The Longest Daycare

The Longest Daycare
Poster for the short film
Directed by	David Silverman
Written by	James L. Brooks Matt Groening Al Jean David Mirkin Michael Price Joel H. Cohen
Based on	The Simpsons by Matt Groening
Produced by	James L. Brooks Matt Groening Al Jean Richard Raynis Richard Sakai
Music by	Hans Zimmer
Production companies	20th Century Fox Animation Gracie Films
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	July 13, 2012(2012-07-13)(withIce Age: Continental Drift) February 17, 2013(2013-02-17)(World television premiere)
Running time	4 minutes
Country	United States

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"or simplyThe Longest Daycare,is a 2012 American animated3Dcomedyshort filmbased on the animated television seriesThe Simpsons.In the film,Maggie Simpsonis enrolled at a new daycare facility where she squares off with the foul-temperedBaby Geraldwhen she befriends a caterpillar. The short originated withSimpsonsproducerJames L. Brooks,who enlisted long-time veteran of the seriesDavid Silvermanto direct the film. The picture was written by producers Brooks,Al Jean,David Mirkin,writersMichael PriceandJoel H. Cohen,as well as the show's creatorMatt Groening,who also produced the short.

The film premiered on July 13, 2012, where it was attached to screenings of the20th Century FoxreleaseIce Age: Continental Drift.The film is the secondSimpsonstheatrical release. The short was re-released on February 15, 2013, and played before the filmLife of Piin selected theaters in United States.Reception has been positive, praising the storytelling and animation. The film was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Filmin2013.

Plot

Marge Simpsondrops offMaggieat theAyn Rand School for Tots,where, after going through a security screening, she is classified as being of "average intelligence", by a machine manufactured by "Often-Wrong Technologies". A guard then carries her past the "Room for Gifted Babies" and puts her in the "Nothing Special" dreary corner. The playtime items are either taken away or eaten by the other babies. A butterfly then makes its way into the room as Maggie's nemesis,Baby Gerald,squashes and kills it on the wall with a mallet and draws a box around it with acrayon.A second butterfly also meets the same fate. Maggie finds a caterpillar and apop-up bookabout thelife cycle of the butterfly.Realizing that the caterpillar could also meet the fate of the first two butterflies, she tries to protect it from Gerald. The caterpillar later encases itself in achrysalisand starts to transform. Once the newly formed butterfly emerges, Maggie tries to help it fly out of the window, but Gerald seemingly kills it by shutting the blinds on it as it attempts to pass through. Maggie dramatically mourns as she falls to the floor. Marge then arrives to pick her up, when it is revealed Maggie's scene was only aruseto cover the truth: she had slipped her hair bow onto the windowsill and wore the butterfly on her forehead in its place. She then sets the butterfly free as Marge drives her home.

Production

The Simpsonsexecutive producerJames L. Brooksconceived the idea of producing a short film based on the series.

In 2011,The Simpsonsexecutive producerJames L. Brooksproposed the idea of making a short film and releasing it in cinemas in front of a feature film, similar to how animation film studioPixarcreates shorts to play before their feature films."He didn’t say anything about doing it in 3D,per se,but that was sort of the idea…that we would be doing it in 3D. "He wanted the short to be a fun gift for the fans ofThe Simpsons,and according to the series'showrunnerAl Jean,"We [the staff] just wanted to do this as a way of saying, 'We appreciate how much people have stayed with the show and watched it for 25 years.'"Brooks pickedDavid Silverman,long-time veteran of the series and director ofThe Simpsons Movie(2007) to oversee the film.Silverman gave credit toRichard Sakaifor the idea to produce the film in stereoscopic 3-D. He considered the reasoning for employing 3-D "hard to describe," noting that was largely an experiment and its genesis was born out of "having fun."

The film was directed byDavid Silverman.

The group first gathered in March 2011—consisting of Brooks, Silverman, Al Jean,David Mirkin,writersJoel CohenandMichael Price,andSimpsonscreatorMatt Groeningvia phone—to pitch ideas for a short. Early on, it was decided to keep it entirely silent and employ Maggie as the lead character, and the setting of a daycare was decided upon.Jean wrote thetreatmentfor the film, and Silverman completed ananimaticof early story reels in June 2011. By the following February, the team regrouped to structure the story and formulate more ideas.With the help of Brad Ableson, Erick Tran and Ben Lane, the storyboards and animatic for the short were approved and the film entered production. Silverman himself animated two shots present in the final film.

Silverman and his crew began animation work on the short in March 2012, completing in May after just under ten weeks of production. He considered his crew "very experienced", noting that he worked with stereographer Eric Kurland for the 3-D shots.It was animated withThe Simpsons'susual production pipeline, which involved sending shots toAKOMinSouth Korea,but with an amplified focus on the 3-D. The team would attempt to complete ten scenes to send to AKOM per week, which would be returned in a cleaned-up form after two weeks.Shots were then composited together at Film Roman out of necessity as the backgrounds relied on the 3-D.Most stereo elements for 3-D were picked out after shots were cleaned up, while others were manipulated in post-production with After Effects.The short was more costly than the average episode of the television show.

Release

The Longest Daycarewas first announced to the public in a title card at the end of the series' twenty-third-season finale "Lisa Goes Gaga"that aired on May 20, 2012.It was revealed that the short would be shown in theaters in the United States prior to screenings of the filmIce Age: Continental Drift,starting on July 13, 2012. LikeThe Simpsons,Ice Age: Continental Driftwas produced by20th Century Fox.A teaser trailer forThe Longest Daycare,lasting approximately five seconds, was released on July 3, 2012.This was the second time that characters fromThe Simpsonsappeared on the big screen, asThe Simpsons Moviewas released in 2007. Coincidentally, the trailer for that film was first attached to screenings of theContinental DriftpredecessorIce Age: The Meltdown.

A 2D version of the short was displayed by the producers ofThe Simpsonsat the series' panel atSan Diego Comic-Con Internationalon July 14, 2012.

It had its world television premiere onNetwork Tenin Australia on February 17, 2013, at 6:25pm,5 hours before it premiered onFoxin the USAbut 16 hours later in real time due to time zone differences, right afterThe Simpsonsepisode "Hardly Kirk-ing".It was also aired in the UK on the same day on Sky 1 at 9:55am, 12 noon and 7:30pm and on Channel 4 at 1:30pmGMT.It also premiered on the same day, at 7:55pm on Prima COOL, in the Czech Republic and on FOX Brasil at 8:30pm.

After being nominated for anAcademy Award,The Longest Daycarewas released along with all the other 15 Oscar-nominated short films in theaters byShortsHD.

The short became available onDisney+on May 29, 2020.

Reception

The Longest Daycarehas received critical acclaim. Many film critics have said that the short was better thanIce Age: Continental Drift.Claudia Puig ofUSA Todayargued that "the brief tale is far more clever and whimsical than any sequence inIce Age."Similarly,Sun Heraldcritic Leigh Paatsch said the short "displays all the wit and creativity missing fromContinental Drift."San Francisco Chroniclewriter Amy Biancolli commented that the short is "only a few minutes long, but those few minutes boast more imagination, pathos and suspense than the entire film that follows."Joe Williams of theSt. Louis Post-Dispatchwrote that while the short takes place in a daycare, it ironically features more "artistic maturity" thanContinental Drift.

The Longest Daycarehas been praised for being both humorous and emotional. Puig and Biancolli described the short as "hilarious".Bill Goodykoontz ofThe Arizona Republicstated that the film is "terrific—sweet, sad, funny, surprising,"and Kristian Lin ofFort Worth Weeklysaid it is "clever" and "surprisingly moving".Writing forPioneer Press,Chris Hewitt noted that Maggie's interaction with Gerald "is hilarious and, ultimately, poignant in an animated film that covers more territory, all without dialogue, than most full-length movies."He went on to call the short a "triumph of storytelling, pacing and big-hearted humor."

A. O. ScottofThe New York Timescalled the short a "charming 3-D cartoon" that is "witty and touching and marvelously concise".He added that it "cleverly blends the bright-colored flatness of the television show with the gimmickry of 3-D. It also upholds (more than the TV series itself) one of the golden rules of animation: no talking."Tim Martain ofThe Mercuryhas also described the short as "touching".The Boston Globe's Tom Russo thought the short was "a welcome throwback to the days whenThe Simpsonshad more sentiment at its core, and wasn’t so much about the latest batch of newbieIvy Leaguewriters taking their cues fromFamily Guy."In a joint review of the episode "Hardly Kirk-ing",Teresa Lopez of TV fanatic said"The Longest Daycarewas a beautiful piece of animation showcasing a tender story of hope in an otherwise bleak environment. I feel like the only timeThe Simpsonscan really exercise some creativity and depth is in these shorts and during the show's opening sequence. "

Spiritual sequels

See also:Maggie Simpson in…

Subsequent episodes involving Maggie as a protagonist have been produced including2015's"Puffless"and2020's"The Incredible Lightness of Being a Baby."

On March 6, 2020, a new short film with Maggie Simpson calledPlaydate with Destinypremiered with the release ofOnwardfromDisneyandPixar,with a further short featuring Maggie Simpson titledThe Force Awakens from Its Napreleased onDisney+on May 4, 2021,Star WarsDay.It is the first of a series of shorts featuringThe Simpsons,crossing over with other franchises on Disney+, throughout 2021.In 2023, another short film was released with Maggie Simpson celebratingStar Wars DaycalledRogue Not Quite One.

External links

• The Longest DaycareatIMDb
• The Longest Daycareat theTCM Movie Database
• Trailer for the film