Colombia Pictures recently released a goof-ball trailer for the upcoming Smurfs film adaptation. The biggest thing I came away with: the Smurfs have grown up.
Somehow the main character smurfs from the classic children’s cartoon have arrived in New York City chased by Gargamel, who seems much more powerful now than he ever did when I was a child.
They’ve got the original Papa Smurf voicer for that character, but they’ve pulled in some pop-culture icons for the other smurfs – most notably, Katy Perry as Smurfette, whose personality quirk (each of them has one) is that she’s female.
The non-smurf portion of the cast is being led by Neil Patrick Harris, who has proven himself more and more versatile as the years go by.
Accoding to the press release, “Audiences everywhere are in for a Smurfy good time as the Smurfs make their first 3D trip to the big screen. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours – in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down. The film is set for release August 3, 2011.
“Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara, and Hank Azaria star on camera opposite an all-star voice cast. Anton Yelchin will play Clumsy Smurf; comedy legend Jonathan Winters, who voiced roles in the “Smurfs” television series, will voice Papa Smurf; Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Katy Perry will play Smurfette; Alan Cumming will play Gutsy Smurf; “SNL’s” Fred Armisen will voice Brainy Smurf; and George Lopez will play Grouchy Smurf.”
From the short performances we get to see here it’s obvious that the writers have gone for that seemingly necessary combination of over-the-top goofy, and a bit suggestive in the humor.
Much of the classic Smurf humor has been put over the top, including sexualizing Smurfette (unless I just didn’t get her sexualization when I watched as a child. It has been a long time, I guess).
Of course, it will be a blockbuster just for its concept alone, but I think I would skip the 3D glasses for this one, as much of the movie will likely be full of excuses for hyper 3D kruft, which s annoying to everyone but children.
