KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: 4 out of 5
WOO, and indeed, hoo. The Simpsons Movie is diddily-dum-doodily. It's as funny as its quadruple-episode length should be, while easily sustaining what is, deep down, really a typical single episode storyline - Homer makes monumental stuff up, Homer attempts to fix things, all around him suffer.
Except in this one, the suffering is just that much more cinematic.
Not only is there anguish through all of Springfield, there soon is distress in the Homer-Marge marriage, the Homer-Bart father-son relationship, as well as the Lisa-new-Irish-boyfriend-Colin romance.
Oh and in the slightly unhealthy Homer-adopted-pig bond which, combined with the intervention of the US Government, is the cause of the film's other calamities in the first place.
It also alludes to and/or skewers a season's worth of pop culture references - from zombie film Dawn of the Dead to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, from Bambi to Grand Theft Auto - while having absurdist fun with appearances by Green Day, Hillary Clinton, President Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Hanks.
But it does a particulary imaginative line in Homer-hurts-himself gags, right to the final scenes.
And it also has much fun with its self-referential bits about being a tv show which has finally, after 18 years and 400 episodes, turned into a movie.
It starts out, not with a the famous titles montage but the best Itchy and Scratchy cartoon-within-a-cartoon ever - cut to the Simpsons in a cinema as Homer opines "I can't believe we're paying to see something we get on TV for free. Everyone in this theatre is a sucker."
Well, we were if we thought bringing The Simpsons to the big screen was going to be a big leap forward for its basic animation style.
Certainlly, it's a wider often richer canvas and there are some visually arresting action sequences while the parts of your retina which detect the colour yellow will be feeling the effects afterwards.
As well, being free of family viewing requirements hasn't exactly let its writers run wildly risque. Yes, Bart flashes during the much-reported skateboard sequence during which the cops order him to "Stop in the name of American squeamishness".
Homer probably hasn't said "boobs" before and there's something odd going on with that pig: "Let's kiss to relieve the tension," he pleads in a weak moment of thankfully unrequited love. Homer-erotic, it ain't.
But if it's amusingly crude around the edges, if anything, the movie might be too warm-hearted and family-focussed for its own good, especially in the latter stages as Homer finally figures out what is important in life and attempts to fix things, once again.
All told, it's a Simpsons super-episode that is sure to please series fans of every level of commitment, even those who haven't watched in years.
Because we are so familiar with its world and its patented style of irreverence, The Simpsons Movie comes with very few surprises - the only thing that astounded perhaps was the relegation of Monty Burns to a cameo, then again the old duffer is getting on in years. But that doesn't stop the supersize Simpsons still being ludicrously funny.
Voice cast: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer
Director: David Silverman
Rating: PG (coarse language)
Running time: 87 mins Screening: Skycity, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas
Verdict: It's wider, it's longer, it's deeper, it's somehow yellower. It's just as funny.
