Dure journée pour Maggie

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?

'THE SIMPSONS: THE LONGEST DAYCARE': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A 'SIMPSONS' animated short that was actually nominated for a 2013 Oscar! It's 5 minutes long and focuses on Maggie Simpson's adventures at an Ayn Rand Daycare center. As she's placed with the normal kids, she longs to join the gifted children but then makes it her mission to save a butterfly cocoon from an evil Baby Gerald instead. The movie is somewhat humorous if you get a kick out of Maggie but nothing really special. It's just like a 5 minute segment of a 'SIMPSONS' TV episode. It was directed by David Silverman, who also directed 2007's 'THE SIMPSONS MOVIE' (and written by many of the same writers). It also played in theaters before 'ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT'. Why this is up for an Oscar is beyond me but if you like the 'Simpsons' you're almost sure to enjoy.

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I watched Maggie longest day care short film today on Disney plus and it brilliantly music composed by hans zimmer and the animation quality was standard and good in the film and i liked the scene were the butterflies land maggies forehead that scene tickled my throat and I liked the scene were Maggie goes on the mini train around day care park that scene was so adorable and the special effects in the short were 21st century quality and I also liked the ending scene were Marge picks up Maggie from day care centre back to evergreen terrace that scene put a tear to my eye and I totally enjoyed the film.

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

'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