Watch 'The Simpsons' Couch Gag By 'Triplets Of Belleville' Director Sylvain Chomet

Possibly the best recent take on Homer Simpson is in The Simpsons couch gag, by Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet. Homer is the sort of guy who would probably turn up his nose at "snooty" French stuff, only to discover that escargots can be pretty delicious. So it's pretty neat to see the French animation director, who also did The Illusionist, taking charge of latest couch gag for The Simpsons.

Chomet pushes the TV family into slightly new territory, but the underlying jokes are all pretty familiar: Homer is fat, Bart is impish, and Lisa likes animals. But it's a pretty weird take on all that, and very much worth watching.

The underlying gag here is that Chomet is involved with the sort of gorgeous animation that we'd love to see more of, but which is a pretty far cry from the cheaper stuff The Simpsons uses now. So this is the best-looking the show has been in a while. Frankly, using the actual Simpsons animation at the beginning of the gag doesn't do the current animation any favors.

The Simpsons episode with this at the head will air this coming Sunday, March 9.