Yes, I've gone and done it again. Being a glutton for punishment I've gone an watched the latest in slick, Hollywood, cute talking animal kids films with The Smurfs. And yes, just like Furry Vengeance, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield and Yogi Bear...it's crap. To be fair, The Smurfs is one of the better talking animal efforts due to the energetic human cast. Neil Patrick Harris gets the absurdity of the concept an so injects a strong dose of irony and comic timing to the putrid slapstick, fart gags and childishness which surrounds him.
Better still is Hank Azaria as the evil wizard Gargamel. Like Harris, Azaria knows exactly what sort of schlock he's in and delivers a wildly silly, yet post-modern and self-aware performance that's almost too sophisticated for the lowest common denominator tone that director Raja Gosnell seems to be striving for.
However the story is paper thin, predictable and utterly inconsequential, the effects weak (maybe because they're bright blue both the Smurfs don't blend with their surroundings) and the Smurfs themselves annoying little twats. And to think, in my youth I used to collect the little cyan chappies at National Service Stations around the West Country. Now they're scum to me. Ah, the innocence of youth.
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