So, you wanna know about Smurfs 2, huh?
You aren't going to believe me, but this second installment is leaps and bounds better than the last cacophonous kiddy film. For one thing, we have a solid and coherent plot! Where as the last film was all "Hey! Look at THESE guys, kids. Aren't they crazy?" this film gave us a story that seems lifted from the original comics/cartoon series (minus the bits where they're still in the real world). Heck, this SHOULD have been an episode. It was actually a pretty good character piece for Smurfette that referenced her dark past. I've never seen it actually haunt her in the TV series. GASP! THE movie added MORE DEPTH to Smurfette!! I think I gotta lie down.
In fact, the Smurf's personalities in general greatly improved. They were all really flat, except maybe Papa and Clumsy last time... this time they took less Smurfs with them, and that gave each character a moment to shine. I'm disappointed they didn't use Brainy much. They actually remembered to make him insufferable! The sequence at the opening with him and Jokey was classic.
Think of it this way. I reluctantly enjoyed the first one in a "it wasn't as terrible as my exceedingly low standards/at least it wasn't Yogi Bear" way. This one I genuinely had some actual enjoyment over. I mean, it's not great... but by all means this is the movie the first one should have been.
You aren't going to believe me, but this second installment is leaps and bounds better than the last cacophonous kiddy film. For one thing, we have a solid and coherent plot! Where as the last film was all "Hey! Look at THESE guys, kids. Aren't they crazy?" this film gave us a story that seems lifted from the original comics/cartoon series (minus the bits where they're still in the real world). Heck, this SHOULD have been an episode. It was actually a pretty good character piece for Smurfette that referenced her dark past. I've never seen it actually haunt her in the TV series. GASP! THE movie added MORE DEPTH to Smurfette!! I think I gotta lie down.
In fact, the Smurf's personalities in general greatly improved. They were all really flat, except maybe Papa and Clumsy last time... this time they took less Smurfs with them, and that gave each character a moment to shine. I'm disappointed they didn't use Brainy much. They actually remembered to make him insufferable! The sequence at the opening with him and Jokey was classic.
Think of it this way. I reluctantly enjoyed the first one in a "it wasn't as terrible as my exceedingly low standards/at least it wasn't Yogi Bear" way. This one I genuinely had some actual enjoyment over. I mean, it's not great... but by all means this is the movie the first one should have been.