Smurfs: The Lost Village Review

Smurfs fans depending on where your seeing this review you'll know that i've been watching and reviewing all three of the Sony Pictures produced Smurfs films. Well i've finally reached one of the actually good Smurfs movies it's just a shame that so far it's the last one that's been made and unlike the previous two which were live action / CGI hybrids this one is fully animated and so here is my review of 2017's "Smurfs: The Lost Village" enjoy.

The plot of the movie is Smurfette , Hefty Smurf , Clumsy Smurf and Brainy Smurf have to go and find a lost mythical village after they find out that Gargamel is also looking for the village in order to capture all of it's Smurfs. I'll admit that the plot of this movie is ten times better then the one for The Smurfs 2 simply due to the fact that this plot line is new and different and is actually really well told in my opinion.

Now the film did actually bring back one actor from the live action films that being Frank Welker as Azrael. Joining him in this film is Demi Lovato as Smurfette , Rainn Wilson as Gargamel , Mandy Patinkin as Papa Smurf , Joe Manganiello as Hefty Smurf , Jack McBrayer as Clumsy Smurf , Danny Pudi as Brainy Smurf , Julia Roberts as Smurfwillow , Michelle Rodriguez as Smurfstorm and Ellie Kemper as Smurfblossom.

I honestly feel that the acting in this film is better then the acting in both of the live action films which really isn't a high bar to reach. That being said Mandy Patinkin doesn't sound like Papa Smurf to me Jonathan Winters sounded perfect as Papa where as Mandy sounds like eh's doing a bad impression of Winters as Papa but with that said all of the other voices are pretty spot with the voice actors not doing copies of the voices from the previous two films but instead putting there own spin on the voices which I really liked.

Doing the animation for the film is of course Sony Pictures Imageworks and Sony Pictures Imageworks Canada. The animation like alot of things in this movie is huge step up from the previous film with each of the characters having some wonderful highly energised animation which is both a good and bad thing it's a good thing because it adds energy to the film but a bad thing because alot of the it's out of character.

This is also the shortest of the three Smurfs films that i've reviewed clocking in at just under ninety minuets. Which honestly feels about right since it means there are no filler scenes and so everything has to be about moving the plot forward and getting the characters where they need to be in order for the plot to progress which is something that the first two films really didn't do or even care about doing in any way shape or form.

One of the things that I actually didn't like about the film is the fact that like the previous film they made Smurfette the main character. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that she's the main character in the story i'm saying that we've already seen her be the main character and so we don't need to see it again especially since there's nearly a hundred other Smurf in Smurf village so you don't really have an excuse for having her be the main character twice in the same film series.

I honestly feel that keeping this film fully animated was the best choice that Sony Pictures could ever have made. Since this is where the characters are allowed to shine and because we don't go to a fantasy movie to see modern day New York or modern day Paris we go to them to see new things an experience new and creative settings both of which this film does in spades and it works to the film's advantage in my opinion.

What I found to be truly shocking about the film is that they actually had the courage to kill of Smurfette. Granted they bring her back to life a few minuets later but the fact that they were willing to go there in a kids film is in my opinion a good thing because kids need to learn that death is apart of life but I actually wish that they killed her of at the start of the third act and brought her back at the end just so we could see how each of the smurfs deal with her death but that might be a bit to dark for a kids film.

Now then boys and girls since this is a comedy film that does mean that we have to talk about the jokes that are in the film itself. Which like alot of things in this film is a huge step up from The Smurfs 2 simply because alot of these jokes are actually pretty funny and alot of what makes the jokes work in my opinion is the high energy animation since it allows for these fast and over the top movements which fit in really well with the films goofy tone.

Overall this is honestly a really good film and one that I think will have both kids and adults entertained. That being said it's not a perfect film it does have it's fair share of faults many of which i've mentioned in this very review as such the film gets a 6 out of 10 from me and with that i'm smurfing done with these Smurfs movie you all have no idea how hard it was for me to sit through all of these films but that's it i'm done with them.