Smurfs: The Lost Village
3 stars
Director: Kelly Asbury
Stars: Ariel Winter, Joe Manganiello, Michelle Rodriguez
Duration: 89 minutes
Class: U
KRS Releasing Ltd

With the two recent combination live-action/CG films chronicling the antics of the Smurfs (2011’s The Smurfs and 2013’s The Smurfs 2) going down incredibly well – with a combined, worldwide box office totalling around €910 million, it’s no wonder they are back.

And, for their third big screen outing, the filmmakers have opted to omit the human element, proffering a fully animated story that places the little blue beings in the environment they work best in. The animation is based on the original by the Smurfs’ creator Peyo, Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, who created the Smurfs back in 1958.

Not unexpectedly, the plot centres on evil wizard Gargamel (voic­ed by Rainn Wilson) who is again hatching elaborate – and usually useless – plans of capturing the Smurfs for nefarious ends… yet despite being captured, Smurfette (Demi Lovato) and her best friends Brainy (Danny Pudi), Clumsy (Jack McBrayer) and Hefty (Joe Mangianiello) thwart his plans, escape his clutches and set out to explore the Forbidden Forest where they stumble on a mysterious lost village, and make a startling discovery.

Adds the right amounts of warmth, humour and energy

Written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon, Smurfs: The Lost Village is aimed squarely at the ridiculously young. However, without giving anything away, it goes out of its way to address one of the criticisms often made of the Smurfs’ universe (you’ll know when you see it.)  Not that the story is deep in any way � as a story it lacks the strong narratives and often life-affirming messages found in many top-notch animated movies nowadays. But, in all fairness, it never pretends to be more than it is, and is enjoyable simply for being just that.

And as the story unfolded I did giggle to myself more often than I would care to admit. With a couple of well-pointed double entendres, it romps along at a jolly pace with the voice cast, led by Lovato with TV’s Homeland’s Mandy Patinkin giving his strong tenor voice to Papa Smurf, and Julia Roberts also chipping in. It adds the right amounts of warmth, humour and energy to the characters to the point that Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays,  the human characters who did much of the heavy lifting in the previous two instalments,  are not missed.

The decision to recreate to the original animation is a plus, with the bright blue of the Smurf population the main colour in a vibrant palette that includes their familiar mushroom homes, lush greens and exploding bursts of vibrant primary colours of the flora and fauna in their forest environment, and raging rivers with luminous glow-in-the-dark creatures.

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