I would like the hour and fifty minutes or so of my time I spent watching The Smurfs back, but surprisingly a lot of others did not feel that way. The Smurfs themselves are very cute, and admittedly I have never seen the TV show, so I wasn't going to see the film for the nostalgia, but by the end of the film I was practically sleeping in my seat because I was so bored. As one of the children behind me said to his mother, "Take me out of here, please!"
The Smurfs live a life of relative contentment in their mushroom houses in the forest. However, the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria, "Love and Other Drugs") wants to steal them so he can harness their power and become one of the greatest wizards of all time. In their hurry to avoid him once he finds their village, the Smurfs end up accidentally running into a portal, which takes them to New York City. They must find a way back to their village while at the same time avoiding Gargamel and his cat, both of whom are on the hunt for them, and in the process they end up making friends with two humans, Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris, TV's "How I Met Your Mother") and Grace (Jayma Mays, TV's "Glee") Winslow.
The movie started off pretty cool, with almost a virtual tour of the Smurfs' village, and the 3D was very good in these scenes. As the movie rolled on, however, the Smurfs' cuteness did not make up for the stupidness of the actual dialogue and situations, and although most of the kids in the audience were laughing throughout the film, the adults were mostly silent.
No, don't see this film, unless you have a child that wants to see it - and in that case, treat yourself to the 3D so you'll at least have nice visuals to look at while they are shrieking in laughter at the supposed hilariousness. Although the people that voice the Smurfs include some A-listers - Katy Perry, Kenan Thompson, George Lopez and even Wolfgang Puck, to name a few - they and also Neil Patrick Harris unfortunately cannot save this movie.
The Smurfs is in theaters today, July 29th, and is rated PG.
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Liz Parker is a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan. She currently works as an Assistant Medical Editor for a pathology website. Visit her at her movie blog Yes/No Films