MartinHafer 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.

tavm 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.

Neil Welch This is a short (5 minutes) film featuring Maggie at her daycare centre: denied the stimulus of contact with the brightest kids, she is placed with her nemesis, the thuggish monobrowed baby who, in this story, kills butterflies.There is no dialogue, just a simple story, loaded with sight gags, and with a terrific payoff. It is in the familiar Simpsons animation style, albeit in 3D which is reasonably effective but far from essential. It works well, as an ice-breaker (pun deliberate) for the 4th Ice Age movie, which it precedes.A minimal, but welcome, addition to the Simpsons canon.

FilmBuff1994 The Longest Daycare is a fantastic short that shows before Ice Age 4.I t was great to see these characters on the big screen again,even if it was just Marge and Maggie.Matt Groening has confirmed that there will be more Simpsons shorts in the future,and I'm delighted to hear this and I hope its gearing us towards a sequel to The Simpsons Movie.I enjoyed how we saw Maggie as the main role in this because it was silent and it reminded of Charlie Chaplin and the old Mickey Mouse cartoons.Marge sends Maggie off to the daycare for the day and Maggies enemy,Gerald,the baby with one eyebrow,is cruising butterflies for fun.Maggie friends a butterfly that resembles her blue bow,and must free the butterfly before Gerald gets near it.