Smurfs The Lost Village - Review (Spoiler free)

SMURFs return to the big screen ... the 80s pop culture hype train chugs along!

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[osparkyo]

wasn't the whole deal of smurfette that she was created by gargamel to seduce the smurfs so he could catch them??

[Mario]

I'll give this movie some encouragement. It's the best piece of Smurfs media I've seen to date, and though I missed Boss Baby, I'd rank it above LEGO Batman in terms of personal enjoyment. I appreciated the performances of the voice actors, as all of them came across as the characters they were playing rather than as their actors doing a voice. One of the pitfalls that the Smurfs historically falls into, particularly the live-action movie, is having too many characters involved in the story at once, making many of them unnecessary. This movie not only had a smaller main cast than normal, but each member was able to go beyond their standard one-note personality trait and feel like a more fleshed out individual. They got all of their one-note Smurf character gags out in the beginning and end of the movie, then picked a handful of characters to focus on and poured nearly all of the characterization into them. I also have to genuinely emphasize that this portrayal of Gargamel may have been his most competent iteration I've ever seen, in a way that didn't remove his generally comedic tone.

The lack of character development is one of the movie's biggest shortcomings, and it's unfortunate that I find it to be an issue intrinsic to the Smurfs property. The Smurfs is so dependent on the status quo of its characters that growth simply isn't possible. Brainy must remain brainy, Clumsy must remain clumsy, Grouchy must remain grouchy, Gargamel must remain evil, etc. Fortunately, even in the area of character development, we still got more than your typical Smurfs property would be willing to provide. Clumsy gained a greater sense of confidence, Brainy and Brawny strengthened their friendship, and if anyone exhibited significant character change in a potential sequel it would be Smurfette.

One thing I can really appreciate about this movie is how it really seems like the creators listened to the onslaught of complaints pulled in from the live-action movies and did their best to avoid them. The overuse of the term 'smurf' as a euphemism was annoying, so they toned it way down; the setting in modern day America and focus on real humans wasn't enjoyable, so they had it follow the classic Smurfs formula; the CGI smurfs looked kind of creepy, so they made the movie animated; the gross-out humor didn't fit the property, so they cut it out. They didn't even sing the Smurfs song and cheekily joke about how awful it is. They just didn't sing it, because they knew people didn't want it. That kind of subtle breaking of the formula is such a minor touch, but it goes so far in carving out this movie's identity as a Smurfs movie.

I don't believe this movie broke any new ground as a movie, but as a Smurfs movie, I think was a major experiment into the unknown, even before getting into the girl Smurfs. It's a shame to me that it only turned out 'okay' by public opinion since it means we may not get another opportunity to see them refine the good, remove the bad, and improve what we get even further.

Also, one last point: I'm in love with this movie's art and animation style, and I think it may be the most visually appealing movie I've seen from this studio, even more than the Hotel Transylvania movies.

[johnloverman]

Chad's list keeps getting more and more estranged

[RougeTheBatReal]

Smurf smurf smurfing smurf smurf, this needed to be said

[Jonathanests]

Spoiler free? Dude, they already spoil it when it came out. Also in 4th place? It looks way better than shitty Rock Dog.

[cybershockandifrit]

What's wrong with the ordering this year?

How on earth if this movie worse than Rock Dog? How is Boss Baby better than Lego Batman? This is madness!

[mihanesabyake]

I really enjoy this series, but am I the only one that misses Chad's older stuff too? That review of the Aladdin knock-off movie is one of my absolute favourite YouTube videos. ^_^

[ragamuffinrae]

I agree that the celebrity actors were not needed, actually I would say they are rarely needed. There are so many amazing talented voice actors out there who could have done so much more with these characters. Not that these celebrities aren't talented, but voice actors are far from "run of the mill" The original series was full of legends like Frank Welker, Don Messick, and Paul Winchell, not to mention the amazing Lucille Bliss the original voice of Smurfette. Who knows what might have happened if they used actual voice actors. Frank Welker is still one of the most versatile and amazing voice actors, add names like Rob Paulsen, Jim Cummings, Dee Bradley Baker, Tress MacNeille, Tara Strong, Mark Hamill (yeah Luke himself is an amazing voice actor, BTAS Jokeer!) and Sean "Sam-Wise" Astin. Hmm....wonder who they'd voice?

[epm]

I just checked. Worldwide box office is 157, 000, 000, domestic was a whopping...








39, 000, 000

[AdamYJ]

Smurfs was a Belgian comic book first and there are some stories in it that are very good. This is usually when Peyo the artist was critiquing human society through the Smurfs. Like "The King Smurf" which was basically a story about how dictators legally rise to power. I doubt we'll ever see that level of satire in an American family film about the Smurfs, though. They're too remembered over here as this harmless '80s cartoon.

[ssjgarfield]

The Smurfs has been a huge part of my childhood. Not just because of the 1980's animated series but also the original comic books by the Belgian comic artist Peyo on which the animated series is based on.

Since I live in the Netherlands (Where the Smurfs are way better known then perhaps in the US) I got more exposure to franchise. This is also why I went to see Smurfs: The Lost Village and I thought it did the comics and the animated series justice.

Even if you're not much of a fan of the 1980's animated series, I'd suggest you'd check out the original comics if you can find them in English. Perhaps then you'd have a better understanding of the new movie.

[LoudToon]

Really? Worse than Rock Dog? I know it's your opinion, but still. At least Smurfs wasn't that boring.

[pokefalls]

Who hasn't seen the movie but wishes this video was not spoil free!!!!
me..lol k...

[ZackTheLightningNinja]

How far away from the initial release date could you be?!

[JerseyDevils]

You see? You don't always need to spoil movies to make a review on it. We need more people like you fam!

[supermikey]

I saw Smurfs: lost village a few weeks ago. it was fine.

[dewberry]

Honestly I would like to see more quality specialized voice actors and actresses versus big names in our animated movies

[TenLittleMen]

At this point I watch your reviews less to gauge whether I will like a movie and moreso to see a well made argument that I disagree with. Your ranking of these films differ wildly from my own and I think that's a good thing.

[sebastianquintero]

Since most people are disagreeing, you should make an audience choice to see how everyone's opinions line up

[luvliv]

I really enjoyed this movie! I hadn't seen any trailers going in, and was not expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the idea of exploring "what is an -ette" was cute, relevant, and super important for kids. The characters were much less one-dimensional than they usually are, the animation was great, and the gimmicks were tolerable.