Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)

Number Rolled: 51

Movie Name/Year: Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)

Tagline: A whole new world awaits.

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Length: 89 minutes

Rating: PG

Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Kerner Entertainment Company, LStar Capital, Sony Pictures Animation, Wanda Pictures

Producer: Mary Ellen Bauder, Véronique Culliford, Raja Gosnell, Ben Haber, Jordan Kerner, Mandy Tankenson, Ben Waisbren

Director: Kelly Asbury

Writer: Stacey Harman, Pamela Ribon, Peyo

Actors: Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBrayer, Danny Pudi, Mandy Patinkin, Dee Bradley Baker, Frank Welker, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Julia Roberts, Ariel Winter, Meghan Trainor, Bret Marnell, Kelly Asbury, Jake Johnson, Gabriel Iglesias, Tituss Burgess, Jeff Dunham, Gordon Ramsey

Blurb from Netflix: Smurfette and best pals Brainy, Clumsy, and Hefty journey deep into the Forbidden Forest to save a mysterious lost village from evil wizard Gargamel.

Selina’s Point of View:

Back when I was young, I used to love The Smurfs (1981-1990). I even had a tape of The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1976) that I watched until it degraded.

For all you youngsters out there, VHS tapes used to degrade over time or with a lot of use. That means the more you liked a film, and watched it, the quicker you’d have to go out and get another copy. Now you come at me with your DVDs and Blue Rays and digital files…

Get off my lawn.

Back to my point, though.

I used to love The Smurfs, but I wasn’t fond of this rendition.

The animation itself was fine, so was the story… I just felt like it was badly executed. There was even a really great message for kids… but it was hidden way at the very end without any way for a young child to make that leap themselves. I don’t know if you’ve ever sat and watched a movie with a five-year-old, but they don’t usually have the focus to wait for a message that comes way at the end of an hour and a half film. There’s got to be little messages between the beginning and the end to bring them there.

When it comes to adults… I still don’t really recommend it.

The ending, with the message and the epic climax… was great. The rest of the film was bordering on torture-by-boredom. All the smurfs were giving mercilessly annoying characterizations – except maybe Papa Smurf and Smurfette – so I couldn’t even revel in the cuteness of things.

As reboots go, this will never be thought of as a favorite for me – or even good. That disappoints me. I was looking forward to a nice nostalgic story that I could share with my daughter when she’s a little older. This was not that.

Cat’s Point of View:

The Smurfs (1981-1990) was a staple of my childhood. My love of the series even helped my cousin win a GI Joe aircraft carrier from a TV contest when we were in 3rd grade. That monster play set was bigger than us and amazing – but I digress.

I was over the moon when my daughter enjoyed watching the classic cartoon series.

There are some mixed feelings about the recent two live-action adaptations for this beloved franchise. The movies possessed elements I both liked and disliked. When news of the latest attempt by Hollywood to resurrect this franchise began to circulate, I became cautiously optimistic. With the cast they had lined up, it was certainly worth a shot. Even better, it was getting a fully animated treatment.

Smurfs: The Lost Village landed at #17 on my Top 20 for April 2017 for those very reasons.

Fast forward to now.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I almost felt like I was taking a small trip back in time with the warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings. My daughter got a kick out of watching, as well; and we both giggled over hearing Gordon Ramsay (Kitchen Nightmares, Masterchef, Burnt) as Baker Smurf. (We like watching his cooking shows together.)

There were so many recognizable and incredible voices that added depth to the experience of this animated movie.

I’m not sure how canonical the story is regarding “The Lost Village,” but the details that brought the new world to life were simply smurftacular. Not only does this new chapter in the saga of the little blue mushroom-dwelling people take us into uncharted territory, it opens a fresh world of wonder full of magic and color. The new creatures, settings, and characters were a good fit.

I honestly wouldn’t mind watching this one again.

Languages

Speech Available: English, Spanish

Subtitles Available: English, Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 37%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 55%

Metascore - 40/100

Metacritic User Score –5.6/10

IMDB Score – 5.9/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5

Movie Trailer: