In a 1993 Internet chat, \The Simpsons"" creator Matt Groening was asked about the possibility of a ""Simpsons"" movie. Groening's response would fuel more than 10 years of geek speculation and anticipation, saying a film ""is way down the line."" That non-committal string of hope is all fans have had to go on-until now.
Rumors swelled once again after an Internet interview with writer and producer Mike Reiss stated that preliminary work on the script has begun and that the animated family could hit the big screen as soon as summer 2006. Fox confirmed that writers were working on the script in an article released in ""Variety"" last week.
I'll be perfectly honest-I'm not a ""Simpsons"" guy. I enjoy the show and all, but I don't watch it religiously as so many others have throughout the last 15 years. Personally, when it comes to animated comedy, I'll take ""South Park"" and ""Family Guy"" over the Springfield clan any day.
Even so, ""The Simpsons"" was a great show for several years. It's evidenced simply by the unmatched effect it has had on American culture-chances are very high that you could strike up a conversation about the show with just about anyone you meet.
With such a huge fan base, it makes sense to, at some point, make a ""Simpsons"" movie. ""South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut"" proved that an animated television show-turned-film can be funny and at least moderately successful at the box office.
Even more important than its popularity, ""The Simpsons"" once was quality television. The first several years of the show had a warm heart for the family at its core, making it transcend other animated sitcoms. Often, it could have been argued that this crudely animated half-hour was the best show on television.
The thing is, ""The Simpsons"" star has faded. By waiting to make the film instead of cashing in on early success a la ""South Park,"" the writers of ""The Simpsons"" have essentially made their job harder. The show, while still garnering solid ratings, has taken an undeniable nosedive in quality. It has become a caricature of itself-it has become a cartoon of a cartoon. The onslaught of celebrity appearances certainly couldn't have helped. Personally, I like to place the blame squarely on the rotating staff writers.
When Ian Maxtone-Graham, a writer hired in 1995, admits that he barely watched ""The Simpsons"" before he joined the writing staff, how can you expect anything less than a decline? When creators Groening and James Brooks and early head writers Reiss and Al Jean took their leave of the show long ago, how can you expect anything but a show that looks nothing like it once did?
Groening and company do have one thing working to their advantage: the ageless quality of the show. When none of your characters have aged in the least, it's easy enough to shift back to your roots. I think even the slightest of ""The Simpsons"" fans can agree with me in that if a ""Simpsons"" film is a celebrity-filled convoluted mess filled with sight gags and one-liners, it will be a complete waste of time.
On the other hand, making the movie in the same vein as the early seasons could not only make for box-office gold, it could revitalize a show that seems determined to keep on going for another 15 years.
wwtemby@wisc.edu.
