The Smurfs 2 (2013)

Pretty Good

From my favorite movies..

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Blistering performances.

How can you not like Smurfs, whose sole reason for existence is to live a peaceful life full of fun, dancing, singing and love? Not to mention that they live in cool mushroom houses in the forest and all wear the same outfit. If you've wondered what those little blue creatures have been doing since the first film, you can rest easy, as life in the Smurf village has been Smurftastic. I'm sure the only reason we have a sequel is because the first movie made almost $560 million. With this outing, you can expect the same visual pleasantries, but beyond a couple of lines of dialogue that garner a chuckle, I don't see unimaginatively-titled 'The Smurfs 2′ playing to anyone over the age of five.As I said, life is going very well in the Smurf village as everyone prepares a giant surprise celebration for Smurfette's birthday. However, Smurfette herself (Katy Perry) thinks that the other Smurfs have forgotten her special day. As she questions her own creation, she begins to think that she doesn't belong with the Smurfs, but rather with her creator, the evil and dim-witted Gargamel (Hank Azaria).Meanwhile, Gargamel now lives in Paris with his cat Azrael, and is a beloved magician in the city, playing to sold-out crowds every night. Little does anyone know that he has a sinister plan to kidnap all the Smurfs to steal their essence, which will make him more powerful so that he can rule the world. To do this, Gargamel creates two other Smurf-like creatures called Naughties. One is Vexy (Christina Ricci), a mix between a goth girl and a hipster, and the other is Hackus (J.B. Smoove), a red- haired Irish Smurf who could double as a beach bum. The two Naughties travel to Smurf village, capture Smurfette and bring her to the real world. Soon afterwards, Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) follows after them with Grouchy (George Lopez), Clumsy (Anton Yelchin) and Vanity (John Oliver) to save Smurfette. As you'd imagine, this team of Smurfs ends up enlisting the help of their Earth friends Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace (Jayma Mays) once again. But this time around, Patrick's stepdad Victor (Brendan Gleeson) is there to help as well.One of the only decent things to come out of this sequel is Gleeson, who seems to give it his all in a comedic role, whereas the other actors seem bored to be there and are underused, with the exception of Azaria's kooky sorcerer. It's a shame, as Neil Patrick Harris is a multi-talented guy who can sing, dance and has great comedic timing, but here, he seems to be a robot. Oliver's voice for Vanity gets the most laughs, even if his jokes are told over and over again throughout the movie, which is a common problem amongst all the characters this time around. Ricci and Perry do solid jobs, but J.B. Smoove playing an Irish Smurf killed me. This was Jonathan Winters' last film, and he adds a warm and nostalgic feeling with his charming voice for Papa Smurf.The look of the film is very pleasing with bright colors and tons of things happening on every part of the screen. The camera flies through building structures, makes a slapstick candy store scene fun, and swoops around a giant runaway Ferris wheel in Paris. That being said, the visuals are almost undone by the horrible music selections, which might only excite an 11-year-old girl. The 3D is quite terrible too. The backgrounds in the movie that were supposed to add depth don't, and instead come across very blurry and flat, as well as produce a double image.Even if you enjoy the Smurfs, this sequel might leave a sour taste in your mouth.

Another romp with the tiny blue-skinned humanoids. The land of perky, gnome-like Smurfs is shocked, when the evil wizard Gargamel(Hank Azaria)kidnaps popular Smurfette(Katy Perry)for his own dastardly purposes. Gargamel thinks he can gain the secret Smurf-essence from the cute Smurfette to enable his attempt at changing his latest creation of little troublemakers called Naughties into real Smurfs. Gargamel has ideas that with obtaining the secret Smurf-essence, he can impress the greatest sorcerers of the world as he builds a majestic kingdom. Several crafty Smurfs led by Papa(Jonathan Winters)join up with their human friends Patrick(Neil Patrick Harris)and Grace(Jayma Mays)to rescue Smurfette.THE SMURFS 2 is a family pleaser, rated PG for some rude humor. Animation and color is top notch. Rounding out the cast is voices from the likes of: George Lopez, Christina Ricci, Jeff Foxworthy, Shaq O'Neal and Jimmy Kimmel.

I'm really puzzled by these reviews. Firstly, we have people saying they hated the first film but this is even worse. Excuse me, but what kind of stupid do you have to be to watch a sequel to a film you hated? Then there's people who complain that the film is for children? But hey, what did you expect? Well, I expected the worst, I never liked the Smurfs and I'm old enough to remember that awful song from the 70s. I've seen the McDonalds toys and I was prepared to hate this. But every Sunday we take our children to see a movie for a pound and this is what was on. I've seen Despicable Me 2, Turbo, Monsters University, Cloudy with Meatballs 2 and the Rise of the Guardians over the last few weeks on the same terms. I enjoyed those in varying degrees, but I wanted to give this one a miss. But it's for the kids, not me, so I went along. And I guess what, I actually enjoyed it.There's no point me regurgitating the plot, but highlights for me were Christina Ricci giving a bit of Wednesday to Vexy, the naughty sister Smurf, the one-dimensional pantomime baddie (he's behind you!) and the cat, which amused me if no-one else. The plot is not believable, according to some. Yeah, and you sat though Despicable Me 2 and Cloudy with Meatballs 2? The plot is consistent with the rules set for the movie, just go with it. And if your children like it, what's not to like for you?

The Smurfs 2 With only one female in their species it's surprising that the Smurfs aren't extinct.Magically, the 3-apple-tall genus has thrived in an all-male society - until now.With his supply of Smurf essence depleting, Gargamel (Hank Azaria) sends his latest creations the Naughties (Christina Ricci, J. B. Smoove) to Smurf village to kidnap Smurfette (Katy Perry).With her hostage, Gargamel hopes to gain Papa's (Jonathan Winters) Smurf-making potion so he'll never run out of magical essence.To save Smurfette and stop Gargamel's pending output, a group of misfit Smurfs (Alan Cumming, Anton Yelchin, George Lopez, John Oliver) must travel to Paris and get help from an old friend (Neil Patrick Harris) to do so.Puerile even for the pre-school set, Smurfs 2 plods its way through a predictable predicament, limp one-liners, and maddening Smurf-centric dialogue.Incidentally, with their blue hue maybe the Smurfs are really the corpses of asphyxiated infants. Red Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca