Starring: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer
Director: David Silverman
Genre: Comedy
Cert: 12
Released: 2007

It must be hard writing a movie-length version of an iconic 22 minute satirical cartoon that has fired out 420 episodes over 19 years. But Matt Groening and his team, who long had a desire to do it, finally achieved it in 2007, six years after writing begun.

Homer is causing trouble again, polluting the Springfield Lake with a silo full of pig (well, Spider Pig) feces. Naturally the Environmental Protection Agency are none too impressed with the pollution and the EPA Director Russ Cargill decides to enclose Springfield in a glass dome to stop the pollution spreading.

When the residents find out that Homer is responsible, it looks like curtains for him and the family. However, they manage to escape the dome and make their way to Alaska to start a new life. Hooray!

But when they hear of Cargill’s plan to destroy their home town for good, Homer has a choice to make: stay in Alaska where he can terrorise husky dogs or return to reclaim the town and his reputation. I’m sure he’ll pick the easier one.

I didn’t have high hopes for “The Simpsons” – a cartoon that was surpassed by “Family Guy” in my affections a few years back – but thankfully the movie-length version is more than watchable. It does feel like overload at times, kind of like you expect things to end about 2-3 times before they do, but that’s what the 20-odd minute conditioning of the last two decades does to you.

I’m disappointed that there weren’t more celebrity cameos (Green Day and Tom Hanks are there) but apparently a lot of re-writes saw the likes of Edward Norton, Erin Brockovich and Minnie Driver end up on the cutting room floor.

But overall it’s a strong script, has some quality lines (Homer’s reaction to the lowering of the Dome over Springfield: “D’ohhhhhhhhhmmme”) and will make you laugh. That’s enough, right?