The Smurfs

This film is about the Smurfs arriving in New York through a porthole, while escaping the persecution by an evil wizard.

It has been a long time since I watched "The Smurfs" cartoon, so I have little recollection of the original stories. With nothing to compare it with, I find "The Smurfs" fun, hilarious and thoroughly entertaining. The clumsy Smurf provides a lot of laughs, and the Nordic warrior Smurf gives these cute creatures a different than expected personality. Though the jokes are sometimes repetitive, they still serve the purpose of making people laugh. I think "The Smurfs" provides brainless fun. It should be enjoyed for what it is.

I like this fun kids movie; not sure why so many others didn't. Sure it's different from the original show, but it's sweet, adventurous, goofy ridiculousness & well voice acted.

I tend to appreciate some films better than most - since I was little I've always seen things differently, I'm an oddball & that's ok! Regardless of any of that this is a decent family flick!

One may wonder why Hollywood is so bent on destroying the childhood memories of adults who grew up throughout the 70s and 80s. First there were the 'Transformers', 'Garfields' abomination and now comes the destruction of 'The Smurfs'. I doubt this can even be called a movie as it appears to be more of an extended commercial for Sony products. If they were to make a film, they should have just kept it within the smurf world and not 'merge' it with live action America. The 3d animation of the smurfs are quite lively and cute (it's a shame they're wasted here) and their 'world' is also vivacious and colourful (which is another reason why the story should have been contained in this world but then again, what would happen to all the Sony advertisement?). The live action actors aren't given much to do as they are unable to rise above the formula. Special effects are a waste. Despite all the criticism, the film must have done well enough for sequels. It's an expensive ad, uh, I mean movie, but severely lacking in substance.

Maybe I am biased, as I am a super fan of smurfs, but I still want to give my nod for this movie for three reasons: VERY GOOD 3D: At some point, both I and my friend felt that we are really in the scene. We never really felt this way from other 3D movies even we paid up to view the effect. And they have made efforts even to the final credits. They are enjoying playing around 3Ds. I enjoy it too!

VERY TOUCHING STORY: I cannot disclose much here, but i was in my tears towards the end of the story. Several good points about how we should treat life, treat the people around us and treat ourselves have been mentioned. To some extent, this movie is probably more suitable for grown-ups who are trapped by the modern life and got lost from what they really want.

JUST VERY SMURF: if you are like me, grown up with the company of the SMURFs, the connection is there. They are alive now on the screen!

Of course some parts need to be improved, so I am looking forward to the SMURF 2 in 2013.

Thank goodness The Smurfs was not the god-awful trainwreck everyone made it out to be, or else I would have wasted thirty minutes in line to see another failed cartoon adaptation.

I won't say it's good, but it was surprisingly not bad. Of course, The Smurfs does not exactly have enough substance to hold a full-grown adult's attention for all of its 86 minutes, but it is a surefire hit with the kids. The linear and simple plot follows a small group of Smurfs that get accidentally sucked into a portal to the human world while trying to escape the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria). The little blue people quickly enlist the help of married couple Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace (Jayma Mays) to protect them from Gargamel, who plans to harvest the Smurfs' essence for magical power, and to re-create a portal that only happens once in a blue moon…

The movie includes some emotional subplots with Papa Smurf and Patrick, who feels he is unready to start his own family; though it all becomes pretty unnecessary in the face of the Smurfs' main goal to return home. Humor, again, mainly appeals to the kids, sporting sight gag after sight gag, but every once in a while there's a clever reference thrown in for the older folks in the audience. Hank Azaria gives about the most cartoonish performance as any villain could, resulting in an upsetting mix of interest and annoyance. On the other hand, where it is used the CGI is incredibly high-quality (i.e. the Smurfs, Gargamel's cat, etc.), and the special effects are designed more specifically for 3-D viewing than in most movies as of late.

I know some people have proclaimed this film to be a bastardization of a childhood cartoon favorite, but I argue that it isn't. The film is very aware of its origins with Peyo and respects that fact. They actually pay direct homage to the creator towards the end of the story. An exact imitation of the cartoon series this movie is not, but it is a fun and well-intentioned take on the story.

The Smurfs is mildly entertaining, at its best, but it is written with the right spirit and is in no way an injustice against the original series. It offers a nostalgic throwback (with a modern twist) for the adults and an amusing show for the little ones. For the ones in between, I advise avoiding this movie.