The Smurfs

Expectations:
As a kid, I loved the Smurfs. They were magical, small, and funny, just like me! I could not pass up the opportunity to see my little blue friends on the big screen, even as I approach age 20. I didn't really expect much out of the movie, mostly because I do not find Neil Patrick Harris the least bit interesting as an actor. Also, this summer has really been lacking as far as animated films are concerned, which is extremely rare. Usually we can count on animation to save Hollywood, because they don't have to make movies about the same old crap every time. They can create whatever characters and put them in whatever world they choose. So I just pray that animation makes a triumphant rebound next summer!

Plot:
The plot is simple and very childish with no depth whatsoever. I did not feel any emotional connection to Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) or his wife Grace (Jayma Mays). It was like the writers were trying soooo hard to develop some sort of lesson to learn from this movie and utterly failed. Obviously, the Smurfs are trying to avoid being captured by Gargamel (Hank Azaria) and his cat, as they do in the old cartoons. I personally felt like they should have left that as the only real storyline. The addition of the real world and the humans made for some funny events, but I really would have rather seen the Smurfs remain in their own little world. This movie would have been so much better if it were strictly animated.

Characters:
The characters really lacked any depth at all. The only two Smurfs I cared about were Clumsy and Papa. Every other character just seemed awkward to me, mostly because the situation was awkward. As I said, Neil Patrick Harris struggles to interest me in this film as well as everything else. Jayma Mays did alright, so I have nothing bad to say about her. The voices for the Smurfs were pretty good, and I liked that none of the Smurfs fell for Smurfette, because kids don't give a crap about that anyway, and this is definitely a kids movie. I really liked Clumsy (voiced by Anton Yelchin) more than any of the other Smurfs. He actually represented overcoming your troubles to accomplish something great. Something that kids need to see.

Best Character: Azrael, Gargamel's cat, was actually pretty freakin hilarious. He really made Gargamel look like an idiot and brought on many laughs from the kids, which is the most important thing.

Worst Character: Gargamel, played by Hank Azaria, was just not a very threatening villain. If I were still five years old, I would have said that he was just stupid. Obviously you can't remove the villain from The Smurfs movie, but they could have done something different.

Conclusion:
I didn't expect much with The Smurfs nor did I get much from The Smurfs. I really thought the Smurfs were digitalized very well. Ten minutes into the movie, I was ready to adopt one and bring it home with me. There were some awkward parts where Patrick would give them a hug or Grace would pick them up, and it was very very fake looking. Overall I got what I expected, but I thought there were many things that could have been done better. I give The Smurfs 2.03 out of 5 stars and hope the studio stops after one film. I don't want the 21st century to ruin the Smurfs for my future children.