Bigger on the Inside

I went to see The Simpsons Movie last night. It kind of does what it says on the tin. The movie is about the Simpsons. If I had lived in a vacuum for the last two decades then I would be able to accept without any further remark. Buuuut, I am aware that the Simpsons family were created in the 1980s and that since the series started in 1989 a whole wealth of back story and supporting cast has been introduced. These aspects are pretty much absent from this movie.

That doesn’t mean that it was bad. Lord no! It was funny, full of one liners and slapstick humour. It felt like a feature length episode of the series. A pretty good way to while away 87 or so minutes. I was just left feeling that opportunities were missed with regard to the other characters. Mr Burns, Krusty the Clown, Smithers (I don’t think he even uttered a line) and a host of other great members of the cast were just completely sidelined. In my view this was a disappointment. However, had this been a feature length episode of the series I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye.

As an aside, the thing that troubled me most was what happened to Spider Pig (AKA Plopper)? It was the first thought that troubled my fevered mind this morning. If you too were concerned about it, the above Wikipedia article goes some way to answering the question.