Smooth Smurf (Shaquille O’Neal, above) gets his Smurf on in “The Smurfs 2.”
COURTESY/Columbia Pictures
I realize I’m not the audience for “The Smurfs 2,” but when it comes to faint praise, I can say that parents will lose fewer brain cells watching the sequel than the gosh-awful original abomination not recommended for audience members older than the age of 8.
My younger daughter was 6 when the first Smurfs movie arrived in 2011, and her one-word review “Smurftastic!” — was all anyone
really needed to know.
Kids her age, wearing their
3-D glasses and giggling at
the little blue figures from an
invisible village of mushroom
houses where Smurfs
receive names based on their
personalities, will love the
movie.
They are too young to see
the film for what it is: a vehicle
for milking parents out
of millions of dollars in sales
of toys, cards and any other
trinkets on which Smurf blue
can be splashed.
Adults may still fear this
particularly inane animated
franchise for which more sequels
are planned. Guh. I feel
for those forced to purchase
blue toys this Christmas.
But filmmaker Raja
Gosnell and others involved
seem to have realized how
irritating the original was
for parents, and they have at
least attempted to improve
some essentials, like plotting
and character development.
The basic plot is the same:
Send the little Smurfs on a
slapstick comedy adventure
in which they take bold action
to defeat the evil wizard
Gargamel, a potion-concocting
doofus who wants to
destroy their way of life.
This again happens in
a film that mixes these
animated figures with live
actors such as Neil Patrick
Harris and Jayma Mays (as
Patrick and Grace, a couple
who helped the Smurfs in
the first film) and Hank Azaria
(as over-the-top funny
and creepy Gargamel).
Where Gosnell adds some
depth this time around is in
depicting the fate of Smurfette
(voiced by Katy Perry),
who suffers an identity
crisis on her birthday. In a
throwback to the original
1980s NBC series story, we
learn that Gargamel created
her from gray clay to go and
wreak havoc on Smurf Village.
But Papa Smurf (Jonathan
Winters, providing voice
work in his final performance)
turned her blue
because he could see the
good in her, and all other
Smurfs did, too, accepting
her as family. Awww, doesn’t
that just touch your Smurfin’
heart?
Smurfin’ is a word in the
Smurfiverse, which finds
Smurf adapted into the language
as nouns (Smurftastrophe),
verbs, you name
it. Among their incessant,
cutesy yammering, this
includes profanities. Really.
The tiny blue figures constantly
blurt phrases like “I
nearly Smurfed myself.”
Cute or creepy? A little of
both, honestly.
But back to the story:
Smurfette’s “Where do I
belong?” confusion intensifies
when she’s kidnapped
from Smurf Village through
a portal that leads to Paris,
where Gargamel has created
two new “Naughties”
from gray clay, Vexy and
Hackus (Christina Ricci and
JB Smoove give voice). This
annoying pair is supposed
to help their evil creator
gain a potion recipe from
Smurfette, but they can also
see the good in Smurfette
despite her teen angst.
Predictable endings
abound, but the story is
made more meaningful with
Smurfette’s tale balanced
against the live-action narrative
of Patrick’s difficulty
navigating his relationship
with his stepdad, whose
unconditional love for
Patrick (who grew up a kid
with his own identity crisis)
runs parallel to that of Papa
Smurf’s feelings for the
adopted Smurfette.
Awwww. Thank goodness
for Brendan Gleeson
as the jolly Victor, singlehandedly
making this picture
something more with his
good humor, good heart and
good chemistry with Harris.
They’re not just live-action
dolts staring at green screens
with dumb looks in reaction
to the wackiness of makebelieve
blue creatures.
“The Smurfs 2” is still all
about the antics (it’s manic
throughout), the Smurfisms
(It’s a Smurftastrophe!) and
the adventure, but at least
the moral of the story — “It
doesn’t matter where you
come from. It only matters
who you choose to be”
— didn’t leave me feeling
thoroughly blue.
‘THE SMURFS 2’
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, voices of: Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, George Lopez, Christina Ricci
Theaters: (3-D) Cinemark Tulsa, AMC Southroads 20, Cinemark Broken Arrow, Starworld 20, Owasso, Sand Springs; (2-D) Admiral Twin Drive-in, RiverWalk, Eton Square
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Rated: PG (some rude humor and action)
Quality: (on a scale of zero to four stars)
Original Print Headline: Back and better
Related Items
‘THE SMURFS 2’
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, voices of: Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, George Lopez, Christina Ricci
Theaters: (3-D) Cinemark Tulsa, AMC Southroads 20, Cinemark Broken Arrow, Starworld 20, Owasso, Sand Springs; (2-D) Admiral Twin Drive-in, RiverWalk, Eton Square
Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Rated: PG (some rude humor and action)
Quality: (on a scale of zero to four stars)
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