La la la la la, la la la la la. The Smurfs are in trouble as Gargamel has found the Smurf Village. Trying to escape, they go into a portal that takes them to Central Park in New York City. They must now find a way home and along the way befriend a sweet couple who do their best to help them. Ok, so I wasn’t expecting something spectacular, but I was kinda hoping for something silly and entertaining. It was silly and at some points entertaining, but ultimately, was just another stupid kids movie in 3D. Yeah, not surprising. Raja Gosnell last directed Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I don’t think I need to add any comments.
As far as plot goes, it’s a cute idea that becomes terribly predictable and nonsensical. Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris, CBS’s How I Met Your Mother) and Grace (Jayma Mays, Fox’s Glee) are a newly expecting couple when the Smurfs stumble into their East Village apartment. NPH was fine, but his character was so wishy-washy. It’s like they didn’t want to follow the typical workaholic jerk turns sweet and mushy, but yet that would have actually worked better in this movie. Instead, you have no real characters, only outlines.
Gargamel and Azrael were just ridiculous. I had high hopes when I heard that Hank Azaria (voice actor in EVERYTHING) was going to play Gargamel, but again the character was just flat. What exactly is his motivation? Where does he come from? Also, the cat, Azrael, was super CGI creepy in most places. Seeing a cat smile is just….weird.
So what about the Smurfs themselves? Honestly, they were super duper cute. The animation was very adorable and blended very well with the live-action. I was happy to see Clumsy Smurf get some attention, but wanted to have more of Brainy Smurf and the others. The story didn’t really focus on the Smurfs themselves, so they didn’t get much development. It was all about them being in silly situations that could have been much much better. Oh, and what? Through this whole jaunt through New York City, NO ONE notices them? Really? I mean, I think I would notice, even when I’m in morning mode, these little blue people running around.
The 3D was neat in a few instances, but otherwise was not useful whatsoever. Also, there are a few really weird camera shots from the perspective of NPH’s guitar playing Guitar Hero that I found it to be distracting and really unnecessary.
For those of my generation who grew up with the Saturday morning cartoon, it’s a cherished memory of childhood. The television series ran from 1981 to 1989 with over 400 episodes. However, the only things I remember was that Gargamel is an evil wizard with a cat named Azrael, Papa Smurf wore red and there was one girl smurf, Smurfette. I think that’s all the writers remembered as well because they didn’t bring anything fresh to the story.
On a positive note, I really enjoy the website and the games offered. At this youtube site, you can watch some featurettes and play a few games. And on the main film site, http://www.smurfhappens.com/, you can walk around the site as Clumsy Smurf and discover games, downloads, videos, images and more. It’s really amazing all the marketing they put into kid’s movies these days. Also, there was even a Global Smurfs Day.
Rating: Not so Smurftastic, but the kiddies will probably laugh. 2/10
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