The Simpsons Movie Site
Twentieth Century Fox Brings Animation to Movie Theatres July 27th
The Simpsons Movie site is up and active (well, mostly).
Twentieth Century Fox's entry into the Animation Wars of Summer 2007, The Simpsons Movie, is also the last big animated feature film coming before September.
Fox has high hopes for Matt Groening's cartoon series, which has been continuously on TV since 1989. However, this summer has become a major slap-fest, with every studio trying to get as many big-money franchises in theatres, in the hopes that at least one of them sticks.
In order to get everyone salivating for Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Expecting (sorry, Maggie)'s big screen debut, the studio has upgraded their Simpsons Movie site (which domain name they have owned since 1997).
So, other than stare at the pretty pictures, what can you do here? Well, amongst the usual blather about the movie, cast & crew, and production notes, you can create your own Simpsons avatar (which will pop up in random places as you tour the site).
You can play several games including "3-Card Moe" (against the shyster bartender voiced by Hank Azaria), "Ball of Death" (Which allows you to control Homer as he rides his motorcycle around, picking up food and avoiding obstacles) and "The Wrecking Ball," which allows you to control Homer as he tries to save his family by using the aforementioned device.
While you're at it, you can take a tour of Springfield. This function is less-than-complete, with 6 out of 9 tour spots sporting the sign "Coming Soon." Not good for a website trumpeting its big debut, folks. However, it's fun to go into Moe's Tavern (one of the few links that are actually functioning), knock some glasses off the shelves and find out what Moe, Homer and the other regulars say. There are also images, trailers and a link to The Simpsons Movie MySpace site (cause everybody needs one of those, right? Right?).
And if Simpsons memorabilia is your thing, you can head on over to The Simpsons Shop to buy oodles and poodles worth of stuff. Enter "HOMER" at the check-out and get a 10% discount.
Here's The Simpsons Movie synopsis, paraphrased from the good folks at IMDb: "When Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) accidentally causes a radioactive leak from the Nuclear Power Plant into the river, is Springfield condemned forever? Can the inhabitants of the quirky town ever return? Springfield's usual characters all turn up in the first ever movie length version of the hit television show."
Will Twentieth Century Fox ride ten years of Simpsons love into a blockbuster hit? Or will DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third reign supreme over the Summer of 2007? Find out when The Simpsons Movie comes to theatres on July 27th.
Extra Tidbit: How much stuff is in a "poodle"? Depends on the size of the poodle, I guess.
