CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games Books TV
Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

97 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83 Alexandra
43 Anamorph
35 Babysitters, The
32 Backseat
80 Band's Visit, The
62 Battle for Haditha
47 Bella
63 Blind Mountain
71 Blindsight
47 Boarding Gate
63 Body of War
58 Bra Boys
70 Caramel
54 Cashback
44 Chaos Theory
32 Chapter 27
69 Chicago 10
82 Chop Shop
46 CJ7
78 Counterfeiters, The
30 Cover
48 Dark Matter
35 Deal
61 Dhamma Brothers, The
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73 Duchess of Langeais, The
20 Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58 Fall, The
43 Favor, The
58 First Saturday in May, The
57 Flawless
87 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx From Within
44 Frontier(s)
59 Fugitive Pieces
41 Funny Games
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61 Girls Rock!
55 Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57 Grand, The
58 Hats Off
68 Honeydripper
xx Jack and Jill vs. the World
67 Jellyfish
xx Kiss the Bride
37 Life Before Her Eyes, The
72 Life of Reilly, The
50 Look
65 Married Life
35 Meet Bill
63 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54 Mister Lonely
52 My Blueberry Nights
71 My Brother Is an Only Child
49 Noise
61 OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83 Paranoid Park
55 Pathology
48 Penelope
90 Persepolis
62 Planet B-Boy
xx Plumm Summer, A
67 Praying with Lior
44 Previous Engagement, A
72 Priceless
17 Prom Night
69 Redbelt
72 Roman de gare
48 Run, Fat Boy, Run
85 Savages, The
24 Sex and Death 101
66 Shelter
75 Shotgun Stories
40 Sleepwalking
67 Snow Angels
64 Son of Rambow
71 Standard Operating Procedure
76 Stuff and Dough
64 Surfwise
xx Tashan
82 Taxi to the Dark Side
57 Teeth
56 Then She Found Me
55 Tracey Fragments, The
56 Turn the River
72 Tuya's Marriage
83 U2 3D
59 Under the Same Moon
76 Unforeseen, The
xx Unsettled
91 Up the Yangtze
55 Vice
79 Visitor, The
64 Water Lilies
45 Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57 Without the King
74 Witnesses, The
63 XXY
67 Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75 Young@Heart
45 Zombie Strippers

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.



Simpsons Movie, The
20th Century Fox

Simpsons Movie, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 80 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.2 out of 10
based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 355 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for irreverent humor throughout

Starring Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, and Kelsey Grammer

It takes a wide screen to fully capture Homer Simpson's stupidity, and The Simpsons Movie does it. In the eagerly-awaited animated feature film based on the hit TV series, Homer must save the world from a catastrophe he himself created. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Animation  |  Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Matt Groening (& also creator: television series "The Simpsons"), Sam Simon (creator: television series "The Simpsons")
James L. Brooks (& also creator: television series "The Simpsons")
Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss
Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder, Jon Vitti
 
DIRECTED BY: David Silverman  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 18, 2007 
Theatrical: July 27, 2007 
RUNNING TIME: minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The show has been the gold standard for satirical TV ever since it debuted in 1989. This long-awaited movie adaptation has plenty of laughs, plus an assortment of milestones for fans.
Read Full Review
100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Like "Hairspray," it's not just a spinoff but a wised-up family comedy that's spirited and inventive. It retains the farcical belligerence of the TV comedy but also heightens the series' oddball warmth and expands on its Hellzapoppin' slapstick.
Read Full Review
100
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The genius is in the writing and in keeping all gambits created by the individual writers in sync, so the piece has a tonal consistency and a narrative flow. A lost art in Hollywood? It's really one of the best movies of the year.
Read Full Review
91
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The movie is best when it just riffs on our compacted memories of the past 18 years of episodes. Fortunately, that's most of the time.
Read Full Review
90
LA Weekly Scott Foundas
A 90-minute, years-in-the-making comic wind-up machine that begins by mocking its own audience for paying good money to see what it can watch at home for free and proceeds from there through the most wickedly funny arsenal of assaults on big government, organized religion and corporate America this side of "Borat."
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The Simpsons Movie, in the end, is as good as an average episode of "The Simpsons." In other words, I’d be willing to watch it only -- excuse me while I crunch some numbers here -- 20 or 30 more times.
Read Full Review
90
Time Richard Corliss
So, for those of you who were wondering if a great TV show could top itself at feature-film length, the good news is that The Simpsons did it! But "South Park" did it first.
Read Full Review
88
Premiere Glenn Kenny
If this is in fact merely a longer Simpsons episode, it's a damn good Simpsons episode.
Read Full Review
88
USA Today Claudia Puig
The good news is that this is not merely a few episodes cobbled together: It's a real movie.
Read Full Review
88
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The result is two-tiered humor, broad enough to appeal to anybody but overlaid with jokes that will be funnier if you know the show.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The best thing about this long-awaited feature-length project, a classic Simpsonian interplay of family psychology, social commentary, and brainy visual and verbal jokes tossed off at rat-a-tat speed, is how relaxed it manages to be.
Read Full Review
83
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Though it never regains the inspiration or comic density of its brilliant first 20 minutes, The Simpsons Movie keeps the laughs coming from start to finish, a feat as rare and wonderful in film as it has been through 18 years of television.
Read Full Review
80
Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman
After 18 seasons and some 400 episodes of their Fox TV series, the family created by Matt Groening, the family that put the dys in dysfunctional, makes a seamless transition from the shag carpet to the red carpet in the long-awaited Simpsons Movie.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
In some ways, it reminded me of the final "Seinfeld" episode. As much as I laughed throughout, I kept wondering what was with all the emotional lessons.
Read Full Review
80
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
It's caustic, irreverent, constantly amusing and a tiny bit rude. Not a lot, though. This isn't the "Beavis and Butt-Head" or "South Park" movie. It's almost -- dare I say it -- charming.
Read Full Review
80
Variety Brian Lowry
Put simply, if somebody had to make a "Simpsons" movie, this is pretty much what it should be -- clever, irreverent, satirical and outfitted with a larger-than-22-minutes plot, capable (just barely) of sustaining a narrative roughly four times the length of a standard episode.
Read Full Review
80
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
The picture works because, despite the fact that it took nearly six years for the filmmakers to bring it to the screen, it doesn't strive for greatness. It's fleet, concise and clever in a nut-ball way.
Read Full Review
80
Slate Dana Stevens
Nearly all of the show's minor supporting characters--Moe Szyslak, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, Hans Moleman--get to make at least an appearance, though it would have been nice to see larger speaking roles for favorites like Apu and Mr. Smithers.
Read Full Review
80
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
It’s funny, it’s smart, and it pokes fun at exactly the things it should (organized religion, big business, and audience itself).
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The most ingenious thing about the movie is how it plays to diehards and neophytes alike. Every Simpsons character gets at least a fleeting appearance (and occasionally, director David Silverstein uses the widescreen format to cram in as many of them into one shot as he can).
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A very funny, solidly entertaining movie that, despite its unshakable obsesion with undergarments, is as sweet as a Kwik-E-Mart Squishee.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The Simpsons Movie is finally here. And guess what? It's funny. But not that funny.
Read Full Review
75
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's amusing enough and breezy enough not to disappoint. But it never dazzles or challenges or truly delights. And that leaves me fairly certain that whatever Bart Simpson would say about it probably couldn't be printed in a family newspaper.
Read Full Review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
On the positive side, it's still four back-to-back Simpsons episodes, which is still better than most of what either television or the movies have to offer.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Kyle Smith
Though it does have a handful of dirty jokes meant to earn the audience-pleasing PG-13 rating and features Marge swearing, it falls short of classic status.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is funny, sassy and intelligent in that moronic Simpsons' way.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand
No one will be bored with the feature film... but everyone who knows the show well will have a nagging feeling that something is missing.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
As much as I enjoyed the movie -- and I laughed all the way through it -- the truth is that the big screen adds nothing special to the "Simpsons" experience.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The Simpsons is interested in being a family film, although this is one of those rare animated occasions when adults are the primary audience. I, for one, couldn't be happier.
Read Full Review
75
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Best of all, though the Simpson clan is 18 years older, they're not one bit wiser.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
It's hard not to like it. And in both senses of the phrase, America keeps asking for it.
Read Full Review
70
New York Magazine David Edelstein
It’s intermittently very funny. But it doesn’t make the existential leap to the big screen, and it doesn’t have the density of gags or the lunatic free-association of the best episodes.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Toddy Burton
Homer's rendition of "spider pig" is comedy gold.
Read Full Review
63
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Homer even jokes that it takes a sucker to pay for a show you can get for free on TV. D'oh! That hurts.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
It would be a stretch to call The Simpsons Movie more than a crisper, livelier-looking episode of the series. The change in mediums changes nothing.
Read Full Review
40
Empire Ian Nathan
The message is just as clear with Simpsonian antics -- if it ain't broke, don't make a movie…
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 355 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jeremy X gave it a9:
I agree, some of the newer Simpsons episodes of the last 3 series' have been pretty bad, but I know I will watch them again and realise that it is really funny. I thought that the Simpsons was getting bad since around series 13 or so, but I watch the episodes again and found that the jokes are among the funniest. The Simpsons should keep going, and this film has proven this. The film itself had a laugh almost every minute until it became more and more serious, but you can tell that even then the writers didn't take it too seriously. The Simpsons Movie was produced by almost all the executive producers has ever had and even though some of us expected better, I'm sure they will make up for it in the next movie.

Eric E gave it a5:
It was alright. Typical later years simpsons, thought it was just a long episode.

Paul L. gave it a5:
This movie is a tad better than the writing that's come out of the Simpson's in the last 5 or so seasons. In other words, it just slightly better than crap.

Rufus J. gave it a1:
A stroke of genius and hilarious at the same time. Genious that they made averyone believe there is a difference between a movie and a prelonged episode, and hilarious that it has been as successful save your money and wake up from the hypnosis. The simpsons have had their day! P.S I agree spider pig is cringeworthy

Vinoth gave it an8:
not the funniest simpson compared to the TV show

Jared C. gave it a6:
While "The Simpsons Movie" is — like the TV show has become — too much a caricature of itself, it still possesses good cheer, an aversion to self-seriousness, and manic energy for stuffing the screen with layers of humor, it just doesn't pay off. While the story fails, and as it finally gets past all the sappy cotent, The Simpson's Movie ends up as the animated comedy you didn't expect.

conor s. gave it a5:
The movie provides nothing new.Homer has to learn to appreciate his family again...no belly laughs but some funny moments.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | BOOKS | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise | Partnerships                                Visit other CNET Networks sites:

Copyright ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use