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Brilliant pot shots -- The Simpsons
PHOTO: AP
A LAUGH RIOT: The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Genre: Animation/Comedy
Director: David Silverman
Voices: Dan Castellenata, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Yeardley Smith.
Storyline: Their hometown is about to be blown up and only the Simpsons can save it – by taking responsibility for Homer Simpson’s mistake and acting fast.
Bottomline: Long live the family.
The Simpsons are very much in town. Only, they’re proceeding to paint it a peculiar shade of green – read an environmental protection drive that goes awry and threatens the very existence of Springfield.
It’s a laugh riot for fans of the hugely popular TV series, with the movie taking pot shots at everything from the U.S Government’s favourite policy ‘You can get away with anything as long as the public doesn’t know’ to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The storyline
Whether they dwell on mother Marge’s homespun wisdom, daughter Lisa’s bug-eyed wonder at finding a dream boyfriend, son Bart’s longing for a more responsible father or an insufferably selfish Homer Simpson’s couldn’t-care-less attitude, the situations are so heart warming that you find yourself rooting for each character in turn.
When Lisa galvanises the citizens of Springfield into cleaning up the debris-choked lake, little does she know that her own father, Homer, is going to inflict the worst pollution yet by dumping pig litter, which produces a mutant rodent.
Authorised by the President, the head of the national Environmental Protection Agency has a simple solution – wipe the ‘dirty’ town and its inhabitants off the map by sealing them within an escape-proof dome. With the entire town baying for their blood, the Simpsons escape to Alaska.
How an initially reluctant but later reformed Homer returns to redeems himself as father and citizen by destroying the dome that spells doom and saving Springfield forms the rest of the story.
Non-stop one-liners
Diehard fans can rest assured that there is a non-stop supply of brilliant one liners flying thick and fast and a good healthy dose of gross humour to keep them happy.
The appeal lies as much in the whacky antics of the familiar less-than-perfect endearing characters as in their frank we-need-to-talk-now emotional powwows that keep the family unit together.
The outright digs at an all-brawn-no-brain President Schwarzenegger, the politics-business nexus, and the vagaries of flawed but essentially humane individuals beam the unmistakable message that responsibility is the new watchword if people want meaningful change.
KLT
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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