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Sam and Friends BookLike I said in the Worst CGI thread, I blame that on the fact that Sony really stopped caring about the Smurf franchise as soon as the movie was made because they want Emoji to be their summer animated tent pole.
And frankly, while I think Smurfs: Lost Village was (for the most part) superior to the 2 live action films, I don't think the film was ambitious as it could have been. it felt like they knew this was going to do so so and gave it a low enough budget (though I could be wrong about that, it's just the feeling I came out with). I liked it, but I get the feeling that the trailer and TV spots looked way too similar to Trolls, and that added to the poor release date might have staved potential viewers off. I mean, right down to the overly colorful flora and fauna. They had the same man eating fly traps, for crying out loud.
So I'll break it down.
The Superior:
No humans, should be obvious, as well as keeping them in their own time period.
For the most part, superior or matched casting on most characters.
Very much a great "what if" Smurf storyline, especially concerning other female Smurfs somehow having their own society (presumably the Stork, how the Smurfs are delivered, probably dropped the female ones in a different part of the Forrest).
The fact they kept the look of the original comics and translated it to CGI form without too much alteration rather than "this is how they'd look in real life" crap they always pull.
I like how the female Smurfs are named after plants where as the Male Smurfs are named after jobs/ personality traits.
Clumsy was actually written to be true to his cartoon self, rather than the overly sympathetic character the first film made him as.
And it was so much better looking to run around a magical Forrest in the film and stretch creative muscles rather than having them run around modern times and comment on them.
The Inferior:
Rainn Wilson was a good enough Gargamel, but I really miss Hank Azaria's crazier interpretation over Rainn's vaguely Doofenschmirtz-y characterization.
The other Smurfs outside the female lost villagers and the main 4 really felt like an after thought. Other than the "this is totally something they would have done in the live action films" casting of Gordon Ramsey for one line, it felt like the others were just barely in there and cast as unrecognizables. And as such even Grouchy, who both movies was a main character, was demoted to 2 scenes. "I HATE demoted to two scenes!"
While I overall thought the movie's plot was superior to the live action movies, I really liked Gargamel and Smurfette's arcs were actually pretty darn good in Smurfs 2. More on that in a second.
The film didn't feel as "big" as the first two. And while I'd say that's mostly a good thing, the film feels like a 90 minute cartoon pilot rather than a 90 minute animated film. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't for the nagging fact that this film coulda shoulda woulda been a springboard for more films like these, but was treated like a one and done.
Smurf Lilly (I think that's her name) was FAR more annoying than even Gutsy Smurf. I feel bad Ellie Kempler had such a bad character.
OH! And the one thing...one thing I gave the first two movies credit for doing? NOT using the song "I'm Blue." I barely forgave it here, but if even the loud, obnoxious cynical live action films avoided it, how does it make this look?
The indecisive:
I still don't know if I find "Table Eating Smurf" funny or just a completely idiotic joke. I find Smurf 2 had funnier movie original Smurfs, including the second film's best gift to Smurfdom, Passive Aggressive Smurf (played by Jimmy Kimmel). And While I certainly didn't expect Hackus and Vexy to make a return, I was surprised and delighted that the weirdest original character "Smooth Smurf" made a return. Well... I'm going to assume nameless Sunglasses wearing Smurf playing a sax was Smooth Smurf.
While I can't say the second film was great, I really liked the Smurfette/Gargamel storyline based on her comics origins, and the bit where he makes those fake Smurfs to exploit small amounts of magic from. On the one hand, I do like this film's Smurfette trying to find out what she is as a Smurf outside of being the "Ette," all while having that doubt that she's a real Smurf being one of Gargamel's tricks and all. But the thing is, while certain parts where better handled here, all three movies have the same story beats about her. Especially the second. In fact:
In all three movies she tricked Gargamel by pretending to come over to his side.
They never get Brainy right, outside vocal casting. He's fiercely loyal to Papa Smurf (to Papa's annoyance), as well as insufferably self righteous. Not a scientist.
Also, I don't quite know how to feel about anachronism when it comes to these things. The comics certainly had their fair share here and there, the cartoon had a little more discipline about it. But Brainy has a bug that acts like a smart phone here. If this was a continuation of the films where they were exposed to that sort of thing I'd get it.
Over all, enjoyable, but both a little too late, could have been better. Really wish this launched a new version of the franchise, but didn't.
