I know it’s not what I’m supposed to say, but The Smurfs wasn’t altogether terrible. As I wrote in my review, it was “one of the safest, non-offending children’s films” I’d seen in a very long time. It was like a blank slate with a couple jokes that worked within a paint by numbers story. This doesn’t mean it’s good, just that it wasn’t the all out nightmare it could have been. Essentially, it’s exactly what Hollywood intended, warm bath water, non-offensive cinema. The result, $563.7 million globally and a sequel.
The Smurfs 2 is due in theaters on July 31 and a second trailer has just arrived. It looks just as harmless as the first one, but I’m not sure I have the energy to give this one a go. Once was enough.
In this sequel to the hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster comedy The Smurfs, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants — and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs — Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world’s greatest sorcerer. It’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her! Will Smurfette, who has always felt different from the other Smurfs, find a new connection with the Naughties Vexy and Hackus — or will the Smurfs convince her that their love for her is True Blue?
