Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
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 Smurfs (2011) is a serviceable but unremarkable family film that brings the classic Belgian comic characters into a live-action/CGI hybrid format. The plot is a formulaic fish-out-of-water story with little originality, borrowing heavily from the Enchanted playbook without the self-awareness. Acting from Neil Patrick Harris and Hank Azaria is functional but constrained by a thin script. Cinematography is competent but generic, typical of mid-budget studio family films of the era. Novelty is limited — while the Smurfs IP has charm, the execution is thoroughly by-the-numbers Hollywood adaptation with no distinctive voice. The ending resolves predictably with no emotional payoff beyond baseline franchise setup. A passable but forgettable entry in the wave of early-2010s animated-character-meets-real-world comedies.