Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Smurfs: The Lost Village - The First 3D Animated Movie of the Cute Smurfs

As usual, when a movie related to the very cute smurfs would be playing, my wife and I would definitely allocate our time to see this one in the theater. Especially since we have watched the previous 2 Smurf movies in cinema as well. It was a good thing that the movie premiered on a public holiday in Indonesia so we were able to see this one without the challenges we usually faced when watching on weekday due to my office schedule's unpredictability and my wife's busy food tasting events. After spending some time going to a new coffee shop that my wife wanted to try, we went to Senayan City to see the movie. So let us start with the film itself.

Brief Story Line

Smurfette (Singer Demi Lovato) was feeling unsure about her role in the Smurfs village. Each and every smurf had his own specialty, such as Brainy smurf (Danny Pudi - Community TV series) obviously the smart smurf, Hefty smurf (Joe Manganiello - Magic Mike, True Blood TV series etc) who was very strong, or Clumsy smurf (Jack McBrayer - 30 Rock TV series) who was very clumsy, even other smurfs like Jokey, Nosey, Grouchy, Farmer and so on. But Smurfette did not have any clarity of her specialty.

When Brainy, Hefty and Clumsy tried to cheer Smurfette by accompanying her to play outside their village, Smurfette accidentally stumbled on someone in the woods who really intrigued her. However that someone fled to the forbidden forest and Smurfette was unable to locate it. Meanwhile the evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson - The Office TV series) and his cat Azrael found out that these 4 smurfs were playing around outside their hidden village. So Gargamel immediately assigned his bird Monty to capture the smurfs.

These smurfs were able to escape from Gargamel and return safely to their home. But Papa Smurf (Mandy Patinkin - The Princess Bride, Homeland TV series) who realized that these 4 smurfs went outside to dangerous area, scolded and grounded them for the night. Smurfette who felt guilty of letting Gargamel found out about the forbidden forest wanted to go to there to warn them against Gargamel's "invasion".

Brainy, Hefty and Clumsy all found out about Smurfette's plan and accompanied her to embark on the journey to the forbidden forest with the danger of Gargamel, Azrael and Monty who were heading in the same direction. So what would Smurfette and her friends find in this forbidden forest? Would they be able to warn them of Gargamel's evil intentions? Find them all in this fun light humourus movie of the cute blue smurfs.

End of Brief Story Line

Well this is the first time Smurfs movie was done in 3D animation. The previous 2 movies were all combined with humans with some well known actors and actresses played in the movie such as Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and Hank Azaria. The animation of this movie was done very beautifully and I am pretty sure the 3D effects are very good (although I did not see the movie in 3D, but I can imagine some scenes that would be very great seen in 3D). Furthermore, the movie was shot in 3D and not converted into 3D at later stage like other recent live action movies. So the effects would definitely be good.

The movie seemed to be aimed for children and family as there was no heavy story line and the movie also felt very colorful, with few nice songs here and there. The jokes/humors were not the adult type and should be easily understood. So parents should not be worried of bringing their kids to see this movie. My wife and I enjoyed the movie as it was quite light and was funny with some touching moments as well, plus some good moral message.

Because the movie was aimed for the younger children audience and putting emphasis on the cuteness of the smurfs, it should not be compared to heavier animated movies like Disney or Pixar production such as Toy Story, Moana and so on. I am confident that if you go to see this one with the objective of being entertained and had some good laughs and to see those cute smurfs, you would definitely be satisfied.

In addition to the above, it also had some other well known names providing their voices such as Julia Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez even Meghan Trainor who also sung a song titled I'm A Lady. By the way, during the end credit, there was some brief funny scene that you could enjoy. So be sure to wait in the cinema and watch this part before you leave.

So if you are a fan of Smurfs and want to see them running around, providing funny moments, plus the usual chasing of Gargamel and Azrael, then you would not be disappointed. But if you are looking for some serious animated movie, then beware that this is not that kind of movie. 

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Note: The movie had a lovely dedication after the end credit for Peyo's wife (Peyo was the creator of The Smurfs comic books). 

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