Serenity

Sadly, I missed Serenity on the big screen just like I missed Firefly on television. Fortunately, the miracle of DVD technology has enabled me to catch up. Firefly really was a fantastic show, too good to be on Fox apparently, but there you have it.
The movie Serenity take up not long after the show leaves off. The same characters are around with the exception of Inara and Shepherd Book, both of whom have left the Serenity though not without retaining some contact with the ship (and do appear in the movie). We learn a lot more about the particulars behind young River's ordeal at the hands of the Alliance as they pick up the pace in their search for their wayward experiment. Specifically, a skilled and ruthless Alliance operative gets on their tail as River's outbursts of violence grow in intensity. Pushed to the wall, Mal and the crew decide to get to the bottom of River's problems once and for all and uncover a very powerful secret.
The characters are the same as in the TV show and played just as well as ever though a couple of them still remain enigmatic. Humor is sprinkled about, though the general subject matter, as the movie rolls on, is more grim and the characters more under strain and stress. The level of work and artistry that went into the TV show is well matched in the movie, and the transition is virtually seemless (though I'd say there is evidence of a bigger budget in the movie, and that's not a bad thing).
Viewers who haven't seen the TV show might have a little trouble figuring out all of the characters at first, but the movie does stand on its own reasonably well.
My grade for this movie is an A.