The Smurfs and the Lost Village – Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)

Directed by: Kelly Asbury | 90 minutes | animation, adventure, comedy, family, fantasy | Dutch voice cast: Pip Pellens, Johnny de Mol, Bartho Braat, Kasper van Kooten, Hugo Kennis, Sarah Nauta, Ellen ten Damme, Jelka van Houten, Kees Tol, Koos van Plateringen, Roy Donders, Diederik Jekel, Tygo Gernandt | Original voice cast: Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBrayer, Danny Pudi, Mandy Patinkin, Dee Bradley Baker, Frank Welker, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Julia Roberts, Ariel Winter, Meghan Trainor, Bret Marnell, Brandon Jeffords, Kelly Asbury, Jake Johnson, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, Gordon Ramsay

‘Somewhere far from here, where there are mushroom houses, a people live free and happy’. Everyone who grew up in the eighties knows the cartoon series about the Smurfs. The blue, gnome-like figures that the Belgian cartoonist Peyo created and that get into a fight with the evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael in almost every adventure, are still popular with the public in 2017. Peyo, with a nod to ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, gave all Smurfs their own (stereotypical) personality, to which they also gave their name. A simple characterization that caught on with the (young) audience. Papa Smurf (with a white beard and a distinctive red cap and pants) is the boss of the ragtag mess, which includes Lol Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Chunky Smurf and Clumsy Smurf. Strangely enough, only one female Smurf lives in the Smurf Village: Smurfette. Exactly how that works becomes clear in the third computer-animated feature film about our little blue friends, entitled ‘The Smurfs and the Lost Village’ (2017). Where ‘The Smurfs’ (2011) and ‘The Smurfs 2′ (2013) were still combinations of animation and live-action, Columbia Pictures has now opted for animations only. Significant changes have also been made in the voice cast; not a single star from the previous two films (Katy Perry, Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris and Alan Cumming, among others) returns. However, they have not been replaced by the least replacements (Demi Lovato, Rainn Wilson, Julia Roberts and Joe Mangianello).

Not everyone will know, but Smurfette was once created from a piece of clay by the evil magician Gargamel, with the intention of turning the Smurfs’ heads and turning them against each other. So he could capture them and steal their magical powers. It didn’t get that far, however; when Smurfette was unmasked, Papa Smurf managed to turn her into a good Smurf. In ‘The Smurfs and the Lost Village’, Smurfette goes in search of her hidden talents. One day she goes out with Brainy Smurf, Clumsy Smurf and Chunky Smurf. Then Smurfette spots a mysterious creature that she thinks is a Smurf. When they follow the creature, Smurfette is suddenly captured by Gargamel. He has discovered that in the Forbidden Forest there appears to be another Smurf village. While Smurfette is freed by her three friends, she devises a plan to warn the Smurfs in that other village about Gargamel. Completely against Papa Smurf’s wishes, she sneaks away at night to the Forbidden Forest, again joined by Brainy Smurf, Clumsy Smurf and Hefty Smurf. In the forest they come to a Smurf village that is completely populated by female Smurfs, led by Smurf Willow. Papa Smurf meanwhile realizes that four of his smurfs have run off and gives chase. When he discovers the Smurf Village with the female Smurfs, it turns out that Gargamel has beaten him and captured all the Smurfs. He himself does not know how to escape from the evil wizard. Only Smurfette can save the Smurfs…

Sixty years after his comic debut, Peyo’s creation from 1958 (!) still appeals to the imagination, although the story of ‘The Smurfs and the lost village’ is quite predictable and the film does not distinguish itself with its animations. Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures had already started scripting this third film, while the second installment in the series was yet to be released. So there is plenty of enthusiasm, but that does not always produce the best films. The ‘backstory’ around Smurfette is a nice fact and fits in the line that this third film is closer to Peyo’s original stories than its two predecessors. In this case, however, more authentic does not equal more original. The film seems to work from song to song, perhaps to keep the young target audience sharp. There is plenty for children to enjoy with ‘The Smurfs and the Lost Village’. They really don’t care that you can see from miles away where this story is going, that the jokes are rather bland and that the animations are fairly uninspired. Feminists may applaud the fact that Smurfette is now the heroine, and that as a woman in a man’s world she appears not to be alone. But ‘The Smurfs and the Lost Village’ seems to have a right to exist mainly in the sense that a new generation of children can meet those little blue friends who used to keep their parents glued to the TV.