The story is simple and light-weight. There are some parlays into identity crisis issues, particularly with Smurfette who apparently was created from clay and No name Smurf, who is the only Smurf without an identity or calling
Still from Smurfs
Film: Smurfs
Cast(voice): Rihanna, James Corden, John Goodman, JP Karliak, Nick Offerman, Alex Winter, Kurt Russell, Xolo Mariduena, Hannah Waddingham, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Rylan Clark and Jon Richardson
Director: Chris Miller
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 92 min
The last ‘Smurf’ movie was released in 2017 worldwide, so it’s taken quite a while for this new rebooted ‘Smurf’ to take shape. Rumour has it that Rihanna was instrumental in getting this movie kick-started and she also plays an important role in the film. She lends voice to the only female humanoid, Smurfette, one of the crucial characters in the movie.
The animated narrative begins in interesting fashion. Evil space wizards Razamel & Garganel (both voiced by JP Karliak), looking for a book of magical spells which will enable them to remove all the good in the world, kidnap Papa Smurf (John Goodman), the boss of the smurf communities.The Smurfs who rush to the rescue include Smurfette, Jaunty, Hefty, Vanity, Worry, Brainy, Grouchy (Chris Miller), No Name smurf (James Corden) desperate for his own moniker, sound effects smurf’ and a Turtle (Marshmellow).
Their bid to rescue Papa smurf takes them into the real world and the inter-dimensional one. The live action/ animation hybrid makes good use of Claymation, 8-bit graphics, anime, plasticine stop motion and kids drawings to create some interesting sequences in the film.
The story is simple and light-weight. There are some parlays into identity crisis issues, particularly with Smurfette who apparently was created from clay and No name Smurf, who is the only smurf without an identity or calling. Despite these issues there’s nothing deep in this animated adventure that could be considered memorable. The identity crisis is done away with when No name suddenly gets superpowers. The bid for contemporary relevance with gags about Zoom meetings, ride-share, food delivery, LinkedIn recommendations feels desperate. They serve as a rude awakening from the fantasy world this film hopes to immerse you in.
The voice cast consisting of A-list performers, do well to stay in character but it’s a largely wasted effort. Director Chris Miller and screenwriter Pam Brady make this a vacuous, monotonous animated adventure that is sorely lacking in fun and excitement.
Since Rihanna is involved, there are quite a few of her back catalogue tunes playing into the narrative plus two new numbers. There’s also a peppy Hindi - English number playing towards the end-credits. But the random musical numbers don’t register and the unfunny humor falls on deaf ears. The sequences are visually entreating, vibrantly colourful and the comely anime has its merits, though.
The plotting is a little convoluted and the slight 92-minute runtime feels rather belabored.
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