Smurfs: The Lost Village

“Smurfs: The Lost Village” is a vast improvement over the previous theatrical films, which it ISN'T a sequel to. It’s much funnier and the visuals are great, though still doesn’t quite capture what made the comics so beloved.

When the evil wizard Gargamel (voiced by Rainn Wilson) learns of a second, lost Smurf village, he sets to capture them. Despite Papa Smurf’s warnings to stay put, Clumsy Smurf (Jack McBrayer), Brainy Smurf (Danny Pudi), Hefty Smurf (Joe Manganiello) and Smurfette (Demi Lovato) set out to stop him.

The character designs from the previous films unsettled and disappointed me, particularly after seeing 2015's “Peanuts”, which translated Charles Schulz’s illustrations to 3D animation marvelously."The Lost Village" looks right. Not only the Smurfs themselves but the backgrounds, the characters’ movements and the antagonists too. Additionally, the picture has a good share of laughs. At it’s best, “S: TLV” understands that the Smurfs are essentially one-joke characters. Vanity Smurf is a narcissist, Harmony Smurf cannot play any correct notes on his trumpet, etc. The trick is that there are so many Smurfs that you never need to re-use their one joke unless you want to.

Unfortunately, that something that made the comics timeless isn't here. Partially, it's due to its over-reliance on pop songs, and other cinematic elements that have no business being in a Smurfs movie. These creatures live in the middle ages. Why do they suddenly start dancing to Eiffel 65’s “I’m Blue”, except that the song's lyrics kind of relate to the story, but not really? Break-dancing, skateboarding, and selfies? It not right. Compare to 2011’s “Winnie The Pooh”, which featured beautiful 2D animation, original songs and resisted the temptation to put the classic character in a hoodie, of making him into something that he isn’t. This brings me to my next criticism, the fact that AGAIN, this is a Smurfette-central story. “Do I belong with the Smurfs, or don’t I? ” she wonders. I get it. Most are too lazy to actually read the original comics, jump to wild conclusions about them and this creates a misguided desire to do some “damage control” but the developments in this story, it just raises more questions than it does make any sense.

“Smurfs: The lost Village” introduces several new characters to the series, none of which (except perhaps Nosy Smurf, whom I found very funny) will be anyone’s new favorite and most of which are annoying. The story isn't anything special and it'll all be dated in a few years due to its soundtrack and gimmicky voice cast. The animation is good, there are a fair number of jokes that hit, the mid-credit sequence is amusing as well. I just hope any sequels will contain less random Smurf dancing and more actual storytelling, perhaps even *gasp! * an actual book adaptation? (Theatrical version on the big screen, April 15, 2017)