mattkratz

25 May 2012

-)

Anyone who remembers the Smurfs as a kid (as I do) would want to seethis movie. It wasn't great, but I didn't think it was as bad aseveryone says it was. Just don't go to the movie with high expectationsor expecting to see a classic or an Oscar movie, sit back and relax,and you will enjoy this. I guarantee. The best part of this movie wasHank Azaria's performance as Gargamel. Clumsy accidentally leads him tothe Smurfs' village, and he chases a few of them thru a portal into NewYork City's Central Park, and then follows them there. Papa Smurf andcompany wind up with an expectant couple who surprisingly have neverheard of them. The father (Neil Patrick Harris of TV fame) googles themto learn more about them. He is a business and advertising executivewith an important deadline, and our little blue heroes are totallymystified about his job and our world, about as much as he is abouttheirs. They all learn from each other, of course. My favorite scenesare the ones in the toy store and where Papa Smurf teaches Harris abouthow to be a leader and a father. The scenes with Clumsy in our worldare great too. Take your kids to see this-they will enjoy it the most!** 1/2 out of ****

24 May 2012

Really bad movie!

While I can't comment on the actual Blu-ray or DVD, I will say that this movie just stinks! I had really high hopes since I really enjoyed the original TV show. This movie takes out all the magic and charm of the original and is a poor copy. I suggest you stay away from this movie and watch the original instead. I was embarrassed to show this movie to my kids it was that bad!

23 May 2012

best sleep ive ever had....

This review is from: The Smurfs (DVD) I am giving this movie 2 stars just because I've had the best sleep ever while watching this movie....it was so boring, it put me right to REM sleep.

23 May 2012

Good, but didnt quite capture the cartoons magic

As a child of the 80s, I was a big fan of the Smurfs and was excited when I heard they were making a movie. And as the movie stands on its own, it's an okay kids movie. The cast is great and the animated smurfs are cute. But it didn't reinvigorate the same magic that the cartoon held. A few things bugged me, like the fact that they planted the smurfs into current-day NYC, the voices of the smurfs were not as easy to distinguish as in the cartoon, and while I love the cast, I didn't feel as though Neil Patrick Harris really connected with his little blue co-stars, although he did a fine job. Azrael the cat too is played by a real cat, with a few animations added and just ended up looking silly. I would have rather seen a movie completely in 3D animation, no live actors, and set in the smurf village and forest. All in all, an okay movie but not for the smurfy at heart.

22 May 2012

SMURFABLE!!! Young kids will love it.... !!!!

Young kids (10 and younger) will love it. The younger the kids are, the more they'll love it. Older kids (10-14?) will probably still love/like it, but I suspect the older, the less they'll like it. Adults with `kid hearts' will also love it. Other adults (with kids) will like it. And a few may not like it. But if you have young kids, watch it with them. They'll thank you for it. If you don't have young kids, you probably won't go watch this movie,... but it's has some real funny parts. Then again, if you are an adult Smurf fan,... who knows!? Smurfs have been around for a long long time. Even before the animated TV-series. They are a comic strip creation by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, in the late 50'ies, apparently very popular in Europe, way before they were introduced to the US in the animated cartoon series. If you are older, and familiar with the Smurfs comic strips by Peyo, (perhaps when you were living in Europe as a kid ... ;-) ... ) you may simply appreciate and love/like how it was brought to life in this movie.Personally, I liked the movie. Not so much the mushy-mellow-moral scenes (thankfully just a few moments), but there are many funny Smurf scenes and lines. I had good laughs. And I think I never heard the kids laugh so much, and so hard! Not even with Cars2.Gargamel and his cat, Azrael, are the characters that I liked the most, ....because of the many funny situations they create. And in my opinion, the actor who played Gargamel, was just brilliant! Really really good.

DICK STEEL

22 May 2012

A Nutshell Review The Smurfs

It is inevitable that the cartoons my generation grew up with arefinding its way back to the new generation with the more recentadaptations in 3D gimmicky glory no less, where we had the Flintstonesand Scooby Doo made into live action films years ago and others likeThe Jetsons stuck in development hell. This trend continues with Alvinand the Chipmunks going into its third and 3D installment by year''send, the summer action film Transformers in the previous summers andfor now it's the mythical Smurfs created by Peyo, where blue creaturesno larger than three apples tall live in mushroom houses and beingchased by the arch- enemy Gargamel (Hank Azaria here with loads ofprosthetics) and his kitty cat Azrael.And it's not that bad for nostalgic reasons save for the usual formulaand one-track objective set out, with meddling humans in our worldgetting in the way for that feel good provision of a moral message toits target audience. It did feel like an extended television cartoonepisode with the perennial chase by Gargamel and Azrael stretched intoour world, almost always represented by New York City of course – talkabout something strange happening in the neighbourhood, a Disneyprincess coming for a visit, and now this. A subset of the Smurfs, ledby Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) find themselves sucked to New YorkCity through a magical vortex along with their enemies, and it is theirobjective now to stay clear of any human trouble, look for an exitsign, and keep clear of Gargamel's clutches as best as they can, nodoubt assisted by the inherent bumbling qualities of the wizard.Hank Azaria really needed to pay his bills in taking up this role, asyou can tell there's little effort gone into making the villain well,villainous rather than acting like a buffoon for the most parts, somuch so that the CG Azrael had more personality. Neil Patrick Harris'Patrick Winslow is the advertising executive whose life got turnedupside down no thanks to the Smurfs finding a reluctant human ally,Jayma Mays as Patrick's expectant wife Grace, and Sofia Vergara asOdile, Patrick's mean boss, who had a subplot with Gargamel that wasunceremoniously dumped mid way. Together they form the notable humancontingent to spread the word about the importance of family and whatmatters, which got repeated a number of times to drive home the point.What I had liked about the film is how it kept itself canon rather thanto reboot or ignore established aspects from its source material. Forinstance, the origin of Smurfette got mentioned to certain detail atleast twice, and there was an admission multiple times that yes, theSmurf song does get a tad annoying (though when young I would hum itquite often too). While it won't have room to feature all 99 Smurfsprominently, the introduction (deliberately made for 3D with the flightinto Smurf village) had common sense to invoke that sense of nostalgiawith the more common Smurfs from the cartoon series, such as Jokey,Baker, Vanity and Handy, amongst others. That was the hook, and I wassecretly hoping that more could be on offer, but alas the bulk of thefilm centered around Papa, Smurfette (Katy Perry), Brainy (FredArmisen), Grouchy (George Lopez, the go-to man for voicing just aboutany creature or animal in a talking animal / animated 3D film), Clumsy(Anton Yelchin) and Gutsy (Alan Cumming).For a kids' film it was rather grueling on the runtime, as theGargamel-chases-Smurfs development getting quite repetitive, withGargamel fumbling as if on cue, and the Smurfs outwitting everyone asalways. The message of not judging a book by its cover, or thateveryone has a time to shine in glory, probably got lost somewhere, andworse, becoming really self conscious especially with the remarks aboutthe theme song. You sure don't get that when watching the many episodesof the cartoon series, but the film somehow drew too much attention toit that it really became disastrous. I mean, mocking your own themesong? Come on. Animation wise the Smurfs do at times come off as ratherartificially rendered, as does Azrael, which is a pity since SonyPictures Animation were the ones responsible for the awesome lookingCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.Whether there will be a sequel will depend on its box office takings,and hopefully if a next one is to be made, a strong story should begrounds for justifying that. After all, if it didn't engage the kidswith this effort, it'll likely need a meteoric effort for the next tomaterialize.

lalitdevraj

21 May 2012

Not the best flick for a child

The Smurfs have been a part of history for many current children andadults today. This movie, with a more realistic approach and usage ofpuns/manipulation in more modern day language and slang may not appealto all kids in terms of entertainment and understanding. As a teenager,this may not the movie of desire to watch but as I have I am able tocomment holistically.The casting for the voices of the Smurfs was not of the best choice;there are better enunciating speakers in Hollywood and that's that. Asper Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays, they are friendly faces to thetarget audience, with Neil Patrick Harris being a significant USP forthis movie as far as older age groups are concerned.With a simple storyline and a interesting cinematography, the movie waspleasing to watch as per the flow of events. From a child'sperspective, the movie was a bit higher than comprehensive for a childhence leading to an enjoyable time, but not as much as some, moreclassic, movies provide.

20 May 2012

Worth the wait

This review is from: The Smurfs / The Smurfs: Christmas Carol (Three-Disc Combo Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) For someone who has been a fan of the Smurfs comic books and cartoon series since the 1980s, I have been waiting for a live-action/CGI-animated movie featuring them since that time, and have always wondered what the boys (and angel) in blue would look like in the matter of real-life looking characters. Well, Sony Pictures Animation finally brings the Smurfs to life, and I have to say that they look great! They neither look too real or like a bunch of animated PVCs, but they are still fairly recognizable and the texturing is just so awesome (Papa Smurf's beard and Smurfette's hair are particular standouts) it makes me jealous of the character model developers. And unlike other attempts to create CGI-animated cartoon characters in live-action settings (Garfield, Alvin And The Chipmunks, Scooby Doo), they work very well blending it with their surroundings.I like all the characters in the film, both the Smurfs and the humans, though I would personally prefer Hefty being one of the main characters instead of Gutsy, who is basically an ethnic duplicate of the character thrown in just to have that type of a Smurf character. Hank Azaria was perfect as Gargamel, though he voices him much different from the deliciously hammy (and now eternally unavailable) Paul Winchell. For Smurf voice actors, Jonathan Winters was perfect as Papa Smurf (though only second to the late Don Messick who was basically THE voice of Papa Smurf), and Katy Perry was perfect as Smurfette. There was hardly a voice actor for the Smurfs that I didn't like, but with the film focusing mostly on six primary Smurf characters, there was hardly any place in it for the other Smurfs to appear except in the early and later parts.As for the story, it does time-travel from their ancient medieval forest world to modern-day New York City and how the characters deal with being thrown into a future world while trying to find a way to get back home -- or in Gargamel's case, how to capture the Smurfs and use them to become the most powerful wizard. I like how the creators use a bit of recursive canon as far as the Smurfs' real-world creator, Peyo, using his cartoon skills to show the world his discovery of their legend, which becomes an important part of the film as the Smurfs must find one of his books in order to find the spell that opens the portal back to their own world and time. Overall the story is very funny and entertaining, but I really don't want to see this story idea get used too often in the sequels that Sony Pictures Animation plans to do.While I will rate this one star lower for not using enough Smurf characters in the story, I would have to say that this film is definitely a must-get for Smurf fans of any age.UPDATE: The Christmas Carol special got leaked early, but it's definitely worth seeing when you get this package. The quality of the 2D animation is better than that of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon show, even though it shares a similar style.

Jin Maruhashi

19 May 2012

Tedious film with unbearable tunes

Dwelling within a blindingly colorful village infested with mushrooms,fetidly infantile jokes and resonating with maddeningly cacophonoustunes, "The Smurfs" shuts itself down into its microcosm of puerilityand forbids entry to the older audience members. After bearing with thepainfully monotonous beginning that takes place in their native land,we hope desperately that the transition to New York city will bringabout more intriguing adventures. Unfortunately, the tedium also takeson the far larger proportions of this new setting, completely engulfingthe potential for the adult spectators to derive any fun at all. Theadded 3D component sadly only introduced another axis by which ennuicould travel. Overall, "The Smurfs" refuses to spread the hilarity andcheer shared only with the much younger viewers by enclosing itselfinto a fortress of achingly dull jokes and overly amiableconfrontations all magnified by an unnecessary three- dimensionalscope.

Adam

19 May 2012

Theyre smurfs, not cats.

I don't even know what that means! The good news is, it doesn't make adifference. This movie is not out to change the world. If you arelooking for award winning acting, you won't find it. If you want asnappy script, you'll have to look elsewhere. On the other hand, if yougrew up with the Smurfs like I did, this is not a bad movie. Hank Azaria was amazing as Gargamel, down to the evil voice. I had toactually remind myself at one point that it was him. The makeup wasreally good and he really had the character down. I wasn't totallyimpressed with the voice casting. They really could have done better.Actually, the casting overall was weak. I think they just went withsome hot names to get people to see this. It didn't kill the movie, butit didn't help it.All in all, it's not a bad little diversion. Keeping in mind I've satthrough most of the Ernest movies, the pee wee movies, and even somebad martian flicks in the 90s. It's best to walk in with the bar setlow so you're not disappointed. I did that, and I enjoyed the 2Dversion. It may not appeal to younger viewers not acquainted with theSmurfs as there are a fair amount of jokes that only work if you arefamiliar with them, like Smurfette's dress. Even the scene with Azraeland the cage that falls on her are to give you clues as to what makesthem what they were in the cartoon.If you have an afternoon to kill and a few extra bucks you could doworse. Just enjoy it for what it is and you'll do OK.

t_atzmueller

18 May 2012

Hollywood, stop raping our childhood classics!

Clever producers and marketers have known it ever since: when in doubt,take some beloved children's comic-, cartoon- or toy-franchise and putthem into a 'hip' contemporary setting (that's NYC or Los Angeles toyou and me). This has worked many times before, having produced suchmonumental box-office hits like "Masters of the Universe", "TheNeverending Story 3" and the record-breaking "Howard the Duck". Not toforget that epic events when Jason went to New York or when Mr. Beanwent to Los Angeles. To paraphrase a currently fashionable comedian:all those films were "WINNING" … and so is "The Smurfs".Hollywood, we understand that a buck means more than anything to youbut please – pretty please – stop raping our childhood classics. Mr.Spielberg, if you happen to read this, please: "LEAVE TINTIN ALONE!" Soas to not let this review degenerate into a complete rant: the actingwas alright (for your average children's TV-show ala Sesame Street) andFrank Azaria, well, let's just say that I liked his various voices in"The Simpsons". The real problem is the Smurfs themselves, who seemsoul- and lifeless as, almost as if they had been created by acomputer.How would I grade this calculated, corporate train-wreck? Well, I'llgive it a finger but it certainly isn't the 'thumbs-up' one. Save a fewbucks, rent the Hanna-Barbera "Smurfs"-series or treat yourself withthe original, "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute".I'll be seeing you next year for the Hollywood remake of "Asterix theGaul". I'll let you in on a secret: Asterix and Obelix go through amystical time-gate and end up in New York, where they'll be playingGuitar Hero ™ with a former child-star – and it's in 3D! But all that'stop-secret inside information. Now excuse me, I'll have to go and passwater over the grave of Peyo.

Mickey Z

18 May 2012

One Long Advertisement for Sony Products

Some films ought to come with a warning, as in: WARNING: THIS FILMEXISTS FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN TO SELL (X COMPANY)'s PRODUCT.It's already bad enough that product placement has become ubiquitous infilms and television. It's hard to remember a film or television showthat hasn't, in one form or another, served as an advertising platformfor one product or another.And of course much of children's television programming has longcentered around selling one toy or another.In this case, however, the Evil Corporation behind this film took it toa new level : the entire film is itself product placement for prettymuch the entire panoply of the company's products. Even worse, a numberof essential plot points hinge upon the company's products. At anotherpoint, the film takes a 'time out' as it were to incorporate a longishsequence whose only purpose is to push the company's products.(Although there were a number of other corporations' products in thefilm as well -- no doubt these companies have cross-marketingagreements in place).To top it off? I was forced to pay in order for my family to watch thiscompany's hour-and-a-half advertisement. And an entirely mediocre filmfor all that (see the other reviews for why this film is so bad).Well, that's the last time I'll take my kids to a film from thiscompany, that's certain.If corporations insist on flooding their films with advertisements, howcan they insist we pay for them? This film is an excellent argument forfilm piracy.

sheppard330

16 May 2012

for kids of the 80s and their children alike! family pic. not bad

First of all looking at the other reviews I wonder what exactly theother reviewers ( is that a correct word) were looking for! Its acartoon type movie for the summer hols for goodness sake! I went in hoping it would be like the cartoon and I wasn'tdisappointed. Gargamil ( spelling ) was great. He Sounded and lookedlike the cartoon character and as i remember him, even the way he movedand creeped about!!A lot of the bits from the film actually reminded me of clips of theshow yrs back and as im 'ahem' 38yrs old I know what I'm talkingabout!! OK, admitedly the smurfs are VERY annoying in parts and to be quitehonest I found myself rooting for Gargamil. (spelling again!) Also thecouple in it ( girl from Glee and red eye i think, gnd red head ) arevery kirsh, sweet etc... But There are some good moments, and Hey papasmurf had a great velvety voice as he should do and There is gargamil'scat to contend with too!! As I said if you're looking for a nonoffensive, not too long sweet blast from past with sprinkle of today init then look no further, if you want a good watch to really thinkabout..pick a different screen... Its just a smurfing film!!

chrismsawin

16 May 2012

Blue, annoying, and practically force fed

Sometimes despite your best efforts a movie you just know is going tobe an awful experience is somehow worse than you imagined even thoughyou tried to talk yourself into thinking it might not be so bad. "Oh,this actor and/or actress is in it. Hopefully I'll still be able toenjoy their role in this monstrosity," is what you say to yourself. Itturns out to be all for nothing and even though that person you admireis in it, you're just left wondering why they're a part of something sohorrendous to begin with. The Smurfs is such a movie and I can almostguarantee you that you haven't seen anything as bad as this all year.The smurfs live in Smurf Village in another universe where magicactually exists. These little blue creatures are about seven inchestall that can sing, dance, talk, live in mushrooms, and are massivelyannoying all day long. The evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) isobsessed with capturing the smurfs in order to obtain their essence tobecome the most powerful wizard in the universe. During the festival ofthe blue moon, Clumsy (voiced by Anton Yelchin) accidentally leadsGargamel to Smurf Village. Amongst the confusion while they're fleeingGargamel's onslaught, they accidentally stumble onto a portal to ouruniverse as Gargamel follows in hot pursuit. Unfortunately for them,our moon never turns blue so they must rely on the assistance ofPatrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace Winslow (Jayma Mays); a couplewho's expecting their first child and who are going through sometroubles of their own.If you weren't a fan of the original Smurfs cartoon, then you probablywon't have any reason to actually sit through this thing. Speaking assomeone who isn't a fan of anything Hanna-Barbera related, taking onefor the team or biting the bullet doesn't even begin to describe theunfortunate displeasure I experienced throughout this cinematicmiscarriage. The Smurfs does nothing but make a repetitive,never-ending effort to rub its audience nose in the fact that it'strying to be cute. It can't just show something cute and move on. It'sbasically shoving cuteness down your throat without asking in a ratherobnoxious and extremely forceful fashion.As if purely tolerating these tiny, blue kumquats wasn't enough, themovie makes it a point to rub salt in the wound before dousing it withlemon and plunging your exposed injury into a bucket of bleach. There'sa Rock Band scene where Neil Patrick Harris plays the game with TheSmurfs and they decide to add their own lyrics to Aerosmith's "WalkThis Way." Imagine the song with all the lyrics replaced with stuffabout sunshine, kilts, intelligence, being angry, blue skin, and"smurf" every three words or so. I recommend not getting nachos beforeseeing this. You'll want to pour the hot, scolding nacho cheese intoyour eye sockets just to make the torture on-screen be a little lesspainful.Looking at the movie from a critic's perspective doesn't even helpmatters. It shows you all the main plot points in a vision Papa Smurfhas at the beginning of the movie, so you basically know what's goingto happen long before you even get there. You probably already have asolid idea of what the movie is just by seeing the TV spots alone.There's also another scene where Gargamel is in prison in our universe.He has a conversation with a moth. He doesn't use magic as he doesn'teven have anything on him at the time other than an orange jumpsuit. Hetalks to this moth and convinces it to break him out of prison. How,you might ask? With about a million flies. Flies break Gargamel out ofprison. All family movies have to include some sort of bodily fluid inthem anymore. Crude humor is apparently the only way you can reach ayounger audience these days. So I hope you like cat vomit and a grownman digging through a vomitous pile for a few strands of hair.Is there anything actually decent about this movie? If you've read thisfar, you're probably thinking that. There is, actually. The 3D effectis actually utilized really well. Smurfs are constantly jumping in yourface and when they're not random objects are flying at you thanks toGargamel's magic. There's a scene at the very beginning of the moviewhere two smurfs are riding birds. That scene is pulled off incrediblywell as the birds twist and turn in the air. The perspective,positioning of the camera, and the way we seem to follow their everymove makes that thirty second sequence work really well. Neil PatrickHarris is probably the least offensive part of the movie, but thatisn't saying a whole lot. There's actually some really talented peopleburied in the cast. Unfortunately they're so smothered in smurfberriesthat you probably won't even notice them.The Smurfs is the first movie I've ever actually physically ran out ofas soon as it was over. It is downright offensive with how cute andcorny it is. With an overly predictable storyline, ridiculous plotpoints, and some of the lamest material to ever hit the big screen,anything remotely good in the film is immediately erased by theoverwhelming wave of force fed cutesy garbage. It's like having anentire jar of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme crammed down your throat. Ifyou suddenly have the urge to see this movie, stay home and drink abottle of Drano instead. I promise you'll have a better time.

ElMaruecan82

16 May 2012

It could have been smurfier, but it smurfed anyway ...

This review is from someone who grew up with the Franco-Belgian Comicbook school, and is glad to see the growing appeal of this universe intoday's cinema. Yep, it's not just about superheroes, or manga."Smurfs 3D" … in New York City … the kind of plot premises that begs somuch for harsh critics, you wouldn't dare to give it the benefit ofdoubt. Indeed, the whole purpose of the film sounds like the kind ofblasphemies that pervert the notion of entertainment, as a simpleexcuse to provide 3D and special effects driven thrills. But still,with that predisposition to hate the film in your mind, you sit in themovie theater and try to enjoy it on the basis of the 100 minutesyou're about to spend. And then something magical happens …… I'm not denying that the movie could have been much better, that someaspects are debatable, starting with the presence of that ScottishSmurf. From all the Smurfs that populate the village, why did they comewith this one as one of the lead team? Why not Hefty, Handy, Greedy,Lazy, Vanity for The Great Smurf's sake? They were meeting a MarketingManager in a Cosmetic Company? Why not? Anyway, 100 Smurfs, would havebeen closer to an Invasion than a 'Coming to America' film, but still,the film could have dealt with other Smurfs characters. Anyway, despiteall the critical aspects, there was something I liked in that film, andsorry for the cliché, but the reason is that it had a heart and someparts were very funny.I know this word is hackneyed and can be applied for any average Disneyfilm, but I was in the theater and I heard kids giggling to BrainySmurf's comments, Grouchy's eternally killjoy attitude, and Clumsy's …uh … clumsiness, I could hear them laughing to Gargamel'smisadventures, and his hilarious interactions with Azrael (probably themost memorable character from the film), so I thought to myself: thesekids who didn't grew up with the Hanna-Barbera cartoons or never readany Peyo's albums, these kids were discovering MY universe, my good old80's memories and probably the most cherished part of my childhood. Andwhat was happening was the connection between two generations, I feltlike a child again, and these kids were probably going to discover oneof the most appealing original universes: the Smurfs.If only for this exhilarating ride into childhood, the movieaccomplishes something. But let's get back to the 'heart' comment,again, special effects are not used for the sake of them, the moviechooses to focus on one of the most endearing Smurfs: Clumsy, and useshim as a key character to trace an evolution that would inspire all thekids who suffer from lack of self- confidence. It also parallels theSmurfs' mission with the situation of their two hosts, Neil PatrickHarris and Jayma Mays as Patrick and Grace a young couple waiting for ahappy event. The couple could have had a kid, an argument before aseparation and reconciliation, but no, they love each other and themovie doesn't embarrass itself with the kind of clichés we would haveexpected. Besides, and thanks to the presence of Smurfs, we'reconstantly reminded that we're dealing with a child's world, thatthere's no need to be cynical and to care of plot details.I know that beyond the presence of the Scottish Smurf, some would pointout the fact that the characters seems not to be aware of the existenceof Smurfs, so we're ought to believe this is a parallel universe wherethe Smurfs are unknown. But read this again, and you'll realize howfutile this whole thinking process is, it's a film mean for pureenjoyment, and on that level, the film was at least faithful to itstrailer, whatever people expected, it was clearly shown in the trailer.I didn't even expect a part set in the village, and I was glad it tooka great part of it. Maybe I would have preferred the film to be set INthe village, well, this is an argument I would accept. But overall, thefilm respected its premise, and I'd rather have a good time watchingthe Smurfs of 3D and emptying my box of popcorn than scratching my headover the symbolism of a Terrence Malick's film during 15 minutes ofbeautiful nothingness.Some clever minds would probably criticize the whole merchandisingaspect of the film, as the reason to be of the film, but let's notforget that the Smurfs have always been merchandised, hell, didn't wegrew up and play with these figurines when we were kids. All thesearguments wouldn't have worked if the movie was a mediocre attempt toresurrect forgotten characters, or just an excuse to provide cheapcomic of oppositions moments like the unforgivable "Visitors inAmerica" but the story works, with the right dosage of complexity ofthe plot and simplicity in its resolution, it's not about what happensbut how it does, and on that level, both visually and on the writingdepartment, I don't think Peyo would have been ashamed by the results.A good movie for the kiddies, and the adults who'll watch the film fromtheir kids, or their inner child's perspective, and a greatscene-stealing performance by Hank Azaria. The movie is cute, becausethe Smurfs have always defined cuteness, and it's entertaining, heart-warming, thrilling, and visually delightful. A cute little film wewould all watch and leave by whistling the immortal :"La-lala", a tunethat defines a whole generation.…

bluerabbitgg

15 May 2012

simply put Sucked, Worst Film

Yes, easy the most hyped And worst movie of the year. Who ever hiredthe actors needs to be fired. the voices were so bad i wanted to shootmy self every time "George Lopez" talked. The plot line was somethingout of a bad pro communist propaganda film. Not to be an prick butfilms like this is why kids in America are so damn stupid, Hell watchthis movie a couple times and it will give you Autism like the damnplague.1 out of 10 easy.if i could do 10 lines for this crap film, I would be running forcongress. sorry some damn Pop up is blocking my post. saying i have tosay more about a movie that is so simple that the pop corn on the floorof a theater would want to take its own life after seeing this HorribleFilm.

Amanda

15 May 2012

A cute, enjoyable throwback

I don't know why this movie got such negative reviews. Obviously if youdon't know what a smurf is or were not a fan of the original cartoonthen this movie isn't going to be for you. But for a child of the 80's,like me, I found it delightful. It was a pleasant, nostalgic treat thatwhile modernizing the smurfs a bit stayed true to the original themeand feel of the cartoon I remember. And, in a surprising twist, thefilm included humor throughout that was not limited to children alonebut quite a few things thrown in to amuse the adults. In fact in thetheater I was in the adults were laughing more than the children.Overall, I found the movie to be very cute and a thoroughly enjoyabletime. Don't let negative reviews put you off. Be the judge foryourself.

nicknaseef17

14 May 2012

A total disaster

The words above say it all, this film was a total disaster in everyway. When I went to go see it with my young cousins I figured theywould enjoy it and it might provide a few laughs for an older audience,I didn't laugh once. Even my three cousins (all under 8) didn't laugh.My 7 year old cousins even uttered the words, "That was stupid." as wewalked out of the theater. I was very much inclined to agree with him,it was totally pathetic. Although I must admit that it was what I wasexpecting, but the children wanted to see it so I went, bit mistake.Save your cash people, don't go see this movie. In fact, don't evenwait for the DVD...it's not even worth your dollar at redbox.

Robert

13 May 2012

Bleh...

I heard bad reviews when it first came out. Then I finally get the DVD.Um... yeah. I never grew up with the smurfs cartoons, yet I just feelthat they didn't stay true to the characters. Okay, fine this is akid's show so it can't be bad with naughty stuff. But Elmo's Grouchland has a better villain actor than this guy. Unless he was told tomake fun of all bad guys from children's shows, in that case he wasspot on.The plot was just the same as almost any plot dealing with computergenerated characters and the real world. It's always some busy citylike New York, it's always some family that's either having issues orotherwise has something wrong where, when the characters come, they areunable to handle it. Suddenly the general public is evil and hates thecharacters.Then in the end everyone is happy and somehow some fictional charactershave changed the life of that random family, and the villain gives upor something.Meh, the movie was okay graphically but it was mostly meh.

13 May 2012

Works great with Passive 3D glasses!!!

This review is from: The Smurfs (Two-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) Bought this before reading the description Amazon has about needing "active shutter glasses". Ignore their statement - it's just not true! This title works great in 3D on my passive 3D set.Someone at Amazon has written this statement on almost every 3D movie they're selling. You cannot believe it and have to look at the package yourself at a brick & mortar to see whether it is made for active or passive format.My set is the 47" LG TV Bundle with 3D player and glasses: [...]