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The Smurfs 2
| Released |
31 July 2013 |
| Director |
Raja Gosnell |
Starring
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Neill Patrick Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, Hank Azaria, Katy Perry, Christina Ricci, J.B. Smoove |
Writer(s)
|
J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Sherick, David Ronn, Karey Kirkpatrick |
| Producer(s) |
Jordan Kerner |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
104 minutes |
| Genre |
Animation, comedy, family |
| Rating |
G |
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Sacre bleu!
In the grand tradition of classics like Sex and the City 2, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and of course Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo, the second Smurfs film takes the show on the road, bringing the gang to Paris. Here we catch up with the evil Gargamel (Hank Azaria) who has found unexpected success as a stage magician. As he opens his show in Paris, he concocts a fiendish plan that involves creating his own Smurfs and extracting their essence. His experiments so far have been unsuccessful, creating “Naughties” - monochrome Smurfs with a taste for bad behaviour voiced by Christina Ricci and J.B. Smoove. To rectify this problem, he kidnaps Smurfette (Katy Perry) in the hope of learning Papa Smurf’s secret formula. Cue a rescue mission from both the blue folk and their human friends, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and new recruit Brendan Gleeson.
The voice cast of The Smurfs 2 is astoundingly starry, featuring a number of comedy hard-hitters and random celebrities, many of whom are responsible for characters that exit proceedings after uttering a single line. Jimmy Kimmel, B.J. Novak, Alan Cumming and Fred Armisen all feature in the opening sequence before vanishing for the remaining run time. Is there some elaborate blackmailing system at work here, or was a quick buck on offer? Who knows. If only the comedy chops of the bit-players had been more thoroughly used, The Smurfs 2 may have been a more enjoyable experience for an adult audience.
But then, this isn’t a film made for an adult audience and in that respect, it achieves exactly what it sets out to. Director Raja Gosnell sticks with the formula that made the first film an unexpected success with an audience born too late to have been familiar with the source material. It is lively, colourful and silly with fun characters and anarchic set-pieces. For any parents who have to tag along, there are a few one-liners that may cause a chuckle as well as some attractive views of Paris. It may get a little tedious but is never a painful experience.
Ultimately this is good-natured fun for children. It’s not a family classic but it won’t have you chewing your knuckles in irritation.
-
Linda O’Brien |
