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| Smurfette (Katy Perry) warms up to her evil captors Vexy (Christina Ricci) and Hackus (J.B. Smoove). |
Brace yourself for the return of even more blue beings back on the big screen for a sequel that manages to outperform its predecessor. But don't get too excited if you were expecting the sequel to James Cameron's Avatar. It's not, just another round of Smurf adventures in The Smurfs 2.
Two years have passed since the Smurfs last thwarted their arch-nemesis Gargamel (Hank Azaria) in the heart of Times Square, but that brief setback hasn't stopped the bumbling villain from concocting yet another dim-witted plot to take over the world. This time around, his Naughties, evil gray Smurfs, kidnap his reformed creation Smurfette (voiced by Katy Perry) from Smurf Village, forcing her to reveal the ingredients of a powerful Smurf formula.
Surprisingly enough, The Smurfs 2 is slightly more enjoyable and less obnoxious than its 2011 predecessor, which in a sense was just a two hour moving billboard for Sony rather than actual Smurfs movie. The product placement is scaled back immensely in this second outing with the exception of Gargamel getting excited over swiping a tablet produced by Sony. Was there any doubt it would be anything else but a Sony product?
Like the previous film, The Smurfs 2 spends almost next to no time in Smurf Village as the Smurfs return to the real world via ingesting magic crystals to rescue Smurfette from the clutches of Gargamel and his Naughties in Paris. Cue up the unnecessary 100 minute Paris travelogue, which shouldn't come as no surprise after spending nearly the entire movie last time promoting the Big Apple. At least this time around, the film's less painful to take in, knowingly wholly from the start that The Smurfs 2 is a far cry from its 80s cartoon falling in line with other live-action/CGI hybrids from recent years.
The Smurfs 2 hammers home the message about family and belongingness as Smurfette starts to question where she actually belongs whether it be with Papa Smurf (voiced by Jonathan Winters) who welcomed her as one of his own or her villainous creator Gargamel. Director Raja Gosnell forces in a parallel story featuring Neil Patrick Harris and his estranged stepfather (Brendan Gleeson) which pads out a straightforward adventure with even more unnecessary toilet humor.
The human element is a greater bore than before as Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays warm up immediately to the little blue people in their second go around. Losing the Smurfs human friends from the plot wouldn't break The Smurfs 2, while the deletion of Brendan Gleeson's corndog mogul would be greatly appreciated.
Hank Azaria's Gargamel and his talking cat Azrael are treated as international celebrities thanks to a viral YouTube video, but not once does anyone question that the one-dimensional villain might be from another world. Gargamel transforms characters into talking ducks, creates havoc on the streets of Paris with a runaway big wheel, yet people are so oblivious by these inhuman feats. Ridiculous as the role is, Azaria has loads of fun as the buffoonish Gargamel, who's more cartoony than actually evil.
The film's primary saving grace is the Stockholm Syndrome subplot where Smurfette blindly bonds with her Naughty captors and even if the outcome is utterly predictable, seeing Smurfette cross over the dark side is more entertaining than the countless bumbling antics and toilet humor the film's littered with. Plus the Naughty duo of Vexy (voiced by Christina Ricci) and Hackus (voiced by J.B. Smoove) are surprisingly entertaining additions to the cast.
The Smurfs 2 might not be the greatest example of a cinematic babysitter, but like its 2011 predecessor, the film's a harmless deviation aimed at children under the age of five or fans of the source material knowing that it's not a carbon copy of the cartoon they grew up with in the 80s.
GRADE: C (5/10)
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