The good news is that The Simpsons Movie manages to retain the rapid-fire, pop-culture-reference-a-minute pace of the television series--maybe even more consistently than some episodes. The bad news is the jokes come so fast and furiously for so long at the beginning of the film, that one feels strangely cheated later when 15 or 20 seconds elapse without a laugh out loud moment.

The film follows the standard Simpsons blueprint of Homer screwing up (only this time it's a monumental, life-threatening screw-up), trying to escape his fate, and then, with the help of family (and the occasional large-breasted spirit guide), attempting to put all right again. The plot is really secondary to the characters, though, and that is a testament to how brilliantly drawn (no pun intended) these familiar faces have become to us all over the past several years.

From the stalwarts (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie) to the regular supporting cast (Mr. Burns, Apu, Carl and Lenny--or is that Lenny and Carl, a la Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Smithers, Moe, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders to name a few) to the fringe elements (the loveable Comic Book Guy, town wimp Martin Prince, ruthless real estate agent Cookie Kwan, and too many others to list), to some new characters (President Schwarzenegger and his evil EPA chief, anyone?), each Simpsons character is at once instantly recognizable and completely unique--perfect comic tropes used to great advantage in a film largely made of cameos. Even if you are not a Simpsons aficionado, the characters reveal themselves so wonderfully in one or two sharply written lines or sight gags that you are provided all the information you need for a boffo punchline.

Creator Matt Groening and company have expectedly opened up the proceedings beyond Springfield, and they have added several nice moments of CGI (scattered sensibly throughout the more traditionally drawn bulk of the feature), but the core of this movie is its heartfelt emotion, residing just beneath the surface of its manic energy and joke-a-second ethos.

For those of us raised on the relatively barren Hanna Barbera cartoons (or even the wonderfully wacky but emotionless Jay Ward creations), The Simpsons is a superb melding of Ward's (or Tex Avery's) off-the-wall looniness with an almost Frank Capraesque hommage to family and home. It is something of a miracle that The Simpsons Movie succeeds so admirably, as its television progenitor has for years, in making us feel as we laugh.

Note: There is full frontal (animated) nudity in the film, to hilarious effect. Also, stay tuned through all of the credits for some exceptional gags, including Maggie's priceless first "real" word.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet