Last Saturday I took my two daughters (ages 8 and 10) to see the new Smurfs Movie. I had been looking forward to it since I saw the previews last summer. I was always a Smurf fan as a kid and was excited at the thought that my kids might be Smurf fans, too.
The movie was a combination of live action and CGI. The premise of the story was that Gargamel had chased the Smurfs to New York, where they were hiding out with a pregnant couple. As usual, Gargamel was after the Smurfs because he wanted to capture their “essence” for his magic. Neil Patrick Harris played the husband and the counselor from Glee (whose name I never remember) played his wife.
Although there were a lot of Smurfs in the movie, the main characters included the most popular–Smurfette, Clumsy, Grouchy and Papa Smurf. They did throw in a lot of others in almost cameo-type roles (my favorite was “Narrator Smurf.”)
The story was simple and there were just enough jokes that appealed to the adults to take the movie from simply “nostalgic” to “enjoyable.” For kids, there was enough animation, adventure, and music to hold their attention. There was even a little bit of Smurf lore and trivia thrown in for “educational” purposes.
Everyone in my family enjoyed the movie, and I have a feeling that it will be added to our DVD collection this holiday season. My kids are even asking for Smurf shirts to wear to school. Who am I to say “no”? I may end up getting one for myself!
I’ll be watching it soon (watching the last Harry Potter today) but I made sure to get my kids hooked on the Smurfs. Hard to compete with Dora and Backyardigans, but my eldest (4) is always swiping my little Smurf figurines for her tea parties, so she must love them.
I has always hoped that Neil Patrick Harris would play Gargamel!