This paper studies the overall evolution of fronts propagating with a normal velocity that depends on position, υn = f(x), where f is rapidly oscillating and periodic. A level-set formulation is used to rewrite this problem as the periodic homogenization of a Hamilton–Jacobi equation. The paper presents a series of variational characterization (formulae) of the effective Hamiltonian or effective normal velocity. It also examines the situation when f changes sign.