DVD Review: The Simpsons Movie

Those yellow, animated phenomenons have finally made their way to the big screen and it only took eighteen years. So does the animated movie live up to the hilarity of the television show? Read on and find out - doh!
The town of Springfield's lake is overly polluted and socially conscious Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) rallies the town to clean it up. Her dad Homer (Dan Castellaneta) saves a pig from being slaughtered after it's used as a prop in a Krusty the Clown commercial and starts to treat it like the son he always wanted.

This doesn't set well with Bart (Nancy Cartwright) who finds that Mr. Flanders (Harry Shearer) is a more caring father than his pig loving one. Homer's new oinking child does what pig's do and Homer puts the results in a huge silo in the backyard (well, Homer did put a little of himself into the job). His wife Marge (Julie Kavner) tells him to get rid of the silo of pig waste.

Homer does of course, by dumping it on Lake Springfield. This infusion of pollution causes the Environmental Protection Agency to become alerted to the situation. They react in their usual restrained manner - the director Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks) orders that a huge glass dome cover the town.
The Simpsons eventually find themselves outside the dome and Homer decides to take off rather than help his neighbors (especially since they formed an angry mob against him when they found out that it was his silo that pushed the lake over the limit). He takes the family to Alaska and start over again, but the rest of the family thinks they should return and save Springfield.

The Simpsons have been a television hit since they started airing in 1989. There's always been talk that creator Matt Groening should bring his jaundiced creations to the big screen. He's seemingly been happy on the small screen but it has finally come to pass and the results are hilarious.
The film does play like a bigger and extended episode of the television show. It has some hilarious commentary on society as well as just outright wacky comedy. One bit of commentary has the church folk running to Moe's bar and the bar patrons running to church as the giant dome of doom is placed over the town.

We also have an extended Bart dare as he skateboards in the buff down to the Krusty Burger. Not to mention the "Spider Pig" song that my kids would sing during the theatrical trailer.

Where this disc lets down a little is not in the content of the film but in the special feature department. It feels really rather light and you keep thinking that a more expansive special edition will be in the works somewhere down the line - doh!.

The Simpsons is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A fullscreen version is available separately. Special features include two commentary tracks.

The first one features writer/creator Matt Groening, writer/producer James L. Brooks, writer/producer Al Jean, writer/producer Mike Scully, director David Silverman, Yeardley Smith, and Dan Castellaneta, and the second one includes director Silverman, and sequence directors Mike B. Anderson, Steven Dean Moore and Rich Moore.

There are 5 minutes of deleted scenes introduced by Al Jean. The "Special Stuff" section has 3 minutes of Simpsons appearances on the Tonight Show, American Idol, and a parody of the "Let's go to the Lobby" concession stand spiel. That's it. Seems pretty light to me.

The movie is hilarious, but the extra features feel like a bit of a letdown as far as deleted scenes go, the commentaries are top notch. It's well worth it for the film. I must knock it down a bit because it could've been a bigger set (and I suspect will be somewhere down the line).

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Universal Studios: Get Into The Action Of Your Favorite Movies

The whole world is captivated by the movies coming out of the major American film studios, but it is one thing to see the movies and another thing to get behind the scenes, find out how they were made and go on rides that put you right into the midst of the most popular movies of our time. You can do all of this at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Let's take a look at some of the attractions currently on offer at the Universal Studios park in Orlando.

First of all, if you want to "get under the hood" and see how films are made then your first stop should be Production Central, Production Central area of Universal Studios. Located just beyond front gates of Universal Studios, you'll find yourself in the middle of a real working film and television production studio.

And while you are in Production Central you can treat yourself and your family to a spectacular Shrek adventure. Shrek 4D features an original 3D film which the studio says is produced with Ogrevision. Here you can join Shrek, Donkey and Princess Fiona on a wild adventure. According the Universal Studios website, "You see, hear and actually FEEL the action right from your seat! If you love motion simulator rides, you'll love Shrek 4-D™."

Were you thrilled by the movie "Revenge of the Mummy?" And do you like roller coasters? If you answered yes to either of these questions then you will enjoy the Revenge of the Mummy ride. Here is how Universal describes it, "Plunge into total darkness as you face fireballs, scarab beetles, and an army of warrior mummies on a psychological thrill ride totally unlike anything that's come along in the past 3,000 years!" That, sounds like something that will delight any family of film lovers.

Would you like to protect the earth from an alien attack? Then you should hop onboard the Men in Black Alien Attack ride. Universal has created 120 alien species for this attraction. Each six passenger vehicle is equipped with laser guns and "As an agent trainee, you'll zap aliens as you chase them through the streets of New York in this high-tech ride based on the hit movie."

The Terminator series of films was an imaginative look at the future, and the Terminator attraction at Universal Studios lives up to the legacy of that popular trilogy. The attraction is called, "Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time," and it is said to be one of the more elaborate and technologically advanced theme park experiences ever created. All Terminator fans will get a kick out of this ride.

Are you ready to withstand the all out attack of Jaws? Then get on board the Jaws ride at Universal but be careful because you're gonna need a bigger boat! Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a giant fin slices through the waves and you're suddenly face to face with three tons of Great White fury.

In addition to high tech thrill rides, Universal offers plenty of outdoor entertainment. There is a Blues Brothers show, a tribute to comedy queen Lucille Ball and a monster themed Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue, complete with screamin' demons and wailing guitars.

Universal has produced rich load of imaginative films and characters and the Studio draws on them to the maximum to create a theme park that will live up to and exceed your expectations.

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Movie Review - Sweeney Todd

Having never seen the stage version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I can't speak to the fidelity the film shares with the play. That said, let there be no doubt that Tim Burton has crafted a true piece of musical cinema from Stephen Sondheim's bloody masterpiece. To their discredit, early previews have hedged a bit regarding the singing in the film. In them we only see Johnny Depp canting some recitative as he prowls the streets of London. While this scene is certainly in the movie, it's barely representative of the actual film which contains at least a dozen fully-staged numbers and only intermittent dialogue.

As the former Benjamin Barker, Depp is magnificent as Todd. His voice may lack the thunder that would be expected on stage, but on the big screen it's more than suitable. Purists may find it a little ragged and flat at times--Michael Crawford needn't worry about Depp--but it's an ideal manifestation of the corrupting anger and rotting vengeance that fill Todd's soul. The same can be said for Helena Bonham Carter as the fiendish Mrs. Lovett. Sure she will occasionally descend into something approaching a hectoring screech, but consider for a moment that she's a baker who grinds people into meat and serves them up in piping hot pies!

Voices aside, both actors deliver rich, complex performances. The focus and intensity that Depp brings to his role is riveting. Within minutes of the film's opening there is no doubt that Depp will have his revenge and have it with gusto. Taking a step back from the film, realize that Todd is a thoroughly despicable character. He often kills indiscriminately, but Depp is so powerful as Todd that you eventually begin to relish his countless murders. Carter's Mrs. Lovett is, perhaps, even more of a psychopath. Slicing a throat is one thing. Butchering a man and then serving him up for dinner is quite another. Nevertheless, you delight in her, too.

As for the killings, Burton stages them in spectacularly gory fashion. The phrase 'geysers of blood' is often used casually when describing a violent film. In Sweeney Todd the phrase is explicitly correct. Depp is often obscured under the high-powered jets of plasma that repeatedly erupt from his customer's necks. Amazingly, these scenes aren't even the most disturbing. Once Todd finishes giving a 'shave', he dumps the corpse down a hole where it cracks loudly at the bottom as the skull splinters and the neck breaks cleanly. It's all completely over the top and, of course, wonderful, hilarious, inspired.

The same can be said for the film as a whole. In Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton has found material that meshes perfectly with his artistic sense. You could call it a horror film or a screwball comedy and you'd be right both times. The design is, as would be expected from a Burton picture, lavish and spectacular. The supporting cast, especially Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, are superb. Only the love story between Johanna and Anthony falls a little flat. It's a minor quibble, though, in an otherwise outstanding film. Sweeney Todd joins Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands as Burton's finest work. It may eventually even be considered his best.

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