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James Mottram

2/5 stars
Smurfs opens with the population of Smurfs’ Village harmoniously singing the “Happy Song” from the original 1980s animation series featuring the little blue creatures.
As the warm glow of nostalgia creeps in, director Chris Miller (Shrek the Third) cuts to Papa Smurf on the decks, blasting out an obnoxious pop track. “Now that’s what I call a banger,” he yells.
This unfortunately sets the tone for the latest film about Belgian comic artist Peyo’s cute creations.


Smurfs is primarily a marketing tool for Rihanna, who voices the blonde-haired Smurfette and provides material for the soundtrack.
The casting of a big pop star in this role follows on from the franchise’s earlier movies The Smurfs (2011) and Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), in which Smurfette was played by Katy Perry and Demi Lovato, respectively.
The story in this new film features the “No Name” Smurf (voiced by James Corden), who is desperate to find his purpose, which he believes is magic.
He conjures a disastrous spell that opens up a portal and allows evil wizard Razamel (JP Karliak) to find Smurfs’ Village. Upon doing so, he kidnaps Papa Smurf as he seeks to rule the universe.
Soon, No Name and the rest of the gang are on a weird rescue mission that takes them to places such as the Australian Outback and a Munich autobahn.
Sadly, the script is flush with modern jargon such as “blue-sky thinking” and “LinkedIn” that will surely leave the target audience – young children – scratching their heads.

There is also an awful, poorly shot live-action scene in which the Smurfs wind up in Paris, simply so they can go through a club and Smurfette can scratch a record the DJ is playing (cue more pop music).
At least the animation is stimulating as it changes when the Smurfs enter different dimensions. CG drawings switch to claymation to 2D hand-drawn images to Japanese anime to even an 8-bit video game where No Name complains that he can only run left to right.
But this is a rare moment of invention in a production that relies on crude uses of the word “Smurf” for cheap laughs (“I Smurfed my pants” is one instance).
Rihanna’s voice work is fine but hardly distinguished. To be fair, she is saddled with a boring long-running gag about Smurfette loving fries.

Thankfully she is surrounded by solid Hollywood talent: John Goodman as Papa Smurf, and Nick Offerman and Kurt Russell as his two brothers. Dan Levy, Sandra Oh and Hannah Waddingham also feature.
But this aside, Smurfs will leave you feeling blue.
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Filled with obnoxious pop music and references that kids likely won’t get, Chris Miller’s animated film will leave viewers feeling blue


Filled with obnoxious pop music and references that kids likely won’t get, Chris Miller’s animated film will leave viewers feeling blue.


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James Corden

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Filled with obnoxious pop music and references that kids likely won’t get, Chris Miller’s animated film will leave viewers feeling blue

Filled with obnoxious pop music and references that kids likely won’t get, Chris Miller’s animated film will leave viewers feeling blue