Dir. Raja Gosnell, USA, 2011, Dur. 103 mins
Cast: Hank Azaria, Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, Neil Patrick Harris, Alan Cumming
Review by Carlie Newman
The unusual thing about this film is that it is a real mixture of animation and live action – something which is difficult to achieve, but is managed extremely well here. The animated characters are the Smurfs, tiny people “just three apples high” who live in their own village, which is entered through a magic portal. They are a happy people except for the one threat, the evil wizard Gargamel (Azaria), who has been unable to find them. But one day he follows one of the little Smurfs and destroys whole sections of their village, finally forcing them out. They land in our world, in fact in the middle of New York’s Central Park. The Smurfs are desperate to get back through the portal to their homeland and need to do this before Gargamel can find them.
They find themselves in the home of Patrick and Grace Winslow. Patrick (Harris) is a marketing executive for a New York City based cosmetics firm. He is about to be promoted if he can come up with a new advertising idea. The young couple are expecting their first baby and while Grace (Jayma Mays) is optimistic about their future, Patrick is a bag of nerves. His life is not made easier by the lively group of Smurfs, which invades his house, his office and even travel around with him!
A very obvious villain is Gargamel (Hank Azaria), who has followed them into the real world and, aided by his cat (non-speaking and sometimes played by a real cat, and at other times, animated), is obsessed with finding and destroying the tiny Smurfs.
The Smurfs are a varied set of little creatures, with names based on their characteristics. Papa Smurf (voiced by Jonathan Winters) is the leader of the group. Smurfette (voiced by Katy Perry) is the only female and, as can be expected, has many admirers. As in any set of people, there is always one who causes trouble – inadvertently in the case of Clumsy (Anton Yelchin). He has a good heart and, given the chance, might just occasionally become a hero, while another distinctive character is the Scottish Smurf (Alan Cumming), who introduces some Scottish slang into the dialogue.
The 3D does not add a great deal to the film, which is pretty to look at, but does not necessarily require the special effects that can be produced with that technology. There are some nice lines where the word “smurf” is used to replace words in speech, for example, “What the smurf is this” and “Oh my smurf!” This is a movie very obviously aimed at small children, who should enjoy the lives of the little people and their fight against the villainous Gargamel, though the adult story about the advertising world will appeal to them less. The invasion of Patrick’s office space is, however, funny and the melding of the two worlds – human and animated creatures – is appealing.
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