The Smurfs 2 is smurftastic fun for the demographic it’s aiming for

The Smurfs 2 is the sequel to The Smurfs from 2011.  Smurfs, if you’re from Belgium or didn’t know, are small blue creatures that are generally happy, sing lots and use ‘smurf’ as an adjective for just about everything.  It’s a live action movie with Smurfs running around Paris looking for Gargamel and his two gray helper pseudo smurfs called ‘the naughties’.

As an adult trying to criticize The Smurfs 2 is like intentionally spilling coffee on my lap and then getting angry because the beverage was hot.    It would only be surprising if the movie was unexpectedly great or a total bomb.  In this case The Smurfs 2 squarely hits its safe target and goes for the potty humor that makes children 12 or younger laugh out loud.  This is not the animated movie that will make adults cry or critics gnash about for superlatives.

The Smurfs 2 made buckets of money in 2011 and it’s only logical that they’d make a sequel.  And when this movie makes money they’ll make a third and continue doing this until this generation of 6 year olds demo out.

At that rate we’ve got about four more Smurf movies and that is OK.  The Smurfs 2 did produce a couple nice laughs from me, Neil Patrick Harris is enjoyable and Hank Azaria is campy fun as Gargamel.  Parents of young children with a keen ear will recognize the voice’ of Azrael the cat as that of Frank Welker, who also does Curious George.

However, children will love the movie.  I went with a 5 and 9 year old and they were loudly laughing, pointing and waving at the screen. They did this throughout the film and were talking over each other when I asked them ‘what they’re favorite part was’ on the way home.

The Smurfs 2 is rated PG, has some very mild potty humor and a couple dark scenes in a dungeon.    Parents often criticize Hollywood for not making PG films or simply producing bad PG films.  The Smurfs 2 certainly won’t teach the kids any lessons, but it will entertain them.  As with almost all films the 3D is not needed and will just add a couple of dollars to the ticket price.  If you’re going, watch the film in 2D and the kids will have just as much fun.