There’s a reason why nobody’s made a Smurfs movie before. It’s an awfully hard thing to get right, not the least of which because there’s been at no fewer than three completely different versions of the source material, from books to comic strips to 2D animated television. Bringing the characters into 3D makes a lot of sense in the context of successful modern animation, and combining them with live action should give the audience a tangible connection to the characters, but real world/animated mashups are extremely hit or miss. On paper, the film is a major gamble, and the most surprising thing about the finished product is how much it manages to get right, or at least, not offensively wrong.

What works best, in fact, are the human cast. Neil Patrick Harris has really deserved some quality leading man work, and even though this isn’t the best part to start that career path with, he makes the character a lot more endearing than he’d otherwise be. His quirky tendencies play well against the more fluid movement of his small blue houseguests, and scenes with them interacting are pieces of marvelously choreographed technical wizardry. One scene in particular on the roof of the apartment building between Harris and Papa Smurf is as close as the film comes to eliciting genuine emotion, and I can’t decide if it’s more impressive that they got so close or that they even approached the heart strings in the first place.

Jayma Mays is adorable as Harris’s quite pregnant wife. Audience members will know Mays from her work on Fox’s blockbuster behemoth show Glee and smaller roles from Pushing Daisies and Heroes. Her sensibilities match really well with the temperament of the Smurfs, and again, the casting people found one of the only actresses working today who could really pull off those interactions. The ace in the hole is Hank Azaria, whose Gargamel is a scene-stealing and show-stopping performance in the league of Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He chews so much scenery it’s a wonder they had any set left to shoot, and he spends half his time chatting with his pet cat Azreal, a disturbingly lifelike mix of real feline and CG enhancement that sparks some of the best punch lines in the entire film. As Azaria revealed in an interview we did the day after the premiere, he’s signed on for two more films should this prove a success, and getting to watch him mess around with a giant nose and a bald cap is almost enough to make me consider giving a sequel a chance… almost.

The flick was directed by Raja Gosnell, a man whose last masterpiece accomplishment was Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Granted, this gives him a great eye for composition with 3D characters, and it’s hard to imagine the amount of technical work that went

into creating such a conventional looking movie. In this case the flashy stuff is played as normal as possible, and I’m sure the visual effects guys wished for a few good money shots to show off what they could do. That doesn’t excuse some weird choices here and there, and a general lack of appeal for older audiences. As a family kids movie, it works just fine, but adults are going to have a harder time enjoying it than they should.

At the end of the day, you shouldn’t be buying a ticket to a Smurfs movie expecting it to be great cinema. In fact, decent cinema is a bit overkill really, and that’s why this may come as a pleasant surprise to a lot of people. The advertising is really selling the film short, and most of the good moments come long after you’ve gotten used to the bizarre world and its weird pacing issues. Diehard Smurfs fans aren’t going to feel betrayed by the Hollywood system, just a little disappointed by a conventional and shallow first outing. You never know, maybe they’ll go all Dark Knight for the eventual round 2. Now that I’d pay money to see.
Synopsis:

The little blue creatures of Smurf village move to New York City after the evil wizard Gargamel chases them out of their mushroom-like homes in the forest.