The Smurfs 2 from Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures is out this week in theaters – we had a chance to see a preview screening in Los Angeles. The Smurfs 2 stars iconic characters Papa Smurf (voiced by the late Jonathan Winters), Smurfette (Katy Perry), Grouchy (George Lopez), Vanity and Clumsy. Back again are live-action characters Hank Azaria as Gargamel, Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays.
For The Smurfs sequel – Gargamel is back to his old tricks again and has created a brand new race of Smurfs called ‘The Naughties‘ in which he hopes to extract their life essence in order to power his magic wand. Unfortunately for Gargamel the true Smurfs essence can only be gained by actual Smurfs and sends one of his Naughties Vexy (voiced by Christina Ricci) out to kidnap Smurfette in order to obtain the secret Smurfs transformation formula that Papa Smurf used on her many years ago.
As a film The Smurfs 2 is action-packed with plenty of Smurf cameos throughout. Hank Azaria’s performance as Gargamel outshines all other human characters in the film and Smurfette does a fine job in contemplating her origins as a Smurf. For kids there is plenty of ‘on-the-nose’ jokes that mostly are punch-lines with very to little setup. Unfortunately for adult movie-goers there’s not much to take away. Most of the nostalgia factor facing The Smurfs is swept under the carpet in order to move the action story forward with little attention to detail and charm. If you are a true Smurf completest then you may also be interested in checking out The Smurfs 2 video game which was released earlier this week from Ubisoft.
The Smurfs 2 Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqXRhgYRE8Q
The Smurfs 2 Video Game Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33QFQY8c5A