The Smurfs

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Jordan

Well I suppose it could have been worse. But it's certainly not great. I don't have any particular nostalgic affinity with the Smurf characters but even I cringed at a lot of the lines they were sprouting. "I kissed a smurf and I liked it." No.

There are a few things in the film that I really did like. There are a couple of funny lines here and there, Hank Azaria's physical portrayal of Gargamel is great and it's nice to see everyone seems to find the smurf song as annoying as I do. Like Raja Gosnell previous efforts with Scooby-Doo, there are a few fun digs at the logic of the original show. Those along with the many nods to the creator Peyo and Belgium are probably the best parts.

Jayma Mays and Neil Patrick Harris make a nice couple. When it was first revealed that she was pregnant I thought that would obviously lead the Smurfs to question how reproduction works and that would be the main thrust of the film, but alas it was about becoming a "papa." Still, it's going to leave parents with a lot to explain to their kids.

There is a plot line involving Gargamel's magic being used by the cosmetics company Neil Patrick Harris works for that just stops halfway through the film and is never mentioned again, like it was left over from an earlier draft and they changed the ending but ran out of time to fix the start.

Most baffling of all is the invention of Gutsy Smurf. When you have such a wealth of characters to draw from there should be no need to invent one of your own. But the fact that they made him Scottish is particularly confusing. There's precedence for Smurfs having facial hair, not orange though, a few also have unique clothing but the main problem I have is this: Smurfs don't have nationalities. That and he's quite annoying. And his inclusion at the expense of other well known characters is a little upsetting.

I must be more accustomed to the original cartoons voice cast than I knew because I had trouble adjusting to these new voices. Jonathan Winters's Papa Smurf grated with me the most. George Lopez as Grouchy raises a few too many questions as well. Anton Yelchin as Clumsy did the best job in my opinion.

The animation is all done very well, the 3D post conversion looked pretty good but didn't add much. Overall not that great but I guess it's serviceable.