Smurfs: The Lost Village Gets, Well, Lost Trying To Tackle An Interesting Idea

The old axiom "third time's the charm" has been run into the ground as an axiom used in movie reviews to signify that the third entry in a certain movie franchise is the best movie in said movie franchise, but for Smurfs: The Lost Village it's kind of true, though it's more like "Fourth time's the charm" since the Smurfs did have that one animated movie back in the 80's, The Smurfs and The Magic Flute (which I have not seen). Having seen the 2011 Smurfs movie but not its 2013 sequel, I can say that Smurfs: The Lost Village is an improvement over that Raja Gosnell directed motion picture, though it's still got some seriously Smurfed up qualities to it as well.


The biggest surprise of the whole production has to be that it starts out from a legitimately interesting starting point; in a village of creatures whose very names suggest distinct personalities, what exactly makes Smurfette (Demi Lovato) a person beyond just her designation as the lone woman of the village? This intriguing quandary serves as the backbone for a tale of Smurfette leading a group of Smurfs that consists of Hefty (Joe Manganiello), Clumsy (Jack MacBrayer) and Brainy (Danny Pudi) on a quest to a lost village of Smurfs in order to warn them of the impending presence of the evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson), who plans to use any Smurfs he's able to find for his diabolical magic.

Along the way, there's plenty of encounters with strange beasts (including glow-in-the-dark bunny rabbits and dragonflies that have more dragon-like qualities) and in-fighting between the Smurfs, namely Hefty and Brainy who have a recurring feud. There's lots of stuff that goes on in this story, but sadly, not too much of it has to do with Smurfette until the climax. Hefty, Clumsy and Brainy are such outsized personalities who get into such over-the-top antics that they overshadow Smurfette completely, leaving her quest for an individual purpose feeling like it's forgotten about until the end. A moment in the final scene where various Smurfs recount who she is by tying it into various events of the film just comes off as forced, further reinforcing how much of Smurfs: The Lost Village ignores its central character and her potentially interesting journey to establish herself as her own person.

You would also think in a movie supposedly all about defining oneself in more meticulous terms that Hefty, Brainy and Clumsy would also get some depth as the story goes on, but they really don't. Clumsy in particular feels extraneous to the plot and his humorous antics register only a handful of chuckles, meaning he can't even work well as comedic relief. The inhabitants of the titular lost village are, like a lot of story elements in this movie, interesting on paper but leaving a lot to be desired in execution, these other newfound Smurfs just don't get a lot of time to establish themselves as distinct individuals that can even just entertain you, let alone be people whose potential demise at the hands of Gargamel you can be emotionally invested in.

At least Smurfs: The Lost Village does look pretty as all out, the choice to hew as close as possible to Peyo's original illustrations of the character turns out to be a great one on a visual level as it lends the entire movie its own distinct aesthetic that's really pleasing to the eyeballs. Also working better than expected are some of the voice actors assembled; some (like an underutilized Mandy Patinkin or Demi Lovato) are just going through the motions, but there are some solid performances to be found here. I was shocked at how well Rainn Wilson fares as the evil Gargamel. What seems like a casting maneuver done solely to appeal to the massive Backstrom fanbase instead turns out to be one of Smurfs: The Lost Village's best assets as his line readings deliver the best laughs of the entire feature film.

Plus, at least the script these actors are working with, in addition to eschewing tired bathroom humor, tries to be more timeless in its dialogue and plot details, a welcome improvement over the Sony product placement drenched landscape of that 2011 Smurfs movie, though a ladybug that takes selfies and some out-of-place modern day music cues detract from that attempt at being timeless. I really wish Smurfs: The Lost Village could have ironed out the wrinkles in its own script (and boy are there ever some big wrinkles here) because its best traits suggest a more introspective and fun movie rather than the just middle of the road feature film we ended up with. But to end this review on a positive note, it's considerably better than fellow Sony Pictures Animation productions like The Emoji Movie and both Hotel Transylvania movies, that's something at least to Smurf home about.

(Yes, that Smurf pun was forced but how else could I end this review of a Smurfs movie?)