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Reviews & Ratings for
The Smurfs More at IMDbPro »

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260 out of 367 people found the following review useful:

Let's put it this way: My 5 year old walked out

Author: drew_atreides from Ontario, Canada
30 July 2011

Took my 5 year old son to see this one at a Saturday Matinée.

I can't remember the last time i saw a more un-engaging kids flick.

My kid was noticeably bored from the word go, but i'll give him credit he was a trooper through the first half. I've seen him get restless before in the theatre, this one he was more or less falling asleep.

When we got to the scene where Gargamel peed in the restaurant i was ready to check out, but i would brave it if my son was having a good time.

Wonder of wonders, at that point he turned to me and said "Dad, i have to go to the bathroom, but when we're done there can we not come back into the theatre and just go home?"

Tells you all you need to know about this one.

Don't waste your time or your money.

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93 out of 124 people found the following review useful:

Hollywood, stop raping our childhood classics!

Author: t_atzmueller from Germany
2 August 2011

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Clever producers and marketers have known it ever since: when in doubt, take some beloved children's comic-, cartoon- or toy-franchise and put them into a 'hip' contemporary setting (that's NYC or Los Angeles to you and me). This has worked many times before, having produced such monumental box-office hits like "Masters of the Universe", "The Neverending Story 3" and the record-breaking "Howard the Duck". Not to forget that epic events when Jason went to New York or when Mr. Bean went to Los Angeles. To paraphrase a currently fashionable comedian: all those films were "WINNING" … and so is "The Smurfs".

Hollywood, we understand that a buck means more than anything to you but please – pretty please – stop raping our childhood classics. Mr. Spielberg, if you happen to read this, please: "LEAVE TINTIN ALONE!" So as to not let this review degenerate into a complete rant: the acting was alright (for your average children's TV-show ala Sesame Street) and Frank Azaria, well, let's just say that I liked his various voices in "The Simpsons". The real problem is the Smurfs themselves, who seem soul- and lifeless as, almost as if they had been created by a computer.

How would I grade this calculated, corporate train-wreck? Well, I'll give it a finger but it certainly isn't the 'thumbs-up' one. Save a few bucks, rent the Hanna-Barbera "Smurfs"-series or treat yourself with the original, "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute".

I'll be seeing you next year for the Hollywood remake of "Asterix the Gaul". I'll let you in on a secret: Asterix and Obelix go through a mystical time-gate and end up in New York, where they'll be playing Guitar Hero ™ with a former child-star – and it's in 3D! But all that's top-secret inside information. Now excuse me, I'll have to go and pass water over the grave of Peyo.

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153 out of 246 people found the following review useful:

Everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

Author: Robert E from Stockholm, Sweden
2 August 2011




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172 out of 312 people found the following review useful:

La La La La La, this film is a piece of junk.

Author: afijamesy2k from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
26 July 2011

The Smurfs 1/2 Star

Of all the bad movies based on cartoon series and comic strips, this has got to be the worst I've ever seen, the story is simple, the smurfs try to get away from gargamel when all of sudden they get time traveled to what you believe New York City of all places then they meet a man played by an embarrassed Neil Patrick Harris who has so good in Clara's heart and TV shows like doogie houser m.d. and how I Met you mother and some other woman to protect the smurfs or else gargamel will turn them into gold for what reason. Now the smurfs I Remember from the cartoon was funny, amazing and had a good heart, this one is just absolutely nasty, truly dreadful and truly, absolutely unnecessary.

The Acting is in this one is either horrible, waste of talent, (what the hell is katy perry doing in this piece of junk, truly terrible), the screenplay is simply a big mess, the CGI effects are horrible, the 3D is trash, the musical score is full of crap and everything else is truly stupid and here are some things that I Truly hated about this movie

That one smurf would shake his ass, one smurf would fall into the toilet after he blew his bubble, that the smurfs would also look at a Sony electronic billboard and guess who release this movie,You guess it Columbia pictures, the makers of this film and the same ones who did two dreadfully bad films like Leonard Part 6 and Ishtar almost 25 years ago. the makers of this piece of truly dreadful trash oaught to be ashamed of themselves, shame on them and shame on this movie.

and who is owned by Columbia Pictures, you guess it Sony. Kids might like this, because they haven't seen the original cartoons.

Peyo, Don Messick, Hanna-Barbera and others are rolling in their graves as we speak.

This is the worst movie of the year and one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

A Pure absolute dead zone.

They outta to be ashamed of themselves.

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63 out of 100 people found the following review useful:

Smurfed Away My Money

Author: Fields201 from United States
30 July 2011

What was I thinking? I knew this movie was going to be bad, but yet I felt compelled to go see it for myself. I was never really a big fan of the Smurfs cartoon but yet I remember I wanted that Smurfs Atari game so bad. Later I found out that it was horrible but I'm sure I would have loved it as a kid. Why did I go see this?

It's not completely terrible. Hank Azaria did a very good job playing Gargamel and I could actually see the cartoon counterpart that he was based on. I didn't see this in 3D but I can imagine it would be pretty entertaining to watch in that format. I just didn't pay for the 3D because I didn't want to pay more for a bad film, and I had been suffering with headaches lately. I didn't want to make it worse.

With that being said, the film centers around the Smurfs escaping from Gargamel who found them in their village. In some weird way, they come across this portal they knew nothing about until that time, and they are forced to go into this portal in order to escape from Gargamel and his CG cat Azriel. There, the Smurfs stumble upon New York City where they find the care of Doogie Houser and his cute, pregnant wife. They must find a way back home while being hunted by Gargamel on the streets of New York, and Doogie is trying to not to get fired from his cosmetics job.

One of my biggest problems is that I never felt connected to the Smurfs. The only ones that I really knew was Papa Smurf (who can ever forget Papa Smurf anyway), Smurfette and Clumsy Smurf who the only reason why I knew him is because they always reference how clumsy he is, gets left behind, and I knew that he was going to be the hero by the end of it all. Movie 101: If a character in your film is the underdog, he will always prevail in the end. This film is no exception.

The film is basically sloppy writing through and through, especially in the ending. The film could have ended easily by having the adults handle all the work but we couldn't have a Smurfs climax without having them be the center of it. So they basically just have the adults just stand around somewhere as the Smurfs get their butts kicked by Gargamel.

It's a kid's film and this film knows it. The kids will eat this up despite probably never seeing the cartoons. It wasn't the worst film I've seen but certainly not the greatest of kid's films. It was directed by Raja Gosnell. I should have stayed far away. Smurf you, Raja.

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80 out of 143 people found the following review useful:

Much better than the reviews!

Author: craig-158 from Springdale, AR
31 July 2011

I just watched The Smurfs with my wife, my 10 year old son, and my 5 year old daughter and we all enjoyed the movie very much. I had promised to take my kids to see this after seeing the first preview several months ago and I was concerned with the poor ratings on IMDb and poor critic reviews. However, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how good the film was. It had a good story line and was much funnier than I expected.

The live characters were cast very well with Hank Azaria playing a perfect Gargamel and the smurf voices were good as well, especially Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf and Katy Perry as Smurfette (my daughter's favorite).

Bottom line, if you have small children or you were a fan of the cartoon growing up, you will enjoy this film.

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60 out of 105 people found the following review useful:

Not awful... but not good

Author: Stephen Cook from United States
25 July 2011

Thank goodness The Smurfs was not the god-awful trainwreck everyone made it out to be, or else I would have wasted thirty minutes in line to see another failed cartoon adaptation.

I won't say it's good, but it was surprisingly not bad. Of course, The Smurfs does not exactly have enough substance to hold a full-grown adult's attention for all of its 86 minutes, but it is a surefire hit with the kids. The linear and simple plot follows a small group of Smurfs that get accidentally sucked into a portal to the human world while trying to escape the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria). The little blue people quickly enlist the help of married couple Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace (Jayma Mays) to protect them from Gargamel, who plans to harvest the Smurfs' essence for magical power, and to re-create a portal that only happens once in a blue moon…

The movie includes some emotional subplots with Papa Smurf and Patrick, who feels he is unready to start his own family; though it all becomes pretty unnecessary in the face of the Smurfs' main goal to return home. Humor, again, mainly appeals to the kids, sporting sight gag after sight gag, but every once in a while there's a clever reference thrown in for the older folks in the audience. Hank Azaria gives about the most cartoonish performance as any villain could, resulting in an upsetting mix of interest and annoyance. On the other hand, where it is used the CGI is incredibly high-quality (i.e. the Smurfs, Gargamel's cat, etc.), and the special effects are designed more specifically for 3-D viewing than in most movies as of late.

I know some people have proclaimed this film to be a bastardization of a childhood cartoon favorite, but I argue that it isn't. The film is very aware of its origins with Peyo and respects that fact. They actually pay direct homage to the creator towards the end of the story. An exact imitation of the cartoon series this movie is not, but it is a fun and well-intentioned take on the story.

The Smurfs is mildly entertaining, at its best, but it is written with the right spirit and is in no way an injustice against the original series. It offers a nostalgic throwback (with a modern twist) for the adults and an amusing show for the little ones. For the ones in between, I advise avoiding this movie.

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59 out of 104 people found the following review useful:

A total disaster

Author: nicknaseef17 from United States
2 August 2011

The words above say it all, this film was a total disaster in every way. When I went to go see it with my young cousins I figured they would enjoy it and it might provide a few laughs for an older audience, I didn't laugh once. Even my three cousins (all under 8) didn't laugh. My 7 year old cousins even uttered the words, "That was stupid." as we walked out of the theater. I was very much inclined to agree with him, it was totally pathetic. Although I must admit that it was what I was expecting, but the children wanted to see it so I went, bit mistake. Save your cash people, don't go see this movie. In fact, don't even wait for the's not even worth your dollar at redbox.

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31 out of 49 people found the following review useful:

One Long Advertisement for Sony Products

Author: Mickey Z from France
13 August 2011

Some films ought to come with a warning, as in: WARNING: THIS FILM EXISTS FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN TO SELL (X COMPANY)'s PRODUCT.

It's already bad enough that product placement has become ubiquitous in films and television. It's hard to remember a film or television show that hasn't, in one form or another, served as an advertising platform for one product or another.

And of course much of children's television programming has long centered around selling one toy or another.

In this case, however, the Evil Corporation behind this film took it to a new level : the entire film is itself product placement for pretty much the entire panoply of the company's products. Even worse, a number of essential plot points hinge upon the company's products. At another point, the film takes a 'time out' as it were to incorporate a longish sequence whose only purpose is to push the company's products. (Although there were a number of other corporations' products in the film as well -- no doubt these companies have cross-marketing agreements in place).

To top it off? I was forced to pay in order for my family to watch this company's hour-and-a-half advertisement. And an entirely mediocre film for all that (see the other reviews for why this film is so bad).

Well, that's the last time I'll take my kids to a film from this company, that's certain.

If corporations insist on flooding their films with advertisements, how can they insist we pay for them? This film is an excellent argument for film piracy.

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39 out of 65 people found the following review useful:

Seriously, why all the negativity?

Author: Andreas Jacobsson from Sweden
18 August 2011

Please people, some objectivity... A movie that does not conform to your personal tastes need not automatically be rated 1 or 2, a rating which I'd take to mean that it is just about the worst kind of crap you have ever laid eyes on (unless of course you really think it is in which case I'd recommend you to "broaden your cinematic horizons", but most people tend to exaggerate their opinions based on their emotional bias).

This is a children's movie, plain and simple, although admittedly a mediocre one in comparison to some of the truly great children's movies. As such there are certainly things about this movie that could have been handled in a more satisfying manner. One positive thing I can mention is the fact that it does not try to be anything but what it is.

Now, I may of course be wrong... It has been a very long time since I were in a position to give any accurate recommendations to the age group targeted by this movie. However, I must admit that what is left of the child within did find parts of it rather entertaining! :)

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