So the waiting is finally over. By the time you read this it will have taken seventeen odd years, eleven script writers and over one hundred re-writes (!) for the Simpson's to finally make it to the big screen. The story reads like a pretty good episode. After Green Day hold a concert on a barge and sink to their deaths, the town folk decide to clean up the pollution inside their lake, that is, until Homer decides to dump waste back into it. The government, led by President Schwarzenegger and Environmental Protection Agency head Russ Cargill, find a squirrel poisoned by the lake and decide to surround Springfield inside a huge dome. Realising the dome may not be able to hold, Cargill takes the drastic decision to nuke Springfield. It is up to the Simpson's to stop him. The question is, will they succeed, and more importantly, has the movie been worth the wait? Sadly the answer is yes and no.

Satirically the film seems dead in the water, for example, instead of being openly critical of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, the film opts for visual slapstick, which is fine, but you're left wanting. On the other side of the coin, for anyone who is an environmentalist, the ending is to be scoffed at, the most damaging being Lisa's dénouement. In a serious contradiction of character she summarizes in the end its better to bog off with some Irish caricature to buy ice cream than save the environment. The fact that that relationship doesn't develop only adds to the insult. Another element which will annoy is the narrowing down of characters on screen. The film primarily focuses on the family which will disappoint some. With the exception of Flanders, nearly everyone else is reduced effectively to window dressing.

Will people care about the faults of the film? Doubtful. What matters is the general laugh quotient. Here the movie does well, but only just, suffice to say the jokes aren't half as good as some early classic episodes on television. The funniest moment involves a set-piece involving Homer escaping a lynch mob and boarding up the house. Possibly the most inventive involves Bart skateboarding naked through the streets. There's also an amusing self referential joke involving the Springfield gorge which is both funny as well as nostalgic. Nostalgia is nice, but sometimes its used in abundance, particularly a scene which recycles Homer having a psychedelic trip.

Overall the film loses two marks simply because it is satirically wilted, but as all round family entertainment, its funny, sometimes brilliantly so. It should only be a matter of time before you start to hear people using the 'Spider-pig' tune, which is featured at the end of the movie, as a ringtone on their phones. Disappointing in parts, but still worth checking out.

by Conor Flynn