With their innocuous appearance and strangely addictive theme music, the Smurfs are back. One of the few surviving icons of the ‘80s that haven’t been brought back into the spotlight, the little blue creatures now have their own movie, complete in 3D, which take the mythic creatures and their fight with the wizard Gargamel out of the magical forests of familiarity and into the streets of modern day New York City. That’s right, the Smurfs are pulling an Enchanted in an adventure that isn’t quite for the nostalgic fan, but isn’t really appropriate for a new generation of viewers either.
If you don’t know the Smurfs then either you are really young or you missed out on an essential piece of the ‘80s. Smurfs are little blue creatures (three apples high) who roam the enchanted forest collecting smurfberries, singing, dancing, and otherwise being too cute to handle. Their magical existence draws the attention of the wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) who strives to capture the Smurfs in order to enhance his own magical talent. When Gargamel stumbles upon the Smurfs’ magical village, a small group of Smurfs accidentally travels through a vortex that transports them out of their magical forest and into New York City. Not only do the Smurfs now have to contend with the challenges of the modern world, but Gargamel has traveled through the portal as well (as has his cat, Azreal), ignoring almost one hundred Smurfs still left in the magical forest in favor of the six that have come through the vortex (I guess there wouldn’t be as big a story if he stayed behind though). The Smurfs wind up enlisting the help of new friends, Patrick and Grace Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) to avoid Gargamel and reopen the portal home.
From a nostalgic point of view, there’s really nothing to recommend here. The characters are familiar from a name standpoint, but they don’t resemble the characters we might remember from our youth. Instead of using voice processing to recreate the familiar voices of these classic characters, the production stuffs the cast full of more recognizable names and voices. Papa Smurf is now Jonathan Winters, Smurfette is music icon Katey Perry (complete with a “I Kissed a Smurf, and I liked it,” inside joke). Instead of the processed voices, we get Anton Yelchin as Clumsy Smurf, Fred Armison as Brainy, and (most annoyingly recognizable, not because of the actor but more because it completely removes me from the fantasy of the movie) George Lopez as Grouchy. There’s also the addition of new character Gusty Smurf (voiced by Alan Cumming) instead of including many of the other familiar characters like Handy, Jokey, or Hefty, all of whom only get brief screen time in two scenes. At least Gargamel is portrayed the same in a performance that might be good from Hank Azaria if it wasn’t for the fact that there’s nothing genuine about the performance at all - it’s strictly done for laughs, making the character absolutely ridiculous and removing any sincerity from his plot. There isn’t even a hint of the iconic classical music from the series in the movie’s score (created by Heitor Pereira).
So, this isn’t a movie for the nostalgic, but maybe the filmmakers are trying to introduce the franchise to a brand new audience. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this much as a movie for kids either. There’s far too much potty humor intertwined and the word “smurf” is exchanged with profanity several times. Considering children during my viewing were already singing along with the Smurf’s “la, la, la-la-la-la” theme music about halfway through the movie, you know they’re going to pick up on using the word “smurf” as well, and it won’t take long for the clever ones to realize they can use it instead of “bad words”. It’s rather irresponsible for a movie aimed at children, especially considering the feedback I got after giving a movie like Rango a positive review earlier this year.
All right, so the movie isn’t for the nostalgic fanbase and it isn’t really for the kids, so who is it for? Well, that’s a good question, especially since it really just isn’t a very good movie. The Smurfs themselves look decent enough, but whenever humans and CG elements interact, the movie looks terrible, from Hank Azaria destroying mushroom houses to Neil Patrick Harris giving a friendly hug to his little blue friends. The story pushes for gags instead of creating much in the way of authenticity. And yes, I know, magical creatures in New York isn’t exactly authentic, but the performances and the situations could still find something real in their emotions and themes, but they rarely do. Oh, Papa Smurf has a moment nice enough to make you forget he doesn’t sound like he’s supposed to and Neil Patrick Harris tries hard enough, but then we get a mix of his character and his Smurf friends playing Rock Star with the Run DMC / Aerosmith version of “Walk this Way” and any depth is pushed aside in favor of gag after gag.
The 3D presentation of The Smurfs follows this same mentality - it’s more about the gimmick than creating something sincere. The best moments are the action sequences, where we get depth as Smurfs fly through their mushroom village or the streets of New York or as explosions head out toward the audience. During the tamer moments of the movie the 3D effects practically fade away. It’s certainly not noteworthy enough to recommend and ultimately equally as disappointing as the overall story and visuals.
Yet, despite the lack of depth and approach of spectacle over substance, there are a few moments of the movie that work. A heartfelt conversation between Papa Smurf and expecting father Patrick somehow connects the two characters and gives the audience a moment to appreciate. The overworking Patrick finding a note from his wife that reminds him of what really is important in life is a nice moment, if a little saccharine. These aren’t much to hold onto in a movie that is more about silliness and flash, but I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge them in some way.
I still can’t really figure out what the purpose behind making The Smurfs was. Surely this story has been told before, in better ways, with movies like Enchanted . It turns its back too strongly on the past to be a film that appeals to nostalgic kids of the ‘80s, but it isn’t accessible enough for younger viewers - or promotes the kind of humor and substance that most parents aren’t going to want their kids to connect with (I know I wouldn’t). The result is a movie that works too hard for laughs and jokes but never really figures out who its audience for those jokes is supposed to be. Fans of the cartoon would be better off watching old episodes on DVD and showing their own kids what the Smurfs were like in our own past. Much like the magical creatures within the movie, The Smurfs just doesn’t fit into our world.
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