The Longest Daycare

Just watched this Simpsons short in 3-D before the latest Ice Age movie with my movie theatre-working friend just now. In this one, Maggie is dropped in daycare with the "nothing special" toddlers especially one baby boy who likes to stomp on things. It's there that Maggie bonds with a caterpillar who she tries to protect from that same boy...This was quite funny with many clever sight gags including one involving Ayn Rand. Since only mom Marge is the only other one from the family that appears here, this was dialogue-free. Liked the use of some classical music in the scoring and seeing some of the other kids from the series in some scenes. So on that note, The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare was worth it watching before the main feature.

I heard of this short film because it was screened about 6 times in one day in the UK when it was released and the weekend paper informed me that it was one of the animated shorts up for the Oscar this year, so I figured I should give it a look. The plot sees Maggie enrolled in daycare only to find another baby in the "meh" class is smashing butterflies. Maggie saves a caterpillar from a similar fate and tries to keep it safe until it can become a butterfly. The plot is simple but it is played out wordlessly and with a sense of operatic melodrama that is clever despite not totally working.

It is clever, but not as clever as it should have been; it is funny, but never as funny as it should have been and it is sweet, but never as heartfelt as expected. The biggest problem it has is the stable that it comes from, because the legacy of The Simpsons is a massive shadow to escape, either generally or specifically. I say specifically because this short film is in the shadow of not only the golden era of the show but it isn't even the best "Maggie in the nursery" that the show has produced, since the Great Escape sequence in the Streetcar episode was stronger and funnier than this.

It is still good though and it is worth a look even if it isn't up to Simpsons at its best but then, in fairness, what is?

I enjoyed the fact that the daycare Maggie is left in is named after Ayn Rand. She experiences the whole "virtue of selfishness" thing, being pushed around. I've been through the whole Rand thing, suffering through pretentiousness. Look at our world today! Anyway, Maggie doesn't succumb to the slings and arrows and manages to think her way through the long day

I have been going to the theater on a pilgrimage for quite a few years now each January-February to see the annual showings of the Best Animated and Best Live Action Shorts. I am lucky enough to live in one of the few places in the country that shows it each year. Now what I am about to say might offend some, but it seems that compared to most years, this year's crop of animated shorts is not as good as usual. While I liked a few films, I didn't love any of them--and no really memorable film was in the lot (such as a couple recent winners, "Logorama" or "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"). Now this is not to say not to see them--but none bowled me over, that's for sure.

I enjoyed "The Simpsons: The Longest Daycare" quite a bit--and the people in the theater seemed to like it as I heard a lot of laughs. However, I wonder how it got nominated. Apart from being shown in 3-D as a short before a feature film, it just felt much like seeing a TV episode of "The Simpsons". While this TV show is great, it isn't original and I can't see rewarding a film for giving us more of what we've been seeing for over 20 years. Good but nothing special.

'The Longest Daycare (2012)' is a 'Simpsons' short film focusing on everyone's favourite TV baby, Maggie Simpson. It walks on familiar ground, being reminiscent of a sequence in the episode 'A Streetcar Named Marge (1992)', and clearly takes inspiration from animated cinema of the 1940s and 50s. It is, however, animated in its source show's 'new style' and, as such, is relatively flat compared to most other animated shorts. Still, the piece is enjoyable enough. It has a succinct, simple-to-understand story and some decent referential humour. It's not hugely exciting, but it's engaging and contains a nice little 'twist' at the end. It's entertaining. 6/10