After eighteen years of televised ups and downs, the Simpson family has finally tackled an adventure that's too big for the small screen. At the time, I can remember, this felt like a decent spot for one last, big hurrah. Who could've imagined the series would still be running today, a decade and a half later?

But that's another topic for another time. Back in the bygone days of 2007, it seemed the franchise was winding down and there was some concern that a full ninety-minute story might be more than this dysfunctional, small town American family could handle. The good news: it's an almost effortless transition, delivering somewhat greater consequences without betraying the light, sarcastic nature that's made the show so well-loved. The bad: well, it's a little bland. We get a couple naughty words, one inspired skateboard chase that never would've seen the light of day on Fox and a whole lot of fan service, but the bulk of the writing is sterile and by-the-numbers. Despite the presence of something like three-hundred ancillary characters, maybe a dozen have meaningful roles and several of those are wholly original to the movie. It has laughs, but they're easy and homogenized. Scraps of power, like Marge's video recording when she reaches the end of her rope, derive their punch from the preceding 7,000 hours of TV coverage and not the film's self-contained story. It visits new locales, but the show already did that six times a season.

To its credit, _The Simpsons Movie_ does feel like _The Simpsons_, but not prime-era _The Simpsons_. Acceptable, not an embarrassment, with some good bits for long-term fans and fresh faces alike, but far from essential. There's something to be said for refusing to reinvent the wheel, but also for going back to the same old well. This is an accent piece, not a focal point.