All of us who grew up with the Simpsons always heard and dreamed about a Simpsons movie around the corner. The movie is basically everything I dreamed about when I imagined a Simpsons movie.
This movie could have held on it’s own without the gratuitous promotion, including the completely horrendous 7-11/Kwik-E-Mart tie in. I am glad that it went far beyond the constraints that television put on it. One of the reasons the Family Guy movie failed to amuse is that it did things too much like the television show and failed to take advantage of the feature film format.
I am not ashamed to say that this movie kept a smile on my face throughout the eighty or so minutes. The plot combined elements of a lot of the better episodes(Seasons four to eight).
It may not make the remainder of the television show any better, but this is as good a place as any to enjoy the genious of Matt Groening until Futurama comes back next year.