Movie Moxie presents The Smurfs

Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Studio: Columbia Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Raja Gosnell
Review Rating: 7 Smurfberries

The night of the Blue Moon harvest festival, chaos ensues involving Clumsy Smurf and Gargamel, and Papa Smurf and several other Smurfs get transported to New York City!

It seems as though the movie is deliberately trying to capture at least the amusement of every potential age range involved, from the
30-somethings led by Neil Patrick Harris, who remember him as Doogie Howser and are now worried about starting families of their own; to the tiny youngins and potential new fans of Smurfs, who were never subjected to 80’s cartoons, but can now find them all over the internet or certain tv channels. I think you need to be of a certain age and mindset to
appreciate the insanity that is the Smurfs. And it’s quite odd to see NPH playing the straight man, no pun intended, hah.

So, the Smurfs are off in their idyllic hidden village, still hiding from the nasty wizard Gargamel and his cat Azreal. And the Smurfs are still the same: one chick, Smurfette, with her blonde hair and single dress and odd
backstory; Narrator Smurf, which is exactly how he sounds; Brainy Smurf, with the “Papa Smurf says” and the constant death threats; even Clumsy Smurf, whose more or less at fault for letting Gargamel find Smurf village
in the first place. And as Gargamel is clumsily trying to round up Smurfs for their essence, Papa Smurf makes the ultimate sacrifice and sends them
through this weird portal, to New York! Where NPH’s character Patrick Winslow is a marketing executive for some high strung makeup company, with a newly pregnant wife and a deadline. And then there’s Hank Azaria running around as Gargamel, yes that’s the same guy who does the voice of Moe on the Simpsons, amongst many other things, with a bad prosthetic nose and funny clothes and a terrible accent. I’m not a Glee-k, but Jayma Mayes of that fame did a nice bubbly job of the part of Grace Winslow, NPH’s wife and soon-to-be mother.

So we have the scenes to satisfy the kid in all of us, but, this attempt at combining the 30-somethings and the kids is still awkward. Take the ubiquitous scene at the toy store, where the Smurfs are all running around being chased by Gargamel, but, it’s in New York. Home Alone already did that, and did it better, frankly. But for all that, The Smurfs comes off with an adorable message we can all get behind – be true to yourself. That whole scene towards the end in the antique bookstore was a bit off too, I couldn’t tell if the spell book was meant to be an antique Smurfs comic book or something. I would assume it was some kind of tribute. Jonathon Winters was an iconic choice for Papa Smurfs voice, too. The Smurfs gets akind rating of 7 Smurfberries!

By

Alicia Glass

make custom gifts at Zazzle