Throughout the 21st century, Hollywood had rebooted The Smurfs about as many times as Fantastic Four. We’ll see if they finally get Fantastic Four right in another week, but the Smurfs remain blue in the face. For a film that tries to succeed where its predecessors fell short, Smurfs retreads much of what we’ve seen before. Like the 2011 film, it sees the animated Smurfs venture to our live-action world. One of the destinations is Paris, which we saw in the 2013 sequel. Like 2017’s The Lost Village, the story centers on a Smurf trying to figure out what makes them unique. As is always the case, Smurfette is voiced by a trendy pop star (Rihanna this time), which comes in handy whenever the film randomly decides it’s a musical.
Although this film establishes a new continuity, it assumes that the audience is already familiar with these characters. As such, it speeds through information like Smurfette being molded by the evil wizard Gargamel (JP Karliak), who is more of a side villain here. Karliak also voices Gargamel’s more successful brother Razamel, although they’re essentially the same character. Razamel is seeking a talking magic book (Amy Sedaris), which Papa Smurf (John Goodman) has hidden away. When Razamel takes Papa Smurf prisoner, our band of blue heroes set out to find him. This includes the insecure No Name Smurf (James Corden), the ever marketable Smurfette, and several glorified extras, plus a turtle (Marshmello). Two of the Smurfs are also voiced by Nick Offerman and Kurt Russel, who are always welcome.
As mentioned before, portions of the journey are set against a live-action backdrop, although the film thankfully doesn’t force in actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria. Most of the time, we only see the shoes of humans with the action being shot from the Smurfs’ POVs. It’s a nice touch, but there isn’t any reason for these scenes to utilize live-action. If anything, it just raises questions about how this universe works. Smurfs would’ve been better off going all in on animation like The Lost Village, which had more of a visual eye. That said, the animation here is still pleasant to observe with an aesthetic that blends Peyo’s 2D character designs with 3D environments. There’s an especially inspired sequence where the characters venture through several portals of different styles, from Claymation, to 8-bit graphics, to anime.
If we got more scenes like that, this might’ve been the Smurfs movie that audiences didn’t know they wanted. Yet, much of the comedy lacks bite, despite having a script from former South Park writer Pam Brady. You won’t find much South Park-esque humor here outside of one funny joke involving a sound effects Smurf. Granted, Smurfs has always been aimed at a younger demographic, but there’s a balance that can appease kids and adults. While kids will more than likely enjoy themselves, the older crowd is inclined to fold their arms like Grouchy Smurf, who director Chris Miller voices. Should we read into that?
Where the previous Smurf movies came from Sony Pictures Animation (pre-Spider-Verse, naturally), Paramount Animation took the reins this time. Paramount gave us one of the most underrated animated films of the past few years with Transformers One, which was also rooted in Saturday Morning 80s cartoons. Where Transformers One brought new dimensions to its world, Smurfs repeats what worked in the past… and what didn’t work. As far as these movies go, it’s better than the first live-action film, although The Lost Village is probably the blue standard. Even that film didn’t entirely work, but at least it had some depth and a more focused plot. This one just feels rushed and lacks characters we genuinely care about. While a serviceable distraction for the kiddos, Smurfs won’t leave a lasting impression, sending Hollywood back to the drawing board.