life as Homer shakes the gutters, this time as an "aftershock!". As the father and son continue to bond, Ned voices his concern, but is quickly silenced by the duo. Sometime later, Bart shoots at Homer with a BB gun while he carries a load of bricks; Homer dares Bart to skateboard to Krusty Burger and back naked. Bart refuses at first, but then does so after Homer threatens to call him a "chicken" for life.
Rod and Todd Flanders say a prayer, which was accidentally ruined when Ned gasps in horror at Bart's private area when Bart splatted onto the window.
Bart is noticed by many people as he skateboards by. He is chased by Chief Wiggum and Lou. Lou then disables his skateboard, which sends Bart crashing and flying into the Krusty Burger window; Ned and his kids spot a glimpse of his privates. Lou leaves Bart handcuffed to a pole, then enters Krusty Burger with Chief Wiggum and Eddie, as Nelson, later joined by his mother, begins to laugh at Bart. As evening falls, Homer arrives, but after hearing that he would have to take a 1-hour parenting course, blames everything on Bart to get out of having to take the course. He then gives Bart his clothes but forgot to bring pants (proving how irresponsible he is as a father). Bart exclaims that this is the worst day of his life, but Homer says that it is, "so far". Walking into Krusty Burger, Ned shows some compassion towards Bart by providing him pants. Before Bart could display his frustration at his father, Homer adopts a new pig when Krusty the Clown orders it to be killed shortly after recording a commercial nearby. During this, Hank is taking a walk-through Springfield Mall where he is buying things while Tessa's hanging out with her friends. When suddenly everyone starts running out, Hank and Tessa start running out as well. Turns out Hugo had stolen some items.
The Clogger
Meanwhile, while Lisa is trying to get signatures for a petition to clean up Lake Springfield as nobody wants to talk to her. She meets an Irish boy named Colin, who is also petitioning for the same cause as Lisa. Colin just moved in, and his father is a musician (Lisa thought it was U2 member Bono, but Colin refutes her). Lisa starts to develop a crush on Colin after finding out that he can play five different instruments. Lizzy taunts Lisa about having a boyfriend who's also a musician. Marge obtains cell phone footage of Grampa's outburst at church recorded by Comic Book Guy in exchange for giving him her pregnancy pants. When she becomes confused about the meaning of "Eeepa", Comic Book Guy tells her that he "[believes] that's the sound Green Lantern made when Sinestro threw him into a vat of acid". Homer arrives home and shows Marge his new pig, causing her to remember what Grampa said about a "twisted tail" in church. She pleads Homer to take it away. However, Homer wins her over by showing her that the pig can impression her squeal and his belching.
Marge and Lisa disconcertingly notice Homer walking Plopper on the ceiling, leaving piggy footprints while singing "Spider-Pig".
That night, Bart is outside, alone, while his dad blows raspberries on his pig. Furious at the prospect of being replaced, this prompts Bart to aim his slingshot at Homer, but Ned interrupts his train of thought with an offer to go fishing with him. Bart decides after some thought that it is probably a good idea, recalling one time he went fishing with his dad, where he ended up using a bug-zapper to cheat in fishing. This worked rather well, though he is also electrocuted as a result of trying to eat the fish.
While Marge cleans up the piggy footprints while Lisa tells her about Colin, Marge notices the pig tracks on the ceiling; Homer has been walking the family's pet pig on the ceiling while singing "Spider-Pig" (a parody of the 1967 Spider-Man theme). While fishing with Ned, Bart accidentally lets go of Flanders' lucky fishing rod. To his surprise, however, Flanders doesn't even strangle him (he instinctively starts strangling himself before realizing that Flanders isn't strangling him) and starts to develop a calm bond with him.
Lisa and Colin progressively combine their efforts to present everyone with "An Irritating Truth" in the Springfield Hall. But because the average Springfielder could care less about the environment, and namely seemed to miss the overall point anyways, such as when she accidentally focused on her crush on Colin and when her moving platform briefly malfunctioned before she could get it to the height needed to demonstrate her point, she reveals to everyone that she put the dirty lake water in all their drinking glasses, causing everyone to spit out the water they had drank. When Lisa's tactic convinces many, Moe tells the town that they hate young kids, but Mayor Quimby finally gets to Lisa's point and forbids any more dumping, declaring a state of emergency. As a result, the entire townspeople focus their efforts on cleaning Lake Springfield and installing barriers to prevent anyone from dumping anything into the lake. Mayor Quimby proves the effectiveness of said "idiot-proof" barriers by getting Cletus to try dumping a dead possum in the lake only to walk into the concrete barricades, when he could have just thrown the dead possum over the barrier.
Marge discovers that Homer named the family pig "Plopper", and he keeps the pig's and his own waste in a silo, which horrifies Marge, who tells Homer to dispose of it properly just after the silly wind-up monkey in his mind stops. She even encourages him to take Plopper, now dubbed "Harry Plopper", with him. While waiting in a queue at the waste disposal dump, Homer is told by Lenny that Lard Lad Donuts has been shut down for health violations and that they are giving away free donuts, Portia also got free donuts and wants Homer to join. Not wanting to miss out on this, Homer decides on a quicker means of disposal and drives to the lake, not noticing the signs (as well as running over Hans Moleman who was carrying a "U Suck" sign) and smashing through the concrete barriers. He dumps the silo into the wonderfully clean lake, causing it to become heavily polluted almost instantly. Shortly after Homer drives off, a squirrel dives in while attempting to escape a raccoon that was trying to hunt it down, and is severely mutated, giving it "a thousand eyes" - another part of Grampa Simpson's prophetical future vision. Nearby, Flanders and Bart continue to bond; while hiking, they discover a mutated squirrel (Ned thinks it is one of God's design), which is then captured by representatives of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Russ Cargill, head of the EPA, tells President Schwarzenegger that Springfield is so polluted that the government must take drastic action. He provides Schwarzenegger with 5 options, and he picks option 3 at random without looking, saying he was elected to "lead, not to read".
The dome being lowered.
Option 3 means trapping the entire town of Springfield under a massive dome. 86 helicopters hoist the dome over the town and places it upon Springfield (flattening a middleman in the process), much to the horror of the Simpsons and the inhabitants of Springfield. Marge sees the words "EPA" on the side of the helicopter and realizes that Grampa's prophecy has come true. After several futile attempts to crack the dome by the SPD and Sideshow Mel, Cargill appears on a gigantic TV screen and explains to the citizens of Springfield that their lake has become extremely polluted and to prevent the pollution from spreading out of Springfield, they trapped them under the dome, removing Springfield from the world map in the process (showing a picture of a man using a sat nav telling him "nothing" is up ahead). Though Lisa states that they've cleaned up, Cargill throws back by exclaiming that someone did not get the message; noticing this, Homer tells Plopper to "act natural."
"I've invented an acid-firing super drill that can cut through anything! It's right over there... just outside of the dome"
Kent Brockman, calling the incident "Trappuccino", reports the shortage of supplies like gasoline, air, and Botox (to which, after making this statement, his face disfigures, and then Kent has to pause for a moment before he attaches a chip clip onto himself to regain his stern face). A group of swallows fail to make it into Springfield and await their fate of being devoured by cats, and an ad for "Dome Depot" is shown. Meanwhile, back at the house, Marge claims to see Maggie on the other side of the dome, but when she brings Homer, Maggie is inside. When they're not looking, Maggie goes into the sinkhole that Homer covered with the sandbox and ends up of the other side, and then back.
An angry mob of everybody in Springfield hunting for Homer Simpson (along with his family) to kill him.
Later that evening, Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou soon find the pig silo in the lake, and on the back of it, it reads "Return to Homer Simpson (No Reward)". Homer and Marge see the live news broadcast of the discovery, and Marge criticizes Homer over the fact that he did not (or forgot to) listen to her after she warned him, but Homer simply says that "nobody watches the channel anyway"; however, ironically, Kent Brockman says in encouragement saying that it will have results, pulling up a picture of Homer and encouraging the Springfieldians to "GET HIM". Within seconds, all their friends and everyone they know in Springfield (except for Ned Flanders and his kids/including Abe/Colin initially offers flowers for Lisa, but they end up being burnt by Carl) have formed a massive angry mob approaching the Simpson home intending to kill Homer and getting contained in the dome. Just then the kids burst into the room with Lisa calling Homer a monster. Tessa scolds Homer for dumping the pig silo into the lake, which Marge prevents her from trying to get revenge on her father and calms her down. Homer worries that the mob will go after him and his family, but the mob interjects that they only want Homer. Ned tells Bart and the family to crawl across on a plank to his house. For the first attack, Seymour Skinner orders the Springfieldians to shoot the family with bows and arrows to try and get them but Ploper pushes the plank off the windowsill, causing the family to fall down and dodge the arrow attack. Homer lands on a barbecue and, despite the situation, eats a shrimp and says his luck is beginning to turn.
Homer eating a shrimp out of the barbecue
The family runs to their car, but Marge quickly runs back into the flaming house to quickly get a VHS tape (her wedding video), managing to wash a few dishes, and escapes to the car, but their escape is futile as Snake Jailbird and the others pick up their car and move it towards the backyard, where the mob has prepared a noose for every member of the Simpsons family, including Maggie (Maggie's noose has a red pacifier attached) despite the fact that they said they only wanted Homer. The family manages to escape onto the treehouse by climbing on the nooses, but Homer gets stuck on one of them. Homer tries to apologize to the crowd but is interrupted with a hit from a non-sharp power-saw. The family is unable to help Homer as Otto Mann chains his school bus to the treehouse and attempts to pull it down, which causes the family to nearly fall out. The family barely escapes (and Graggle and Santa's Little Helper) when Maggie shows them an escape route thru the sinkhole which leads outside of the dome. Homer temporarily gets stuck in the sinkhole, but eventually goes through, but not before getting his head clawed by some of the Springfieldians, scratched by Groundskeeper Willie's rake, and shot by a red arrow. Chief Wiggum, Lou and Eddie shoot at the sandbox, but in the process, the sinkhole grows unstable, causing everyone to flee the area as the sinkhole devours and destroys the Simpson house, the car, the treehouse and even Santa's Little Helper's doghouse. Thinking that the family is now China's problem, the mob leaves the area. As the Simpsons look solemnly at the remains of their house, Lisa sees Colin next to the dome. He tries to play Lisa a song on his guitar, but Lisa can't hear him, so he writes the notes of the song onto the dome instead. Lisa shares a moment with Colin, but Bart and Lizzy interrupt and tease her. She then punches them and is forced to flee and run with her family as Russ Cargill and his crew arrive. Cargill, now mad with power, is determined to keep anyone from getting out of the dome and to get the Simpsons back in.
Marge and Lisa become angry at Homer and confront him for what he did.
While hiding from the EPA and their friends in Red Rash Inn Motel (as well as having a very close call from being caught by two gay policemen who actually arrived at the motel to make out), when Marge arrives at the room, she catches Bart and Hank drinking whiskey to "drown Bart's sorrows" Well Hank was just thirsty. And then he was a bit drunk. and Bart announces that he misses Ned Flanders before passing asleep. Hank, being slightly drunk starts singing Jingle Bells. Tessa then snaps him out of it. Immediately, Homer arrives to see an enraged Marge, Tessa, Lizzy, Lisa and Maggie. He tells them that he knows he messed up and when asks "is this big?" Marge and Lisa confront Homer, demanding to know what was going thru his mind when he didn't listen to Marge and dumped the silo in the lake. Homer admits that he never thought about his decision and apologizes to them. To make it up, he presents them a solution which he had prepared for if he ever messed up badly: he proposes that the entire family to move to Alaska (temporarily). While Marge is hesitant at first, Homer eventually manages to get her to follow him, and Bart barges the moment by asking how they will get to Alaska without any money. Hank pulls out 120 dollars he saved. The next morning, the family heads to a carnival, where a carny is offering his truck to someone if they can ride a motorcycle in a round cage one time, for three times - all of which that Homer fails, so the carny gives him another try, just to see him get hurt. Lisa advises her father to speed up when he reaches the top, enabling him to win. As the Simpsons drive off in their new truck, the carny's Siamese twin cousins are a bit furious because the carny had forgotten that he had to take them on vacation.
The similar looking family.
While stopping for gas, Marge is very proud of Bart for being sober, which he proves by knocking a hot dog out of Homer's hand with his slingshot. Tessa also gets Hank to sober up, Marge tries to tell Bart to give Homer another chance but is cut off when she sees a wanted poster showing them. She distracts the clerk, while Bart draws over the poster to match a similar looking family who had just walked in, the clerk calls the cops, and the other family gets arrested as Bart laughs. Meanwhile, back in Springfield, power outages plague the surviving populace. In Burns Manor, Julius Hibbert, Chief Wiggum, and Apu ask Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers for electricity. Burns asks for good reasons to do so, or he will release the hounds. Hibbert and Wiggum want to help patients at the hospital and fry prisoners respectively, but Apu tries reasoning with Burns, only to realize he said the wrong thing when he tries appealing to the man's nonexistent compassion. The Simpson family make it to Alaska, and they get a house, deciding to rebuild their lives. Homer and Marge have a private moment of intimacy while getting snowed in (thanks to Bart and Lisa, who causes an avalanche by clapping repeatedly outside).
The dome situation deteriorates further. The townspeople are about to reach the breaking point after running low on supplies, no power, and being cut off from the outside fresh air for too long. The Springfield Book Club, led by Helen Lovejoy, discusses "Tuesdays with Morrie" repeatedly since they have no new books. Cookie Kwan, Lindsey Naegle, Agnes Skinner, Bernice Hibbert, Luann Van Houten and the others complain, and the discussion ends with Lindsey Naegle throwing her book at Helen. The book instead flies out the window and knocks out the coffee machine inside the Church at an alcoholics anonymous group. Barney Gumble finally snaps and runs out to make a futile attempt to crack the dome; seeing this, the rest of the Springfieldians follow suit, using everything such as battering rams, jackhammers, TNT, boxing gloves and even an elephant, the latter of which actually started to crack the dome. This is witnessed by Russ Cargill from a surveillance camera who tells the President that they can't keep Springfield in this situation forever. If they get out, then the world will know, which would mean investigations. Cargill asks the President to choose another plan out of 5, but Cargill tricks him into choosing Option 4: Blow Up Springfield.
In Alaska, the family is peacefully rebuilding their lives until one night they see a commercial with Tom Hanks about the "New Grand Canyon" being built, to be located east of Shelbyville, and south of Capital City. This happens to be where Springfield is located. Marge and the kids decide that they must save Springfield, but Homer refuses to help the townspeople who had try to kill them earlier, and Hank as well, even after Marge repeats the same line that he used to convince her to move to Alaska and stubbornly distances himself from his family again, and even after Bart calls him a bad father. He leaves the house furiously and plays an arcade game called Grand Theft Walrus at Eski-Moe's Bar and returns to the house the next morning, only to find that Marge left a video tape.
Homer and Hank put on the tape. She explains that she and the kids are going to help Springfield, and Marge states that she's stood up for him after everything they've been thru, but after this she's finally forgotten what she's done for all these years. To prove herself she has ended their relationship, she taped over their wedding video; the message cuts off as Marge sadly says bye to Homer. The tape switches to their wedding scene where Homer and Hank see them dancing (with the song "They Long to Be Close to You" playing in the background). Homer and Hank are left heartbroken. And sadly, runs out to try and find their family, but only falls over and drifts away on a heart-shaped iceberg which breaks in half.
Eventually, Homer and Hank wash up to land where Homer is about to be mauled by a polar bear, though it gets chased off by an Inuit shaman, who drags Homer and Hank to her tent. She tells Homer that he must have an epiphany and begins the art of throat.
Homer realizes that he needs to save Springfield.
Homer falls asleep and then enters a dreamworld, finding his epiphany and is slapped, punched and kicked by "epiphitrees". When they pull his body apart, Homer realizes that he cannot survive without others, and he and Hank must save Springfield and their family.
Meanwhile, Tessa, Marge, Lizzy, Lisa, Bart and Maggie are on a train heading from Alaska to Seattle to inform Springfield of the EPA's plan. Marge claims that the government doesn't listen to everyone's conversations but is proven wrong when she gets heard by a robot clone of the train conductor (while they were riding the train between Alaska to Seattle train station) used by the National Surveillance Agency to spy on people's conversations. The family is captured by Cargill upon arrival.
Now reinvigorated, Homer and Hank begin a long journey home, from driving a sled of Alaska dogs, who attack and leave Homer when they started to rest, before walking. He starts to lose hope, until the sight of the northern lights appears with the shaman, who points the direction to Springfield with her boobs. Homer and Hank get closer to Springfield and able to see the dome. While observing it using binoculars, he hears saxophone music coming from a van. Homer and Hank realize that their family is inside and tries to rescue them by knocking the truck over with a wrecking ball. Unfortunately, that fails, and he gets hit by the wrecking ball painfully. Bart tries to break his shacks free by scratching them off, but the truck driver(s) sprays them with tranquillizer gas, sending them unconscious.
"Empire" Moe
When they return to Springfield, Marge and the kids wake up to find Springfield is now in ruins. They find Moe Szyslak, who is dressed in a dressing gown, wearing a traffic cone and a bullet sash and has become self-proclaimed Empire of Springfield (although his leadership was unsuccessfully challenged by Barney). Just then, Russ Cargill reappears on the giant screen and announces to the people of Springfield that placing the dome over Springfield was a mistake, and the president has commenced Operation: Soaring Eagle, an immune-named option which involves killing them all. A helicopter arrives and opens the hole at the top center of the dome, lowering a small but powerful bomb, timed at 15 minutes. As the Springfieldians panic and find cover or shelter, and Marge and the kids realize that they miss Homer with Bart telling the others that Homer's "big fat ass could shield us all". In order to save his family and Springfield, Homer disguises himself as General Marriott Suites. Hank is disguised as a toilet brush, and Homer knocks out a guard that was guarding the site. Homer grabs a tube of superglue (without noticing the jetpack on the shelf next to it), which he applies to each hand and climbs up the dome himself. Carl tells the rest of Springfield to climb the rope to safety while Cletus distracts Cargill. By the time Homer and Hank gets to the top (the center of the dome), Homer descends down the rope, knocking the escaping town people and bomb off the rope; Barney manages to catch the bomb safely. Bart disowns his father for letting everyone down; upset, he accidentally kicks over the bomb. The time to detonation from 8 minutes, 23 seconds became 4 minutes, 11 seconds, half of what it was prior, resulting in him getting berated by the townspeople again.
Homer and Bart on The Motorcycle
Bart and Hank find Ned and his sons Rod and Todd Flanders inside the church along with Paula and her children. Lamenting Homer's selfishness towards him, Bart tells Ned he wants to be part of his family, which accepts. However, Rod and Todd try to warn him not to. Homer sees Marge behind the ruins of a building and tries to approach her, but accidentally hits a tree. One of its leaves point towards the center of the dome, where the hole is; a light shines on a motorbike. Knowing what to do, he rides the motorbike and grabs the bomb. Before he does so, he quickly goes to find Bart and Hank, who is with the Flanderseses at the church. Bart reconciles with Homer after he offers to let Bart hold the bomb, and they cycle up the side of the dome. While cycling around the dome in the same way he did earlier at the carnival, Homer is about to realize his family's cycle of negligence between his relationship with Bart, only to be interrupted by Tessa telling him to "just throw the goddamn bomb". When Homer reaches the top, Bart throws the bomb through the hole, mere seconds before it detonates. The explosion cracks and shatters the dome, and Homer manages to ride down from the falling cracks of the dome to the slope of Springfield Gorge. However, they miss, but Bart, using his slingshot, helps the duo make it back to the other side. The dome breaks and smashes completely into tiny harmless pieces, and nobody is hurt (except Dr. Nick, who was crushed by a large piece of glass) With his dome shattered, Cargill appears on the scene, deciding to learn the two things that Harvard doesn't teach: how to cope with defeat, and how to handle a shotgun, and that he'll demonstrate the latter by killing Homer. However, he is knocked out unconscious by Maggie throwing a large boulder at him.
Lisa, who is still searching for Colin, gets told by Milhouse that Colin died when they were away, only for him to appear afterwards; the two go out for ice cream. As Cargill is presumed to be arrested and convicted for his actions, the town praises and forgives Homer, who rides off with Marge and Maggie on the motorbike into the autumn sunset and Homer and Marge kiss each other as they happily reunite. The plot finishes with the Springfieldians fixing the town, with Hank getting them to build quite crazy things like a palm tree statue, restoring things back to normal and getting the Simpsons' house re-built with the help of the aforementioned family out of gratitude. As Homer and Bart fix the roof again, Homer accidentally gets a nail in his leg this time which causes him to shout in pain and fall off the roof as Bart laughs, ending the movie.
During the credits, a scene is shown depicting Mr. Burns, during the presumed bomb explosion, in his looted manor. The depressed millionaire suggests that suicide for Smithers might cheer him up sometime. The credits sequence is paused once again with Tom Hanks asking the audience that if they see him in real life, they should "leave him be". While the credits roll, the Simpsons are still watching the movie in a cinema. Tessa lists the people who made this film, Bart and Lizzy need to use the restroom, and Lisa wants to see that no animals were harmed during filming, which she does. Before they leave, Maggie says "sequel" (which some viewers think is a sign there will be a sequel to the movie), and Homer picks up "floor popcorn". At the very end of the sequence, the Squeaky-Voiced Teen cleans up the floor, thinking that his four years in graphic filming school was not really worth it.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
- Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson / Itchy / Barney / Stage Manager / Krusty the Clown / Mayor Quimby / Mayor's Aide / Multi-Eyed Squirrel / Panicky Man / Sideshow Mel / Mr. Teeny / EPA Official / Kissing Cop / Bear / Boy on Phone / NSA Worker / Officer / Santa's Little Helper / Squeaky-Voiced Young Teen / Groundskeeper Willie / Grampa
- Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson / Selma / Patty
- Pamela Hayden as Tessa Simpson / Milhouse Van Houten / Rod Flanders
- Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson / Maggie Simpson / Ralph Wiggum / Nelson Muntz / Todd Flanders / TV Daughter / Woman on Phone
- Yeardley Smith as Lizzy Simpson / Lisa Simpson
Supporting, Recurring and Mirror Cast[]
- Hank Azaria as Professor Frink / Comic Book Guy / Moe Szyslak / Chief Wiggum / Lou / Carl / Cletus / Bumblebee Man / Male EPA Worker / Dome Depot Announcer / Carnival Barker / Counter Man / Apu / Drederick Tatum / Sea Captain / EPA Passenger / Robot / Dr. Nick Riviera / Wise Guy
- Harry Shearer as Scratchy / Mr. Burns / Rev. Lovejoy / Ned Flanders / Lenny / Skull / President Arnold Schwarzenegger / Kent Brockman / Principal Skinner / Dr. Hibbert / Smithers / Toll Booth Man / Guard / Otto / Kang
- Tress MacNeille as Sweet Old Lady / Colin / Agnes Skinner / Nelson's Mother / Pig / Crazy Cat Lady / Female EPA Worker / G.P.S. Woman / Cookie Kwan / Lindsey Naegle / TV Son / Medicine Woman / Girl on Phone
- Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill
- Joe Mantegna as Fat Tony
- Tom Hanks as Himself
- Maggie Roswell
- Karl Wiedergott
Opening Sequence[]
The sequence was completely remade for The Simpsons Movie and features the orchestrated version of "The Simpsons Theme" as adapted by Hans Zimmer, which is slightly different from the first track of The Simpsons Movie: The Music CD. The pre-sequence scene is displayed in a 16:9 television aspect ratio, with black matte bars at either end of the screen. As the sequence begins with the "The Simpsons" logo appearing out of the clouds, Professor Frink flies past in one of his inventions carrying a banner marked "MOVIE" and saying "Mo-vie! On the big screen!!" (on the DVD and Blu-Ray versions, he says "Moo-vie! On the small screen!) When he hits the bar on the left side, both it and the one on the right nudge out of view so that the image fills the entire screen.
Instead of going through the P of "SIMPSONS," the camera goes through the O of "MOVIE" as the banner falls loose. The camera zooms in on the town, with several major landmarks popping up. The camera then zooms in to Mr. Burns, who is holding a toothbrush in his bathroom with Smithers who gives him toothpaste, the extra weight of the toothpaste causes frail Mr. Burns to collapse. The camera then zooms past Moe's Tavern into the Kwik-E-Mart where Apu is secretly changing the expiration date on one of his products from 2006 to 2008. Next the camera cuts to Springfield Elementary where Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney are hoisting Martin Prince up a flagpole by his underwear and saluting it as if it were a flag. The camera then zooms through the window where Bart is writing lines for detention ("I will not illegally download this movie") before finishing with Green Day who are hosting a concert at Lake Springfield, playing their version of "The Simpsons Theme" and using a teleprompter to get its "lyrics" right.
Foreign dubs[]
- Main article: Foreign dubs of The Simpsons Movie
Release date[]
| Region(s) | Release date |
|---|---|
| Template:USA | 21 July, 2007 |
| Template:ARG | 24 July, 2007 |
| Template:BEL, Template:EGY, Template:FRA, Template:IDN, Template:IRL, Template:KWT, Template:PHL, Template:GBR | 25 July, 2007 |
| Template:AUS, Template:AUT, Template:BLR, Template:CHL, Template:HRV, Template:CZE, Template:DOM, Template:DEU, Template:ISR, Template:MYS, Template:NZL, Template:PER, Template:PRT, Template:PRI, Template:ESP, Template:SRB, Template:SGP, Template:SVK, Template:SVN, Template:UAE, Template:URY | 26 July, 2007 |
| Template:ALB, Template:BHS, Template:BGR, Template:CAN, Template:COL, Template:EST, Template:FIN, Template:ISL, Template:LVA, Template:LTU, Template:NOR, Template:PAN, Template:ROU, Template:ZAF, Template:SWE, Template:TUR, Template:VEN | 27 July, 2007 |
| Template:MDG | 31 July, 2007 |
| Template:MEX | 2 August, 2007 |
| Template:DNK, Template:IND, Template:POL | 3 August, 2007 |
| Template:KAZ, Template:NLD, Template:RUS, Template:UKR | 16 August, 2007 |
| Template:BRA | 17 August, 2007 |
| Template:KOR | 23 August, 2007 |
| Template:GRC | 30 August, 2007 |
| Template:ITA | 14 September, 2007 |
| Template:JPN, Template:PAK | 26 October, 2007 |
| Template:TGO | 20 November, 2007 |
Behind the Laughter[]
Production[]
- Previous The Simpsons film projects that failed to develop:
- Matt Groening mentioned in an interview published in the 1999 summer issue of Simpsons Illustrated that "maybe someday we'll do the movie for the Simpsons".
- The season 4 episode "Kamp Krusty" was originally going to be a film, but difficulties were encountered in writing a movie length script, at which point the movie plans were dropped in favor of a season premiere.
- Before his death, Phil Hartman had always wanted to create a live action Troy McClure film, with several of the staff saying that they would have loved to help create it.
- Production for the movie began in 2001-2002.
- Numerous plots were considered for this movie: Al Jean suggested the family saving manatees, which became the 2005 episode "Bonfire of the Manatees", and there was a The Truman Show-style notion of the characters discovering their lives were a TV show, which Groening rejected due to his rule "that the Simpsons never become aware of themselves as celebrities", however this idea was later put in as the plot in The Simpsons Game where the family discover that their lives are a video game.
- 92 characters have speaking parts.
- Series regulars Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Marcia Wallace, Pamela Hayden, Russi Taylor, Tress MacNeille, Joe Mantegna, and Maggie Roswell reprised their roles for the film. Albert Brooks plays Russ Cargill, Green Day and Tom Hanks play themselves.
- Minnie Driver recorded the part of a patronizing grievance counsellor in a scene that was cut, as were Edward Norton, Isla Fisher and Erin Brockovich's scenes, and Kelsey Grammer's as Sideshow Bob.
- Hans Zimmer provided the score, ahead of regular composer Alf Clausen.
- Although credited, Patty, Selma, Edna Krabappel, Jimbo, Groundskeeper Willie, and Kang did not have speaking parts in the final cut. However, the first three had parts in the DVD's deleted scenes, and Willie is heard cheering with the other Springfieldians. Kodos was also in one version of the movie; he and Kang slated the film over the end credits; however, this was cut after a test screening.
- An Alternate ending shows Santa's Little Helper, Spider-Pig and the Multiplied Eyed Squirrel painting the doghouse.
- Due to having to record some scenes over one hundred times, Julie Kavner was left exhausted and couldn't record for a week or so; and since the release of the movie, fans have noticed that her voice has been declining ever since.
Marketing and release[]
Homer Simpson sitting on his couch in a Superman t-shirt and briefs in the teaser trailer that debuted on March 31, 2006.
- In "Treehouse of Horror XVII", first shown on November 5, 2006, in the credits executive producer Al Jean's name had the date of the release as a middle name.
- A teaser trailer for the film was attached to the film Ice Age: The Meltdown from March 29, 2006 onward; the same trailer was then broadcast during the April 2 episode of The Simpsons, "Million Dollar Abie", and was later shown in front of numerous 2006 films.
- In July 2006, two clips of early, black and white, unfinished animatic footage from the film were shown to audiences during a Simpsons panel at Comic-Con 2006, with a third animation clip being released on The Complete Ninth Season DVD boxset.
- A 1½-minute-long trailer was then shown on November 12, 2006, immediately after the second act of The Simpsons episode "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)". It was also shown in theatres.
The Simpsons Movie in 2D
- Another 1½-minute trailer appeared on The Sun newspaper's website on December 11, 2006 and was also shown in theatres.
Homer showing Marge the silo in the back yard in the storyboard included on The Complete Ninth Season DVD.
- On the February 14, 2007, episode of American Idol, footage was shown of the contestants attending a private screening where they were shown an early preview of the first theatrical trailer. The same trailer was then shown during The Simpsons on February 18, 2007 and would play before numerous 2007 films. It was also made available online shortly afterwards.
- McFarlane Toys released a line of action figures based on the film, these include Ned Flanders and Bart looking over a rock at a character that is covered by a "Top Secret Character" logo. Others include Bart skateboarding naked having been dared by Sherri and Terri, Homer and his pet pig, and Itchy & Scratchy in "Presidential Politics". Also, a series of "movie mayhem" figures, depicting the family in a cinema, were released.
- The Simpsons Game was released to coincide with the film's DVD release.
- Samsung released a special Simpsons Movie phone, and Microsoft released a limited-edition Simpsons Xbox 360.
- Other merchandise that was released includes a The Simpsons Movie donut-shaped stress reliever, as well as a badge pack.
- As a promotion for the film, twelve 7-Eleven stores across USA were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts, and sold Squishees, Krusty-O's Cereal and Duff Beer (energy drink).
- The film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "irreverent humor", but rated PG by the British Board of Classification for "mild language, sexual innuendo and comic violence".[1]
- Fox held a competition between 16 Springfields across USA to host the American premiere, with Springfield, Vermont being selected as the winner.
- The film made a total of $527,071,022 at the worldwide box office.
- It was the seventh highest grossing film and third highest grossing animated film of 2007.
- It is the 30th highest grossing animated film of all time and the 2nd highest grossing traditionally animated film.
- It is the highest grossing animated film based off a cartoon/TV show.
- It is the second highest grossing film based off a TV series.
- The film garnered an 90% "fresh" rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
- At the 2007 MLB All-Star game, Homer announced the starting lineups and saying something funny about that.
Animation[]
The movie was the first animated film done by Toon Boom, a software that the crew would use for the show afterwards. While the character animation is about the same as a normal episode from the later seasons, there are visual elements that have gotten an upgrade. For example, the backgrounds are more detailed than filled with prominent colored shading. It also has a broader color palette and some cinematic shots. The characters have shadows, unlike in the show.
External links[]
- The Simpsons Movie Official website
- The Simpsons Movie at IMDB.com
- https://photos.app.goo.gl/GpD7uZU6pD5cY9Mt7
Citations[]
cy:Y Simpsons Ffilm de:Die Simpsons – Der Film es:The Simpsons Movie fr:Les Simpson, le film it:I Simpson - Il film pl:Simpsonowie: Wersja kinowa pt:Os Simpsons:O Filme pt-br:Os Simpsons:O Filme sv:The Simpsons Filmen