rated PG-13

When Matt Groening was hired to write and animate a handful of minute-long shorts for the Tracy Ullman Show in 1988, he could never have known his feebly drawn, heavily cerebral take on an underachieving American family would spawn an international pop-culture phenomenon. Since those days, the show’s tone has undergone some significant metamorphoses, possibly best illustrated (pardon the pun) by Homer’s notable transition from violent Cro-Magnon brute to innocent and simpleminded buffoon. Though the show has suffered a universally recognized decline in creative quality over the last decade, the heart of its initial thrust to depict these flawed, often rudimentary caricatures as a dedicated and loving family has remained cozily intact. The irreverence of their sociopolitical commentary has been reduced to basic slapstick and patent absurdity—not a likely jumping off point for a four-fold expansion of running time. Turns out, however, that even after all these years, Groening still has some teeth.

From Homer’s first line, a loud indictment of suckers willing to pay money for something they can get for free on T.V., the point is unmistakably established that this movie is not afraid to make fun of its own audience. Riddled with nods to past episodes and characters we’ve all come to know, “The Simpsons Movie” plows immediately and fearlessly into its roots. Written by no fewer than 11 of the series’ most successful humorists, the film’s first 20 minutes are so super-saturated with gags, both slapstick and cerebral, that there’s simply no way to catch them all. The scenes quote and expand directly from a comfortably familiar base, from the opening zoom through the town of Springfield, to Bart’s public-endangering skateboarding technique. We are treated to a hundred cameos from all our favorite characters from the show, all brief, but all capturing in haiku level concision the broad spectrum of humor these characters bring to the show.

With nearly 20 years of material to wade through, this achievement could have been no easy task, and more kudos to Groening’s team that they managed to make these hilarious gestures without once sacrificing the Simpsons family themselves as the central focus of the picture. Each Simpson is given their own very character-driven storylines, which, as in any good family epic, manage to weave and blend into a solid story of a troubled family’s journey to acceptance and contrition. And each echoes perfectly the arc of the family in the show – Marge finally, heartbreakingly hits a wall with Homer’s antics, as does Bart, whose unprecedented flight into neighborino Flanders’ flock could not be more wounding. Lisa finally finds, and loses, and finds again, a boyfriend worthy of her intellect and taste. And Homer? Well…Homer, finally destroys the town of Springfield. His need to reclaim his family and redeem himself has been a hallmark of the series from its inception, and fits perfectly here as the driving theme of the movie.

Though the film’s strengths certainly lie in its adherence to the show’s proven formulas, its downfall may be in its broader reflection of the show’s own seventeen-year arc into declining returns. Just as in the series’ first years, the first act of the film is headspinningly funny, truly irreverent and smart beyond any other comic release for years. In its second act, as the family escapes Springfield’s torch wielding lynch-mob to Alaska, the story begins to wax over-sentimental, and lose its way. By the end, much as with the show in its more recent years, the stretch for material really starts to dominate as it devolves into sadly uninspired sight gags and silliness one might sorrowfully expect from a ‘Family Guy’ episode.

Overall, however, the film delivers on everything that the series ever promised. Fun, funny, and fearless it lays out all the reasons this family has endured for so long. Skewering in their turn a whole spectrum of American cultural conventions – from big ones like religion and government to the more intimate horrors of alcoholism and child abuse – it manages to do it all with a remarkable mischieveous combination of razorsharp observation and child-like innocence. After almost two decades swimming in and manipulating the pop-culture zeitgeist, it could be said that America might not be the same without these guys. Whether that’s a good thing, we may never know, but it’s been a great ride so far. Let’s all give The Simpsons a rousing “Whoohoo!”