The Simpsons Movie.

The Simpsoonnnns... You've heard the theme music for an astonishing run of eighteen years now. Years ago, you probably wondered if there would be a feature film, as did the show's pantheon of creative talent, before they, and you, gave up. It would never happen, and maybe it's just as well.

Well, the time is nigh, The Simpsons Movie has arrived. If the show's been uneven over the past several seasons - or, some would argue, past ten seasons (and I'd argue even the down years have presented us with their share of hilarious, near classic episodes), causing many to doubt, well, if this thing would be any good, the movie's out and the reviews are streaming in slowly. So far, there are less "D'oh!"s than there are "Woo hoo!"s.

We'll collect many of the reviews here (including, hopefully this weekend, my own) as more people give their own yellow thumbs up or down.

TimeOut London: "The Simpsons Movie does not feel at sea on the big screen and, crucially, it is very funny." TimeOut Chicago, only slightly less enthusiastic: "It's a feature-length Simpsons episode, and possibly not even the Best. Episode. Ever. Still, there’s nothing disposable about a very special Simpsons, especially one that keeps cracking jokes about how it isn’t actually TV."

Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gives it a B+ (marking down a tic for action sequences that "sometimes falter"): "Turns out what they've done is make everything bigger, longer, and uncut, but let Homer be Homer, an average American screwup in a recognizable, screwed-up world of hypocrisy and lardy foodstuffs. The best thing about this long-awaited feature-length project, a classic Simpsonian interplay of family psychology, social commentary, and brainy visual and verbal jokes tossed off at rat-a-tat speed, is how relaxed it manages to be."

The Guardian (U.K.)'s Peter Bradshaw, not one to toss around rave reviews lightly: "So many movies promise what they could never deliver in a million years. The Simpsons Movie gives you everything you could possibly want, and maybe it's a victim of its own gargantuan accomplishment. Eighty-five minutes is not long enough to do justice to 17 years of comedy genius. It's still great stuff."

The AP's Jake Coyle wasn't as enthused: "Not to sound too much like the Comic Book Guy, but the Fox sitcom, which once brilliantly satirized TV's conventions, has gradually settled into its own ruts - which usually entail Homer acting silly for silliness' sake."

More from Andy Klein of LA City Beat: "Film adaptations of TV action series can benefit from more expensive special effects and from the kind of widescreen immersion that can’t be achieved at home. Comedies can go raunchier. For cartoon material, more money can lavished on smoother animation. But The Simpsons isn't particularly action-oriented; it's too family-oriented to significantly up the ribaldry; and it would be catastrophic to monkey with the characters’ trademark visual simplicity.

"In fact, director David Silverman and his team, including 11 – count 'em, 11 – credited writers and four vaguely defined consultants, have done some of the above in minor ways. Mostly, however, they’ve constructed a longer, more complex story and exploited the compositional differences of a widescreen format. (For all but the first few minutes, the film is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the widest ratio currently in common use.)"

The San Francisco Chronicle's David Wiegand: "Here's the shorthand verdict: No one will be bored with the feature film, but everyone who knows the show well will have a nagging feeling that something is missing."

LA Weekly's Scott Foundas calls the satire "a 90-minute, years-in-the-making comic wind-up machine that begins by mocking its own audience for paying good money to see what it can watch at home for free and proceeds from there through the most wickedly funny arsenal of assaults on big government, organized religion and corporate America this side of Borat (which, like The Simpsons Movie, somehow managed to use Rupert Murdoch’s money to do it)."

The Onion AV Club's Nathan Rabin, who likes it overall, adds: "The fingerprints of co-writer/producer James L. Brooks are all over the genuinely tender moments sprinkled amongst the silliness."

More reviews linked here as they come in.

Online viewing tip: From MTV's Movie Blog: Brooks and Matt Groening debate the merits of a live action Simpsons movie.

Another: David Cassel with the Simpsons greatest drug moments.

Online listening tip: Matt Groening on NPR's Fresh Air.