Maggie Simpson in the Force Awakens from Its Nap (2021) – 2/5

Beginning and end alright, but the key plot in the middle was very forgettable

„Maggie Simpson in the Force Awakens from Its Nap“ from 2021 is a pretty long title for this really short movie, but you understand that this is all about the Simpsons here and a mix with Star Wars. The director of these slightly over 3.5 minutes is David Silverman and he managed an Oscar nomination almost a decade earlier for another really short Maggie Simpson movie and for his work here, he was nominated for an Emmy. He lost on both occasions, but well, it’s still two pretty big successes. I remember not being too fascinated by the Oscar-nominated film back then and sadly I must say the same about this one here. Maybe it is even inferior. The title is also not true as Maggie is awake all the time by the way. Anyway, Marge takes Maggie to a daycare center and the two (or rather Marge only) walk a bit around the institution and we see some solid gags there like famous Star Wars characters as babies. It was also nice to see how the food was prepared there. Of course, light sabers played a role. The light saber references were fine. I also liked how Maggie’s pacifier turned into a magical weapon a little later. There’s definitely more than rubber to the part she sucks on. No huge surprise that the pacifier also plays a role here as it is Maggie’s go-to item, even if it was gone for the first half of all the scenes when she was without her mother. There she really looked a lot like Lisa. Almost identical. Just smaller.

These were the parts when she makes a friend who helps her get the pacifier back, but the dark force appears quickly in the form of an infant with a black-and-red face that of course also resembles a vital Star Wars character. I will not go too much into detail there as I am not a huge expert when it comes to this gigantic franchise. Maybe it shows that you watch other stuff instead if the first thing that comes to mind when you see Maggie and her robot friend there is Wall-E. Enough said. The closing credits sequence with some Simpsons characters brought into the Star Wars universe was better again. I liked what the did there. At the very end, Bart (never been a fan) also gets a quick inclusion, so if you count Maggie’s looks as a reference to Lisa, then the only one really missing here is Homer. Perhaps not a bad thing they did not rush him in too. The character is too much fun for that and maybe also would have taken some attention away from Maggie. But he probably also could not have saved this little movie to an extent where I would have considered a positive recommendation. Maybe worth it for people who love both franchises or are just completionists for one of them. Everybody else can skip and they won’t be missing much. Good thing it was this short.