I wasn’t going to post this first look image from The Smurfs that was just published at USA Today. I planned on waiting until a hi-res image came in giving you guys a better look, but I just couldn’t resist after reading the first three comments from Anthony Breznican’s “USA Today” article that came accompanied with the above image and a puff piece breaking down the story of the film and how they watered it down and stole bits and pieces from the plot of Disney’s Enchanted.
Before we get into the “content” of Breznican’s article, here are the three comments left there that I was mentioning:
“Eating the Smurfs was always Gargamel’s unfulfilled goal, but that’s one idea the filmmakers decided to scrap.
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Good. One less thing for little kids to worry about.” ~ Pits and McGoo“Did we learn nothing from the epic fail that was called “Garfield The Movie”? I used to love The Smurfs. If I am exposed to this nonesense, The Smurfs of my childhood will be destroyed.” ~ anneli000
“This is a sign of the end times approaching.” ~ FreeGubmintCheez
One after another, they just get better and better, but I guess we shouldn’t expect a Hollywood production of The Smurfs to be any better than director Raja Gosnell’s two Scooby-Doo films or his 2008 effort, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. So the fact this is what Columbia has to offer shouldn’t really surprise us.
The film adapatation of The Smurfs begins in the Middle Ages where Gargamel (Hank Azaria) discovers the Smurfs’ magical village and scatters them into the woods. “Unfortunately, Clumsy goes the wrong way into a forbidden grotto where a few other Smurfs follow,” Gosnell said. “Because it’s a blue moon, there’s a magical portal that transports them to Central Park.” Gargamel ends up pursuing them.
The primary Smurfs that make up the feature include the three in the picture above — Grouchy (George Lopez), Papa (Jonathan Winters) and Clumsy (Anton Yelchin) — along with Smurfette (Katy Perry), Brainy (Fred Armisen) and a new character, the brave-to-a-fault Gutsy (Alan Cumming) as they take refuge with a husband and wife (Neil Patrick Harris and Glee’s Jayma Mays).
As “Pits and McGoo” said in the quoted comments above, the idea Gargamel wants to eat the Smurfs has been scrapped and instead he simply wants to capture them to serve as charms, whose mystical essence will make his inept magic more powerful — and dangerous. If you ask me, this isn’t something that bothers me in a “must remain faithful to the original” way because I couldn’t care about that one bit. Instead, it bother me as the continued attempt to hide our children from everything outside of fast food and videogames has become preposterous. So what if Gargamel wants to eat the Smurfs? I don’t get the problem here. Instead he wants to kidnap them, hold them captive and mooch their “mystical essence”? I don’t even want to know what’s going on there, but it sounds dirty and someone better check what Internet sites Gargamel has been visiting.
Producer Jordan Kerner told USA Today, “We all wondered whether we would be making a family version of Sweeney Todd.” Really, is that what you thought? The rest of the article goes on to sell families on how great it will be even for “Dad and Mom.” Give me a break. The article reeks of payola giving USA Today a first look image as long as they produce a puff piece.
The Smurfs is set to hit theaters in 3D on July 29, 2011. You plan on being there?
