The Simpsons go to the movies

The most-loved American family is finally coming to the big screen after 14 years of serial success.

Last week, the film version of The Simpsons hit cinemas across the globe. Arguably 18 years in the making, this film represents a momentous juncture in the history of the staggeringly successful sitcom (the US's longest-running) and a daunting time, too, for the real-life Simpsons family, the animators, writers and producers who have been involved since it began.

For nearly two decades, fans have followed the Simpsons' antics in self-contained 24-minute bursts, each a delicious satirical take on some aspect of modern life. But can the yellow, bug-eyed wonders fill a whole feature? Could 90 minutes of Homer's bumbling prove too much? And will the animation survive the inevitably greater scrutiny afforded by the big screen? This is not cutting-edge computer imagery.

Not an easy job

David Silverman, director of The Simpsons Movie, is confident that audiences will love the film. But he is not pretending it has been an easy project, what with the expectations of a fanatical fan base, plus the job of corralling the 400-odd animators, writers, producers, actors and assistants who worked on the film.

Silverman, a veteran animator, producer and director, has been involved on and off with The Simpsons since it debuted as a series of skits on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. Back then, the name Homer made people think of the Iliad, and Springfield was just a place name shared by 14 American towns.

Everyman is a Simpson

Soon, however, the show's doughnut-scoffing, blue-collar American everyman had usurped the ancient Greek, and with his brood — bratty Bart, intellectual Lisa, baby Maggie and wife Marge — became a household name.

As well as dozens of awards (23 Emmys so far), the show has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and been named 20th century's best TV series by Time.

A multi-billion-dollar franchise, The Simpsons is also the longest-running animated show in television history. It is broadcast in more than 90 countries. In 2003, Homer Simpson was declared the Greatest American in a BBC online poll — Abraham Lincoln came second.

Meanwhile, character catchphrases, such as Homer's "D'oh!" and Bart's "Eat my shorts", entered the lexicon.

With such a fan base, the film might seem a dead certain for success. But, for every TV-sitcom-to-big-screen triumph, such as Rugrats and South Park, there are examples of those that stumbled, among them Bewitched and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Teasing nervously

The makers' nervousness is perhaps betrayed in the intense secrecy surrounding the film's plot, which even the first few trailers gave few clues about. Finally, a fourth teaser gave enough tips to suggest that Homer triggers some kind of ‘nuclear incident' at the power plant where he works.

Silverman sought to keep the look and feel of the characters close to the TV series. Although, the film uses a broader colour palette, more shadows because of the size of the images and a lavish attention to detail, "You don't feel it's not the Simpsons".

The Simpsons comes out amid a slew of animation heavyweights, one being Pixar's latest offering, the computer-animated comedy Ratatouille.

But Silverman seems unfazed. "Ratatouille came out a month before ours so we don't see that as a competing film … more of a comrade in arms trying to make it good for animation. And Shrek and Surf's Up have been played out."

As for the future, he thinks The Simpsons could go on indefinitely, "as long as people keep watching it. It doesn't matter how fantastically stupid — or creatively stupid, as I like to call him — Homer is, or whatever terrible bratty thing Bart does or annoyingly right-on thing Lisa does, the family still loves each other. And, in the end, I think that resonates with everybody."