Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence

In a world where any studio with a few bucks and a half baked story idea can make a 3D CGI feature (I'm looking at YOU, Sony!), we see once again that Walt Disney had it right 70 years ago---its the story, stupid!

DVD extras are a lot like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks--most are pretty lame. One consistent exception to that has been The Simpsons DVDs, where not only do you get a clever and funny menu system, easter eggs, etc., but each episode gets a well-executed commentary track. (How many times have you tried to listen to a director's commentary only to realize that you paid more attention to the film than he did?)

With The Simpsons Movie, Groening, Brooks and the other producers have outdone themselves. Although its always been possible to do, this is the first DVD I've seen that actually PAUSES during a commentary to allow time to explain, in detail, whats on the screen (if anyone knows of a previous example, please comment).

At approximately 30 minutes in, Al Jean pauses the movie to explain the saga of a joke that was constantly being pulled and re-inserted during audience tests. Usually if a director tries this, about 5 minutes of film has gone by while they're still explaining the fascinating story of a 10 second shot that no one noticed in the first place. Here, you not only get to hear the story (the church/bar gag just as Springfield gets "Trappacinoed" was constantly on the verge of being cut altogether) but you don't feel that you've missed out on anything. The video image stops and goes to B&W to let you know that the world is okay and your DVD player hasn't gone crazy.

At the hour mark, they actually stop for a 10 minute digression into the physical demands of the voice recording process. Its a bit long, and Ms. Smith belabors a point that seems odd for someone who's a voice over artist (she didn't think any cartoon before had evoked such a deep emotional response--did she somehow miss Dumbo and Bambi as a child?). To that end, perhaps a heavier hand in the recording booth could have shortened the distraction.

Lets hope that in the future other movies make use of this technique. At the very least hope for fewer commentaries where it is obvious that the only things the people talking want to do is get out of the booth and go sleep off their hangover.

(NOTE: Before anyone blogs me at length, I realize that the DVD isn't really paused. They just substitute a chapter in the program's VOB structure that has a held frame in it. In reality you're just watching a longer version of the film. But its still a feature that needs to be used more.)