The Smurfs


1.5/4

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Hank Azaria, Sofia Vegara and the voices of Anton Yelchin, Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, George Lopez

Rated PG for Some Mild Rude Humor and Action

Not so long ago, it used to be that big budget event movies were guaranteed to be solid entertainment.  Harry Potter, “Twister,” “Dante’s Peak,” etc.  Now, with internet marketing and name association making a profit a certainty, Hollywood has realized that it can get away with being lazy.  And “lazy” is the most praiseworthy adjective that “The Smurfs” deserves.

In a magical world, there lives a group of little blue creatures called the Smurfs, who are named after the characteristic that most typifies them (i.e. Clumsy, Grumpy, Brainy, etc.).  While life in their little world is usually peaceful, the little Smurfs have a common enemy, the evil wizard Gargamel (Azaria).  In an attempt to escape his clutches, a few of the Smurfs end up in our world.

“The Smurfs” is a wannabe “Enchanted:” magical creatures become fish out of water in our world.  Although the Amy Adams vehicle wasn’t exactly a great movie, it’s a hell of a lot better than this stinker.  Every joke is tired, every plot element is a cliché, and the dialogue is embarrassingly bad.  Peyo, the father of “The Smurfs,” is surely turning over in his grave.

Save for one performance, the live actors (nearly all of whom are vacationing from TV shows) are horrible.  Neil Patrick Harris looks completely bored in the role of Patrick, the human “straight man.”  Harris can be hilarious given the right material, but here, he looks as if he’d rather be anywhere else.  Hank Azaria is awful; Gargamel is supposed to be one of those blundering idiots a la Wile E. Coyote, but Azaria is so irritating that I groaned every time he came onscreen.  Ditto for Sofie Vegara, Harris’s horrible boss; she makes you remember how well Meryl Streep pulled this sort of thing off in “The Devil Wears Prada.”  The saving grace of the human cast is Jayma Mays, who is consistently endearing and adorable.  She’s much more self-confident and sunny than her character on “Glee,” and Mays almost makes us forget that it’s the same actress.

The voice acting is better, but again, none of them are given any material or anything to do.  Jonathan Winters makes for a wise Papa Smurf, Katy Perry is surprisingly effective as the blond bombshell Smurfette, and Anton Yelchin makes for a lovable Clumsy Smurf.  The problem with the Smurfs is that they’re battling screen time with the humans (plus Gargamel), and the filmmakers attempt to give all of the Smurfs individual obstacles to overcome.  Needless to say, this stuff ends up being half-baked at best (my guess is that a lot of it ended up on the cutting room floor).

There are two or three good laughs in the movie, and for once, the 3D is not a disaster, but don’t construe that as an endorsement.

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