Movie Review: ‘Smurfs’ Blu-ray

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“La la la-la la la, sing a happy song. La la la-la la la, Smurf the whole day long.”

Try getting that out of your head. Yes, the Smurfs are back bringing their brand of silly humor and generally uplifting positivity to the world even while facing potentially dire consequences; though it is the Smurfs, so how “dire” could it really get.

In addition to familiar characters like Papa Smurf (John Goodman) and Smurfette (Rhianna), the film adds a bunch of new Smurfs to the mix. Most of these new characters are only around long enough for a quick joke or to move the plot forward. But “No Name Smurf” (James Corden) is central to the plot as the only Smurf to not have any unique skills or characteristics and he desperately wants to find his “thing”. After making a wish near a hidden magical talking book, No Name develops magical abilities that allow him to open portals to the multiverse (yep, the Smurfs have a multiverse). Unfortunately, using these powers attracts the attention of Gargamel’s brother, Razamel (both voiced by JP Karliak), taking a handful of the Smurfs, and a turtle, on an adventure beyond Smurf Village.

Generally, with the type of impressive cast that this film has, I keep my expectations low; when the advertising is more focused on the stars, that tends to tell me the story is weak. This new Smurfs movie is all over the place never really committing to a structure, but it is a pretty good movie if you are looking for a cute, not-too complex storyline tying together a variety of quick jokes, sight gags, and musical numbers. I would almost compare it to a simplistic Marvel movie with kid-friendly Family Guy humor, and I am ok with that.

Overall, I did enjoy the film and most of the jokes. The cynic in me would want to point out some of the shortfalls, like the pointless “threatening the lives of the other Smurfs until Papa Smurf talks” scene (if Razamel was going to let Papa Smurf volunteer to die first, there was no point to threatening the others), or the rushed ending when (spoilers) No Name quickly learns/develops his “thing” and uses it to save the day. On the plus side, the jokes were cute, if not laugh-out-loud funny, the music and different styles of animation were appealing, and the voice actors were well-suited for their roles. If you are a die-hard Smurfs fan, you’ll probably enjoy this enough.