‘Smurfs’ as good (and bad) as you expect
An excerpt from the SunTimes’ review of “The Smurfs 2,” which opened Wednesday:
You probably already know how the you feel about the prospect of spending 105 minutes in the company of Smurfs and how that might compare, favorably or unfavorably, to being poked in the eye repeatedly with a sharp stick.
So let’s just say this: “The Smurfs 2” probably isn’t any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it’s almost certainly not any better. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you’re willing to endure for the sake of the small child you’re taking to the movies. Or for the sake of diehard ’80s nostalgia.
Two years ago, the whopping worldwide hit “The Smurfs,” the first in a planned trilogy of films based on the adventures of the little blue relentlessly cute mushroom dwellers, made its way to Manhattan. That’s where a contingent of the pint-sized, CGI-generated clan found themselves transported via some sort of inter-dimensional portal after the evil wizard Gargamel drove them out of magical Smurf Village. And that’s where they first made the live-action acquaintance of the Winslows, expectant mom Grace (Jayma Mays) and uptight marketing exec Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris).
“Smurfs 2” reunites the Smurfs and the Winslows, with their young son Blue (Jacob Tremblay), in Paris for no clear good reason. This time, goofy villain Gargamel (Hank Azaria, working overtime for laughs to little avail) is focusing his nefarious attentions on spunky Smurfette (Katy Perry).
“Smurfs 2” is almost as complicated as it is cloyingly sweet, despite the best efforts of Gargamel to provide mean-spirited counterbalance. (How worried should we be, by the way, to find ourselves secretly rooting for him instead of Team Treacle?) And despite director Raja Gosnell’s attempts to generate laughs with low-level slapstick and ironic wisecracks undercutting the Smurfs’ wholesome image, presumably for the sake of adults. Though the one-liners never get much more sophisticated than jokes about the little blue guys getting smacked in the Smurf-berries.
Bruce Ingram is a locally based free-lance writer.
The Smurfs were born in Belgium, but their movies have roots in a basement in suburban Chicago.
Director Raja Gosnell, who made “The Smurfs” (2011) and its new sequel, got an early break working for megaproducer John Hughes on the 1990 smash “Home Alone.”
“I remember filming at New Trier [West] High School in [Northfield]. The school was closed and John used it as a movie studio. Us editors were in the basement cutting away.”
Now Gosnell animates little creatures with skin of Cubbie blue and prays, “May the Smurf love shine down on the Chicago Cubs this season.”
Cindy Pearlman, Big Picture News Inc.