|
 Tons
of negative ballyhoo has surrounded the live-action production of the
1980’s Saturday morning cartoon, The Smurfs, since its announcement.
Everything from the look of the tiny blue creatures, to the chosen New
York City locale, to the very right of the film to be made has been
scrutinized. For people who grew up with and loved the omnipresent
1980’s phenomenon, this movie will not scar your childhood nor send you
into therapy. For those toting little ones who may never have heard of
the Belgian comic artist Peyo’s creations, it’s possible the uninitiated
may enjoy the film most.
We
learn in a voiceover about the history and mystery of the little
medieval forest dwellers called the Smurfs, who measure three apples
high and live in idyllic bliss, at peace with nature and each other. We
also learn about the not-so-bucolic existence of the wizard, Gargamel,
who, along with his far smarter henchman, a ginger tabby called Azrael,
is generally up to no good. Gargamel spends every day plotting to find
and abduct the little blue people and harness their special energy to
make him the most powerful wizard of all. On the evening of the Blue
Moon Festival, Gargamel interrupts the Smurfs celebration and sends them
into a wild chase that finds them hopping through dimensions of time and
space and landing into a another wilderness – a concrete jungle, in
fact, as the Smurfs find themselves smack dab in the middle of New York
City’s Central Park. The accident-prone Smurf, Clumsy, tumbles his way
into the home of a young expectant couple, who are a little surprised by
this new arrival, who didn’t exactly arrive by stork. Soon the others;
Papa, Grouchy, Gutsy, Brainy and Smurfette, catch up with Clumsy and
depend upon the kindness of the confused couple to help them evade
Gargamel and get back home.
While
these Smurfs may not measure exactly three apples high, there’s much
effort made to keep them as visually close as American audiences recall
from the very popular 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon. The CGI used to
render them is pretty darn good and one of the most cohesive meldings of
computer figures and live-action actors I’ve yet seen. The Smurfs
themselves have all the charm and foibles of their 20th
century counterparts; Grouchy hates everything, Brainy is basically the
annoying C-3PO, quoting unhappy statistics at inopportune moments, Papa
is even more warm-hearted and doting than seen on TV and Smurfette is
all sweetness and light. Clumsy being made the center of the piece
becomes annoying almost immediately, but the clever asides inserted in
the script for the grown-ups, like the conversation about how bad all
the Smurfs feel for not really liking Passive-Aggressive Smurf and
Smurfette’s joyous discovery that a girl can actually own more than one
dress, are enough to stave off irritation. Gutsy Smurf, apparently
delivered by a Scottish stork, in tartan kilt and Smurf hat with manly
pom-pom attached is a hilarious new addition, as is the ironic Narrator
Smurf, purveyor of all voiceovers during the film. Of course, there is
cheesiness; like the gross-out humour of Azrael’s useful hairball and
the odd Smurf flatulence joke. There is also an inexplicably long
Guitar Hero montage with Neil Patrick Harris teaching the little blue
visitors there’s more to music than their trance (- or migraine)-inducing
Tra-laa-la-la-laa theme song. It’s at times like this that one
remembers that while adults who may have grown up loving the Smurfs are
encouraged to enjoy this film, it isn’t really as much for them as their
children. However moves like casting Tim Gunn to play a cosmetics
executive who goes around quoting Tim Gunn doesn’t really serve anybody
and is another example of the occasional overly-indulgent loopiness like
the lengthy Guitar Hero sequence that could happily have been cropped.
To
these transgressions I say, thank Smurfdom for Hank Azaria. Azaria
throws caution (and shame) to the wind as the latex-nosed
Gargamel, playing the over-the-top villain as if he’d eaten an entire
box of sugar-laden Smurfs cereal. Azaria’s portrayal is far more than
just a wizard obsessed with the Smurfs; he brings in elements of the
fish out of water that Gargamel is in the middle of New York City, too
lunkheaded and full of his own imagined superiority to be afraid.
Azaria’s gusto-filled performance is so perfect that one nearly forgets
to be creeped out by the strange combination of live animal and CGI that
makes up Azrael the cat. Opting for a real feline in about sixty
percent of its scenes, the other forty percent where we see the cat
grinning, popping its eyes, falling about, or being tossed around or
stepped on by Gargamel is just disturbing. I wish the filmmakers had
opted for a fully computer-generated cat to turn down the squick factor
and also to avoid any child having a moment’s notion of throwing their
own family pet around because it was okay when Gargamel did it to
Azrael.
The
Smurfs’ voice acting is spot-on, with the standouts being George Lopez
as the cranky Grouchy, the Smurf who speaks for yours truly. Alan
Cumming gets all butch as the pugnacious Gutsy. Anton Yelchin is
sweetly helpless as the hapless Clumsy, while pop singer Katy Perry’s
Smurfette isn’t the voice I remember, but is perfectly adorable and
coquettish.
Far
cleverer and more heartwarming than many of the failed cinema-sized
blowups of television cartoon characters, The Smurfs is an unexpected
pleasure. Occasional forays into babyishness aside; it’s a really
satisfying adaptation and a lot of fun for the entire family. I’m
looking forward to an even sharper sequel, which,
I have it on good authority, will give
me my second favourite Smurf (- after Vanity, of course), the
raven-haired Goth Smurfette in an onscreen flashback, something the
present, transformed blonde Smurfette alludes to in this film. Either
way, I’ll be waiting for more Smurftastic adventures with The Smurfs.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
July
29th, 2011
Click here for our exclusive interview with The
Smurfs' director, Raja Gosnell.
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