The Smurfs is a 2011 American live-action/computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and The Kerner Entertainment Company, which was released in theaters on July 29, 2011 by Columbia Pictures through the Sony Pictures Releasing label. Loosely based on The Smurfs by Belgian comic illustrator Peyo, it stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofía Vergara and Hank Azaria, with the voices of Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Anton Yelchin, George Lopez, Fred Armisen and Alan Cumming. It was directed by Scooby-Doo! movie director Raja Gosnell and produced by Charlotte's Web and George of the Jungle producer Jordan Kerner based on a screenplay by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn and a story by Stem and N. Weiss.
Even though it was negatively welcomed from critics, the film was welcomed slightly more positively from the audience that praised its concept, Hank Azaria's performance as Gargamel, the CGI, humor and the musical score but also criticizied the designs and characterization of the Smurfs calling them too realistic and sweet and they also criticized its cliches. It grossed $564 million worldwide against its production budget of $110 million, making it the highest-grossing live-action/animated film of all time. It was also Sony Pictures Animation's most financially successful film until 2023, when their own Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse beat their box office record with $575 million worldwide as of July 2, 2023. A sequel, The Smurfs 2, was released on July 31, 2013, and a fully CGI reboot film, Smurfs: The Lost Village was released on April 7, 2017.
Plot[]
In the beginning of the film, as Farmer Smurf races Greedy Smurf to the Smurf Village carrying sacks of Smurfberries, Narrator Smurf tells the audience about the Blue Moon Festival, where every Smurf prepares to sing the Smurf song in a dance choreographed by Vanity Smurf.
However, of all the Smurfs who are permitted to join in the dance, Brainy, Grouchy Smurf, and Gutsy Smurf prevent Clumsy Smurf from joining in because he's too accident-prone. This, however, doesn't stop the Smurfs already in the dance from being toppled over when Gutsy and Grouchy give Brainy a flying boot. Meanwhile, Papa Smurf is in his laboratory seeing a vision, showing Clumsy with a dragon wand, the Smurfs in cages, and Gargamel having ultimate power. Clumsy, who just happens to enter Papa Smurf's laboratory during the vision, sees that the village leader is out of Smurfroot and offers to go get some. Papa Smurf warns Clumsy not to go into the forest, fearing what he had seen in the vision.
However, as Clumsy traipses off into the forest to collect the Smurfroot, he accidentally lures Gargamel and Azrael through a barrier that renders the Smurf Village cloaked from outside. As the Smurfs flee from Gargamel, some of them go off in a direction that warns them not to go that way.
It leads to the Forbidden Falls where a magic portal opens up during the blue moon and sucks them up, transporting them years into the future, where they emerge to discover that they are now in modern-day New York City. Gargamel and Azrael end up following the Smurfs through the same portal and also arrive at the same destination, only to lose the Smurfs.
The time-lost Smurfs take shelter with a young married couple, who are expecting a baby. Patrick works as an advertiser for Anjelou, a cosmetics company, and must come up with a suitable advertising campaign for his client in two days. While the Smurfs offer more of a nuisance than a help with Patrick's advertising project, Patrick does help them come up with a way that they can predict the rise of another blue moon so they can return back to their original time period.
The blue moon inspires Patrick to come up with an advertising campaign that he thought would be suitable for his client's product, and even though he second-guesses himself and creates a different advertisement to send in its place, the original idea accidentally gets emailed and promoted all over the city, causing his employer to warn him to fix the problem or he will be fired.
Meanwhile, Gargamel hides out in the abandoned Belvedere Castle in Central Park, using its equipment to make a magic formula from a lock of Smurfette's hair so he could track down the Smurfs and capture them. This leads to an encounter with them inside FAO Schwarz and later inside Mr. Wong's Mystical Emporium where he gets his hands on the dragon wand seen in Papa Smurf's vision.
In the emporium and also through the Internet, the Smurfs discover that their legend has been passed on into the modern age through a cartoon artist named Peyo. However, Papa Smurf does get captured by Gargamel and is held prisoner inside the wizard's hideout, where he uses the dragon wand to refashion the Smurf essence extractor machine in the hopes of using it to extract the essence of every Smurf.
With the help of Patrick and Grace, the Smurfs succeed in opening the portal back to their own time, through which Brainy gets the rest of the Smurfs in the village. Every single Smurf is lined up on the edge of the balcony, as Gargamel was temporarily distracted by two helpless Smurfs that were standing on the roof.
Gargamel believes that he can capture them all and get more power than he could ever dream of. Luckily, his Smurf essence extractor machine is doing nothing, as Smurfette confronted Azrael while freeing Papa Smurf from the container that imprisoned him. Gargamel's wand is then stolen by Gutsy Smurf, who foolishly drops it toward the ground.
Luckily, Clumsy and feathers fly above at Belvedere castle he jumps so high and catch the wand. He grows bigger and Super Clumsy prepare to faces Gargamel while Gargamel is hit by a bus, later shown on the streets, blasting magic at the viewer while he cries about his defeat the Smurfs are cheerful for Clumsy that he has saved them and Smurfette and Clumsy share a hug and she kisses his cheek. And Papa destroys the wand and tells Clumsy he is very proud of him.
After the Smurfs make their heartfelt goodbyes to their human friends, Patrick gets a call from his boss, thanking him for the advertising campaign which the Smurfs had incidentally restored her faith in.
By the end-credits, Grace gives birth to a healthy baby.
Cast[]
The Humans:
- Neil Patrick Harris as Patrick Winslow
- Jayma Mays as Grace Winslow
- Sofía Vergara as Odile Anjelou
- Hank Azaria as Gargamel
- Tim Gunn as Henri
- Madison McKinley as Model
- Joan Rivers as Party Guest
- Liz Smith as Party Guest
The Smurfs:
- Anton Yelchin as Clumsy Smurf
- Katy Perry as Smurfette
- Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf
- Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf
- Paul Reubens as Jokey Smurf
- B.J. Novak as Baker Smurf
- George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf
- Fred Armisen as Brainy Smurf
- Kenan Thompson as Greedy Smurf
- John Oliver as Vanity Smurf
- Jeff Foxworthy as Handy Smurf
- Gary Basaraba as Hefty Smurf
- Wolfgang Puck as Chef Smurf
- John Kassir as Crazy Smurf
- Joel McCrary as Farmer Smurf
- Tom Kane as Narrator Smurf
Production[]
Development[]
In 1997, producer Jordan Kerner sent the first "of a series of letters" to The Smurfs' licensing agent Lafig Belgium expressing interest in making a feature film. It was not until 2002 after a draft of Kerner's film adaptation of Charlotte's Web was read by Peyo's heirs, that they accepted Kerner's offer. Peyo's daughter Véronique Culliford and family had wanted to make a Smurfs film for years and said that Kerner was the first person to pitch a film that shared their "vision and enthusiasm". Kerner soon began developing the 3-D CGI feature film with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. In 2006, Kerner said the film was planned to be a trilogy and would explain more of Gargamel's backstory. He stated, "We'll learn [more] about Gargamel and Smurf Soup and how all that began and what really goes on in that castle. What his backstory really was. There's an all-powerful wizard... there's all sorts of things that get revealed as we go along". Early animation footage was leaked on the internet in early 2008. The filmmakers were allowed to create three new Smurfs for the film – Narrator, Crazy, and Gutsy.
In June 2008, it was announced that Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation obtained the film rights from Lafig Belgium. Kerner said the current project started with Sony during a conversation with the chairman-CEO Michael Lynton, who grew up watching The Smurfs in the Netherlands. Kerner explained, "He relished them as I do and suggested that it should be a live-action/CG film. Amy Pascal felt equally that there was potentially a series of films in the making". Shrek 2 writers, J. David Stern and David N. Weiss wrote the screenplay along with Zookeeper writers Jay Scherick and David Ronn; Stem and Weiss also wrote the story. Raja Gosnell directed. Quentin Tarantino was in talks to play Brainy Smurf, however, these did not pan out.
Release[]
The film had its worldwide premiere on June 16, 2011, in Júzcar, a small village in Spain. To celebrate the release, the residents painted entire village, including church and other historical buildings in blue. Twelve local painters used 4,000 litres of blue to transform traditionally white Júzcar into the world's first Smurf Village. Although Sony vowed to restore the village to its former look, six months after the premiere, the residents voted to keep the colour, which had brought more than 80,000 tourists to Júzcar.
In the United States, the film was meant to be released on December 17, 2010, but it was delayed to July 29, 2011. It was then further delayed to August 3, 2011, before being moved up to July 29, 2011. Sony teamed up with marketing partners in the United States, The United Kingdom and Canada to promote the film through McDonald's Happy Meals and Post Foods brand cereal.
Reception[]
Box office[]
The Smurfs grossed $142.6 million in the United States and Canada, along with $421.1 million in foreign markets, for a worldwide total of $563.7 million. Documents from the Sony Pictures hack revealed the film turned a profit of $83 million. The film opened on approximately 5,300 screens at 3,395 locations, with 2,042 locations being 3D-enabled theaters. On July 28, 2011, Exhibitor Relations predicted The Smurfs would rank third its opening weekend with $24 million, but analyst Jeff Bock added that the film "could be a dark horse and do better than expected". That same day, John Young of Entertainment Weekly predicted a $32 million opening and a second-place ranking behind Cowboys & Aliens. He also stated that the ticket service Fandango reported that the film was leading in ticket sales. The Smurfs came in number one on Friday making an $13.2 million, ahead of Cowboys & Aliens' $13 million. According to Sony's research, 65% of The Smurfs' audience was parents (40%) and their children under 12 years old (25%). Overall the audience breakdown was reported as 64% female and 55% age 25 years and older. Estimates later showed that Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs were tied at the number one spot for the weekend with $36.2 million each. However, actual figures showed Cowboys & Aliens won the weekend with $36.4 million just beating The Smurfs' $35.6 million. The Smurfs' opening was still stronger than anticipated since some box office analysts predicted that it would open below $30 million. For its second weekend the film remained at number two with Rise of the Planet of the Apes taking Cowboys & Aliens' spot. It made $20.7 million (41% being from 3D showings), a 42% decrease from its opening weekend.
The Smurfs opened to $4.4 million from seven territories with Spain taking in $4 million of that total. On its second weekend it expanded to 42 territories, taking first place in most of its markets and grossing $45.2 million. Among the markets the film opened in first place were Brazil ($6.65 million), France ($5.93 million), Mexico ($5.53 million) Germany ($5.43 million). The film stayed number one at the international box office for the next seven weeks.
Critical reception[]
The Smurfs was praised for its musical score by Heitor Pereira, CGI work, and performance by Hank Azaria, though criticized the characterization and designs of the Smurfs, and also criticized its cliches. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, 21% of 117 critic reviews were reported positive, with an average rating of 4.01/10. The critics' consensus states, "The Smurfs assembles an undeniably talented cast of voice actors and live-action stars—then crushes them beneath a blue mound of lowest-common-denominator kiddie fare." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 30 based on 22 reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Despite the film receiving negative reviews, the performance of Neil Patrick Harris was praised by critics. Keith Staskiewicz of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a D+ saying, "The Smurfs may be blue, but their movie is decidedly green, recycling discarded bits from other celluloid Happy Meals like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield, and Hop into something half animated, half live action, and all careful studio calculation". Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review saying, "This numbingly generic Smurf-out-of-water-tale is strictly for those who stand closer to three apples tall." Ending the review he said, "Having previously helmed two Scooby-Doos and a Beverly Hills Chihuahua, director Raja Gosnell could probably have done this one in his sleep, which is likely where all but the most attentive of caregivers will helplessly find themselves drifting."
Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel gave it two out of four stars saying, "The good news about the big-screen 3D version of The Smurfs that's opening at your neighborhood multiplex is that it's not the insipid and some say "socialist" Smurfs you remember from 1980s TV". He called the slapstick "very small-kid friendly" and considered the adult-friendly jokes "pretty mild stuff". He closed his review saying, "Yeah, the Smurfs are still sickeningly sweet and upbeat. But if you've got kids, it's not nearly as torturous to sit through as you might have feared". Justin Chang of Variety described the film as "adorable and annoying, patently unnecessary yet kinda sweet" and calling it "a calculated commercial enterprise with little soul but an appreciable amount of heart". He said, "The script does wink knowingly in the direction of attentive adults". San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Hartlaub gave the film a mixed review. He said The Smurfs is a "rare movie where the worst parts are in the promos". He called Harris' performance an "honest effort in a thankless role" but said that Azaria as Gargamel "Hidden under prosthetics, [Hank Azaria] compensates for his lack of good lines and repulsive makeup by overacting". He closed his review saying, "Harris, mostly acting against Marshmallow Peep-sized animated creations, is convincing and likable throughout. No doubt he will poke fun at his participation in this film the next time he's hosting an awards show, but don't be fooled. It takes a good actor to save a bad movie". Ty Burr of The Boston Globe criticized the CGI used on the cat, the use of 3D by calling it "needless" and Lopez's voice as Grouchy. He called the Smurf rap the worst part of the film. However, Burr echoed Harlaub's praise for Harris' performance by saying, "Harris manages to class up whatever he touches, even if the sight of him repeatedly hitting himself with an umbrella probably won't go on the career highlight reel". About Azaria, he said, "[Azaria] gets to put on a baldy wig and fake buck-teeth and overact as broadly as he can. A little of this goes a long way unless you're 6 years old, which is the point". He also added that Sofia Vergara "shares the screenplay's confusion as to what, exactly, she's doing here".
USA Today's Scott Bowles enjoyed Azaria's performance calling him "the human standout" and saying "He and his distrusting cat, Azrael, steal scenes". He also called Jonathan Winters "wonderful" as Papa Smurf. Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times said Azaria was "quite funny". About the film's content, he said "Those grown-up winks, along with an array of New York locations, make The Smurfs a surprisingly tolerable film for adults. As for their children, well, who knows with kids? But at least the writers have cleverly built in enough Smurfology that today's youngsters will be able to get the basics of the blue universe". Betsy Sharkey from the Los Angeles Times gave the film a negative review saying, "Director Raja Gosnell starts with the innocence but then loses his way in trying to pull off the hipster spin the script by J. David Stern, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn is shooting for." and "There are many good actors wasted as voices—Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen and Winters among them—and in the flesh, though the greatest disservice is to Azaria".
Home media[]
- Main article: The Smurfs (video)
Sequel[]
The Smurfs 2[]
Main article: The Smurfs 2
A sequel, The Smurfs 2, was released on July 31, 2013, and includes Christina Ricci and J. B. Smoove to the main cast, with Jacob Tremblay starring as Blue, Patrick and Grace's son, and Brendan Gleeson as Victor Doyle, Patrick's step-father, Grace's step-father-in-law, and Blue's step-grandfather. Raja Gosnell and Jordan Kerner returned to the film to direct and produce respectively. It was the last Smurfs material to feature Jonathan Winters as the voice of Papa Smurf prior to his death in April 2013. It received even worse reception unlike the previous, with many deeming it inferior to its predecessor, and perceived its lack of fidelity to the source material, though was still commercially successful, grossing $347 million worldwide against its budget of $105 million.
Cancelled third film and reboot[]
Main article: Smurfs: The Lost Village
A third film was announced by Columbia Pictures in 2013, though was cancelled in 2015 after Sony Pictures Animation announced a fully computer-animated reboot. The reboot film, titled Smurfs: The Lost Village, was released on April 7, 2017 to mixed reviews from critics, though praised it for being reliable to the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon. It was dedicated to Jonathan Winters, who died in 2013, to Anton Yelchin, who died in 2016, and to Nine Culliford, the wife of Peyo, who also died in 2016. The film was directed by Kelly Asbury, and stars the voice talents of Demi Lovato as Smurfette (replacing Katy Perry), with Rainn Wilson, Joe Manganiello, Mandy Patinkin, Jack McBrayer, Danny Pudi, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Jake Johnson, Ariel Winter, Meghan Trainor, and Julia Roberts. It is the lowest-grossing Smurfs film, with an estimated box-office return of $197 million worldwide against its production budget of $60 million, though was still commercially successful. It was also the last Smurfs film produced by Sony Pictures Animation after Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to the film in 2021.
Video Release[]
- Sony Pictures has released the movie on DVD and Blu-Ray, with a three-disc Blu-Ray/DVD bundle featuring a special animated segment called The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol. Other included bonus features:
- Blue-pers (Smurf Bloopers!)
- Deleted & Extended Scenes
- Happy Music Montage
- Commentary Tracks
- The Smurfs Comic Book
- Going Gargamel
- Smurf Speak: Meet the Cast
- Progression Reels
- Smurf-O-Vision
- The Smurfs Fantastic Adventure Game
- Wal-Mart's preorder of the Blu-Ray/DVD bundle also included a plush toy backpack clip.
Trivia[]
- The cartoon show's Season 2 introduction's lyrics to the Smurf song are used in the movie.
- Some visual gags used in relation to the Smurfs in the movie include advertisements for the Blue Man Group and for Blu-Ray Discs.
- Panicky Smurf, who was supposed to appear in the movie as a character voiced by Adam Wylie, was instead only mentioned by Gutsy Smurf.
- In the Cartoon Network show, MAD, The Smurfs movie gets spoofed with Transformers: Dark of the Moon in Trans-BORE-Mores 3: Dark of the Blue Moon/The Walking Fred.
- Gargamel refers to the Smurf Village as, which in the Smurf comic books was the name of the village's original location.
- Gargamel amusingly finds out that Azrael is a male cat, which reflects the gender switch between the comic books and the cartoon show versions of the character.
- Gutsy's line to Gargamel, telling him that, may be a metafictional reference to the villains' appearance in other forms of media.
- This is the first time that Sony Pictures Animation releases two films in the same year, while the other film is Arthur Christmas.
- This is Sony Pictures Animation's first live-action/animated hybrid film, followed by this film’s sequel and Peter Rabbit.
- It is also Columbia's third live-action/animated hybrid film, after Stuart Little in 1999 and Stuart Little 2 in 2002.
- This is the first film based on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon not released by Warner Bros. since 2000's The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (which was released by Universal Pictures), as it was released by Columbia Pictures.
- This is the first Sony Pictures Animation film to be released in July.
- The last movie to have the 2006 Sony Pictures Animation Logo.
- The third live-action/animated hybrid film of 2010s, after Yogi Bear and Hop.
- The third live-action/animated hybrid film of 2010s to be produced in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, after Yogi Bear and Hop.
- This is Raja Gosnell's third film to be based on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The first two were Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which were based on the Scooby-Doo cartoons.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
External links[]
References[]
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