"The Simpsons Movie"… WOOHOO!

At long last the Simpsons hit the big screen in the only way that they can - with irreverent humor and general hilarity that fans have come to know and expect.

The family begins its film debut in a theater, with its members watching the "Itchy and Scratchy" movie. Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), the fat, familiar patriarch of the family ironically decides that going to see a movie about something that plays on TV is stupid.

But the movie really kicks off when Homer adopts a pig and promptly falls in love with it. Homer stores the pig's excrement in a silo but Marge (voiced by Julie Kavner), one of the two voices of reason in the family says that Homer should dispose of it properly. The lovable hero promises to do so, but in a rush to get free donuts, he dumps the silo into a lake.

Trouble begins when the lake's pollution begins to cause major problems and President Schwarzenegger (voiced by Harry Shearer) decides to encase the entire city of Springfield in a glass dome...and it's up to Homer to save his town and family.

The movie sees some changes in other members of the Simpsons family. Bart (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) is treated very well by the family's neigbors - the Flanders - the polar opposites of the Simpsons, which fuels Bart's ambivalence towards his dad. Lisa (voiced by Yeardley Smith), on the other hand, falls in love with an environmental activist like herself and spends much of her time thinking and talking about him.

Though Lisa's romance is a good way to pause the barrage of humor that is the film with a dose of emotional value, it's like putting a bumper sticker on a Ferrari - totally unnecessary. To Simpsons fans looking for a nonstop laugh, Lisa's love gets in the way of the rest of the movie.

Like most episodes of the show, "The Simpsons Movie" has an easy-to-predict the ending, but it is difficult to imagine the bizarre scenarios the characters will encounter on their journey to the conclusion, and the climax will leave audiences wondering "how the heck is this going to end?"

Eccentricities aside, "The Simpsons Movie" is likely the funniest movie of the summer. If you love "The Simpsons," you'll definitely love the movie, but if you watch only occasionally, it might be better for you to catch an episode on television, instead.

"The Simpsons Movie" is rated PG-13 for Irreverent Humor throughout and is playing everywhere.