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Upon hearing that a film based on The Simpsons was in production, I really was curious as to whether, after 18 years and 400 episodes under their aging belts, the brilliant minds behind the Simpsons had the bottle to knock out a film that retained the hilarity of the earlier seasons (as the last five years of the show have been a notable decline), whilst also adhering to that unbeatable storytelling that made the show so popular in the first place.

The Simpsons Movie, running in at a slender 87 minutes (and barely 80 if you knock off the credits), wastes no time in piling on the laughs - the first gag is actually within the opening 20th Century Fox logo! It becomes clear very early on that, even whilst the film takes a little while to get comfortable, that the acerbic, biting wit of the earlier seasons is back, as Homer takes a crack at the viewer for paying money to see something they can see on TV for free. As true as he was, I loved this little gag.

A nice little roll call follows, re-introducing us (as I'm sure many a viewer has since given up on the Simpsons in recent years) to the characters we love, and reminding us of their little quirks. It was essentially nothing more than a preamble, but a pleasant one nonetheless. From these opening moments of the film, I wouldn't blame one for feeling slight disappointment, in that, examples such as the hammer gag (which featured very heavily in trailers), and a shocking glimpse at Bart's genitals, are evidence of the great presence of physical humour in the film. Whilst it's mildly amusing, I was always a bigger fan of the subtle, adult humour of the series, and fortunately there's a great abundance of that too (with some notable tongue-in-cheek knocks at Al Gore, the Patriot Act and FOX themselves), so everyone should leave the cinema somewhat happy. Furthermore, there's a few pop-culture references thrown in for kicks, most notably referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger's "terrible comedies" and the Grand Theft Auto computer game series.

Given the sheer amount of characters situated in Springfield, the writers had to make a real effort to try and squeeze lines in for everyone, and whilst some of the more likable characters in the series are conspicuous by their absence (such as Principal Skinner), there are some truly gold cameos here. Krusty the Clown utters one of his funniest and most risqu quips in the entire show's run, and Lenny and Karl have a likewise borderline-offensive exchange that left me laughing heartily.

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