Plot: When Papa Smurf is taken by evil wizards Razamel and Gargamel, Smurfette leads the Smurfs on a mission to the real world to save him.
Review: Back in the early 1980s, animated series like Heathcliff, Shirt Tales, and Muppet Babies occupied my weekday afternoons. But on Saturdays, I always looked forward to visiting Smurf Village, where little blue mischief makers made life miserable for a crotchety wizard, and being part of a community carried a specific point of pride. When you’re 44, the Smurfs hit different.
While audiences count the days until the next chapter of James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, Paramount Animation is betting big with a different kind of blue people at the box office this summer with Smurfs, an animated adventure, based on the beloved characters created by Belgian comics artist Peyo. Shrek the Third and Puss in Boots director Chris Miller gets behind the camera to adapt Pam Brady’s story, and it’s gonna get weird.
Smurfs gets off to a curious start the moment we meet No Name (voiced by James Corden), a Smurf new to Smurf Village who has yet to discover his Smurfy talent and identity. He wants nothing more than to find his purpose and feel like he’s a part of his new community of friends. Thankfully, Smurfette (voiced by pop sensation Rihanna) is there to hype him up, and she’s familiar with feeling out of place. The pacing of the setup is a tad clunky, with a somber song of introspection performed by No Name kinda bumming me out a little.
However, the movie gets a jolt when Amy Sedaris’s Jaunty Grimore arrives, a sentient magic book that grants No Name magical powers. Eager to show Papa (voiced by John Goodman) and the rest of the Smurfs his newly-discovered ability, he accidentally rips a hole in reality, alerting Razamel, Gargamel’s younger, eviler brother, of their whereabouts. The secrecy and sanctity of Smurf Village are compromised, and Razamel steals Papa away to his castle. The Smurf has officially hit the fan, and only Papa’s estranged brother Ken, voiced mightily by Nick Offerman, can lead the Smurfs on a rescue mission to recover their patriarch before an Alliance of Evil Wizards smashes him into blue paste.
The adventure finds Smurfette, No Name, and Ken, alongside a band of brave Smurfs, portal-hopping to real-world locations like France, Australia, and Munich. The hybrid filmmaking approach yields fantastic results, as the Smurfs have never looked better on the big screen. The Smurfs are as expressive and alive as ever, making their look in Columbia’s 2011 film feel like a fever dream of nightmarish proportions.
Every Smurfs film must deal with the distribution of screen time among characters. Unfortunately, giving every fan favorite Smurf their time to shine is challenging when hundreds of them are running around. If you’re a Jokey, Handy, Farmer, or Tailor Smurf stan, temper your expectations. Brady’s script gathers Smurfette, No Name, Brainy, Hefty, Vanity, Worry, Grouchy, Sound Effects Smurf, and Ken for the real-world expedition, with anyone who’s not Rihanna, Corden, or Offerman feeling underutilized.
Speaking of underutilization, Smurfs makes a bold move by casting Gargamel (voiced by JP Karliak) as the film’s secondary villain and eventual ally of the Smurfs. Gargamel spends much of the movie simping for his brother’s love, while his adorable and equally evil cat, Azrael, steals every scene they share. Straight up, there’s a scene of Azrael trying to murder Razamel’s favorite hench-minion Joel (voiced by Daniel Levy) that had me on the verge of crying with laughter. Instead of being frightened by Gargamel, I felt sorry for him and a particular sense of pride once spite became his modus operandi.
Stepping up to the plate as the film’s primary villain is Razamel, a surprisingly clever wizard who remains on-mission throughout the film, making him a worthy adversary for the Smurfs. Karliak voices Gargamel and Razamel with gusto, and their awkward familial divide makes for a good bit of comedy. While the choice to pit the Smurfs against a new villain when Gargamel was right there feels odd, it’s one of several ways Miller’s film differentiates itself from others, making it feel fresh and risk-taking. Razamel is a lot of fun, and I’m certain this won’t be the last we see of Gargamel’s war against the Smurfs.
While we’re on the subject of entertaining characters added to the Smurfs franchise, I want to give a special shout-out to Marshmellow’s Turtle and Natasha Lyonne’s Mama Poot, who deliver the film’s best comedic beats. Turtle gives Crush from Finding Nemo vibes, while Mama Poot is an overprotective puffball matriarch with sour and sass running through her veins. Lyonne plays Mama Poot with the energy of 1000 suns, and the allusions to her romantic past with Ken add a bit of spice to the mix.
I’ll say it again: Smurfs hits differently when you’re 44. After decades of figuring out who you are, the notion that Smurfs don’t feel complete unless they serve a specific purpose or display talents that help determine their namesake is challenging to grasp. No Name eventually finds his place, but it comes at a high mental price when everyone has you thinking you need to stand out to matter.
Thankfully, Smurfs is ultimately an animated odyssey targeted at children, and the kids in my crowd were eating it up like so much complimentary popcorn and Smurf-themed cake pops. Artfully, the animation is crisp, the colors are vibrant, and jokes are waiting around every corner, even if not all of them land. Oddly, the soundtrack is mostly forgettable, with Rihanna’s sweeping Smurfette number about finding one’s identity being the only exception.
There’s plenty to Smurf about concerning Paramount’s new movie. Even with its flaws, it’s the lovable blue icons’ strongest silver-screen presence, and retains the spirit of Peyo’s original comic. The cast, though mostly underutilized, with stars like Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, and Hannah Waddingham getting next to no screen time at all, still makes it worth schlepping the rugrats to the cinema for an entertaining afternoon. After laying the groundwork, Paramount could take the Smurfs to a new level with a sequel, presumably with Gargamel returning to his roots.
Source:
JoBlo.com
