THE SMURFS 2
Director : Raja Gosnell
Year : 2013
Genre : Animation
Rating : *
For too long, kids have had to put up with generic and clichéd fodder that
offers nothing new and sticks to boring conventions laid down by a decade of
filmmaking. The once great PIXAR has lost their edge and imagination is slowly
beginning to run out. But if movies like 'Despicable Me 2' are being
made on a relatively regular basis, we can all relax as it is clearly a sign
that directors haven't totally given up in providing children with superb
entertainment that both kids and grown ups can enjoy without resorting to lazy
conventions or tired adult in-jokes.
- From my review of 'Despicable Me 2'
'The Smurfs 2' is the completely unneccesary sequel to the completely unneccesary hit 'The Smurfs' that astonishingly made nearly a half of a billion dollars worldwide on it's 2010 Summer release. Due to it's phenomenal success, a follow up film was obviously inevitable and director Raja Gosnell pulls out all the stops to make 'The Smurfs 2' one of the dullest, most boring and most patronising movies of the year. As well as featuring the famed blue creatures, the movie stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Hank Azaria and for some reason Brendan Gleeson, who gives one of the most cringeworthy performances any actor has ever given in a movie. Ever. While 99% of the cast fail to emote anything on screen besides a distinct air of embarrassment, Hank Azaria seems to be having great fun playing the evil and vindictive antagonist Gargamel and many of his scenes are actually quite amusing to watch. However, his comedic skills fail to drag 'The Smurfs 2' out of the mire of obvious and very lazy jokes, vomiting inducing pop culture references and hideously choreographed songs and if it wasn't for him, 'The Smurfs 2' would have been an intolerable eye sore that would have easily found it's way onto my bottom 10 of the year list. There are a few laughs for the kids and very small children may enjoy the movie but for adults, 'The Smurfs 2' is just like the plague; it should be avoided at all costs.
After the events of 'The Smurfs', Gargamel has found fame and fortune as a popular magician, travelling the world amazing thousands of people with his conjuring tricks. But to perform his magic he must use Smurf essence; the mystical compound found in any Smurf DNA and soon enough he realises that he is beginning to rapidly run out of the mystical elixir. To retrieve it, he creates 2 little grey creatures called 'Naughties' to kidnap Smurfette (who was once a Naughtie herself but was turned into a Smurf by Papa) from Smurfworld, bring her back to Paris and synthesise more essence from her. As a bonus, she also happens to know the secret formula to create a Smurf, so Gargamel plans to force Smurfette to tell him the magic ingredients so that he can turn his armies of Naughties into Smurfs, synthesise their essences and continue his magic show; magic that he could also use to control the world.
Director Raja Gosnell may be many things, but a good director and storyteller he is not. Look at the evidence. Famed for such movies as 'Never Been Kissed', 'Scooby Doo' and it's sequel 'Scooby Doo 2 : Monsters Unleashed', he may be not the go - to guy if you want quality and a true artistic vision. Just like his other work, 'The Smurfs 2' is crammed full of awkward physical comedy, a healthy batch of burp and fart jokes and of course, generic and clichéd archetypes. Utilising a peculiar camera technique, Gosnell continually shoves random imagery, boisterous and wild movement and unorganised and unfocused zooms in our faces to an almost nauseating degree. I understand that children are attracted to lively imagery and colourful pictures but to me, 'The Smurfs 2' is the definition of a cash grab. It doesn't care about intellectual nourishment, entertainment or providing relatable or even interesting characters. It is just a product created by a company to make money. Pure and simple. It doesn't have any aspirations of becoming a classic, it has just been made to make millions upon millions of dollars in the cinema and then become just a microscopic footnote in the annals of motion picture history. No thought has gone into the production, the effects, the acting, the comedy, the writing or the direction and to me, 'The Smurfs 2' is a vile piece of consumerist drivel that deserves to die at the box office. Unfortunately it won't; it is the sequel to a hugely popular movie, it a Summer release and lastly and most importantly, it is an animation and whether we like it or not, animations make a killing at the box office, no matter how good or bad they are.
Besides Hank Azaria, none of the actors in 'The Smurfs 2' give anything resembling a performance and each and every one of them just take their cheques and run. Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays are completely unconvincing as a married couple and Brendan Gleeson is astronomically bad as a bumbling but (supposedly) lovable Grandfather who is seeking acceptance from his stepson. There is a scene where Gleeson is turned into a duck for some unknown reason and throughout these moments, I wanted a cat to run up to him, break his neck and eat him. But no, taste prevailed and he left on screen to wander about aimlessly, speak gibberish and fail to convincingly interact with the CGI Smurfs. Thank God for Hank Azaria, who gives a Pythonesque performance to the cunning Gargamel and whose scenes are easily the best in 'The Smurfs 2'. Combining a hilarious voice with a somewhat odd but engaging comedic style, he manages to make the stupid and immature dialogue seem fresh and highly entertaining. The difference between his performance and every other actor in this annoying movie is that he actually seems to care about the material and providing the audience with something to enjoy and in my mind, he is far too good a comedian to be in this dreck of a film.
Of course, the stars of the show are the titular Smurfs, who are easily some of the most annoying phenomenons ever created. I grew up with the Hanna - Barbera produced cartoons from the 1980's so the franchise actually does actually mean something to me and to see my childhood memories be trodden on and lobotomised is really infuriating. Thanks to the 'miracle' of CGI, the Smurfs can be created to do whatever the director wants them to do. So we get a number of fart gags, kinetic and pointless physical comedy which only serves as filler and now thanks to this marvellous creation, we even get to see a Smurfs bare buttock. IN 3D! The brilliant 'Despicable Me 2' showed us that toilet humour and silly physical comedy is OK as long as they are surrounded by a good story and likable characters. Does 'The Smurfs 2' have any of these elements? Is a Smurfs arse green? No.
At a stretch 'The Smurfs 2' could have been an hour long TV special, made for little money and designed to entertain kids who are guzzling down sugar coated cereal on a Saturday morning. But at nearly 2 hours long, the film is an intolerable horror that outstays it's welcome within 10 minutes and is destined to linger in our cinemas for at least the next month. I feel sorry for any parent who is dragged kicking and screaming to see 'The Smurfs 2'. Thankfully I didn't because believe me, if I had, I would have asked for a refund.
FOR ALL THOSE INTERESTED IN THE PUNK/ALTERNATIVE MUSIC SCENE, THE UPCOMING BIRMINGHAM BAND 'DRAG' IS IN NEED OF SUPPORT TO HELP FUND THE RELEASE OF THEIR BRILLIANT DEBUT ALBUM 'NEUROTICA : A COMPENDIUM OF TALES REGARDING BODY AND SOUL'. GO ON, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO :
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