Smurfs: A Smurftacular Misfire (Early Review)

Chris Miller’s Smurfs is the second modern reboot of these titular creatures, following 2017’s Smurfs: The Lost Village, this time refreshed with an eclectic new group of voice actors, including Rihanna as Smurfette. While Sony’s films wisely cast voice actors to fit the personality traits of certain Smurfs, this adaptation perplexingly assembles a mix of stars appealing to vastly different generations, including Xolo Maridueña as Brainy and Alex Winter as Hefty. John Goodman is a fitting choice for Papa Smurf, but the inclusion of Offerman and Kurt Russell as Ken and Ron, his Smurf brothers, provide a level of surreal ironic humor that slightly elevates the experience of the film. However, the lack of unnecessary live-action characters and the diminished focus of a fish-out-of-water story does provide some optimism for a delightful animated adventure. This latest film follows the Smurfs as they try to rescue Papa Smurf from the clutches of Gargamel (JP Karliak) and his brother Razamel (JP Karliak). Meanwhile, a Smurf, simply named No Name Smurf (Corden), searches for purpose as he feels dissociated from his fellow Smurfs due to his lack of distinguished personality traits.

While cutting out the live-action stars is a welcome adjustment, Miller’s adaptation incorporates many new characters and convoluted story elements that result in equally distasteful recreations of Peyo’s work. Instead of the normal progression of creatives slightly tweaking the formula to provide distinction in a new iteration, this film opens the floodgates for the Smurfs to be taken anywhere but their vibrant village. Sidelining the franchise’s iconic villain for his newly-invented, inferior brother and providing little presence to many of the distinct Smurfs outside a few forgettable one-liners leads to viewers being uninvested in this fast-moving story that’s more reliant on bouncing between different locations and introducing disposable characters. The film introduces new furry friends called the Snooter Poots, whose leader Mama Poot (Natasha Lyonne) receives substantially more screen presence than many of the titular characters as they are accompanied on their quest to stop Razamel (Karliak). These creatures, along with a talking turtle (Marshmello), often steal the spotlight from even the film’s widely-promoted main voice star.

However, the animation quality is much more puzzling as the Smurfs themselves are surprisingly more uninspiring in design compared to 2011’s The Smurfs. The computer-generated versions of these Smurfs make their 3D nature apparent, but their facial expressions are mostly incorporated through their side profiles as if they are adjusting to a two-dimensional landscape. These facial expressions, as well, are devoid of much complexity as they often only smile throughout every action and dance sequence without much thought or urgency. Many of the animation resources are instead relocated to providing wizardry and intergalactic chaos that blends poorly with the hastily crafted Smurf designs. The third act offers excitement in utilizing the intergalactic chaos to showcase various animation styles that provide a brief but refreshing adrenaline-fueled battle with Razamel. While objectively producing the best sequence of the film, it is unfortunate that it seems to be at the expense of polishing the more important animation details, making for a visually disagreeable experience throughout.

To conclude, Smurfs is yet another misfire at recreating Peyo’s classic tales on the big screen. Sidelining iconic characters, in favor of introducing obnoxious and derivative ones, will leave audiences disconnected to a convoluted storyline involving intergalactic wizards and multiverses. The animation is a double-edged sword, as it provides for a great blend of styles in the intergalactic storyline, but the jarring Smurf designs result in an uninspiring downgrade to the previous installments. The lack of any distinguishing personality traits in the main Smurf is indicative of the creative process behind this misguided reboot. A more traditionally animated film akin to the early film and television adaptations would have benefit the franchise greatly, likely providing a more enjoyable experience for families and animation enthusiasts.

still courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Costa Christoulas

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