Disclaimer: I've never seen or experienced any Smurf thing before this…

Smurfeotypes

Ok, so the worst part of this film is easily the writing, but the worst part of said writing is the characters. These characters are literally 'stereotypes', which isn't the problem, the problem is that they play them up so much. They end up running it into the ground. Clumsy for example, every chance the film gets to make him 'clumsy' comes off as annoying, especially when he is walking around tripping over everything. How has he even survived this long? The nerd of the group also has no real character but being "Smart". Worse of all, is Smurfette, which they talk up to being an individual, ends up being the blandest character of all. She has no interests or passions or ambitions or even goals for that matter. I mean they say she does, but her character never portrays it. She barely does anything but just be there. I felt nothing for her. The main villain and his villan'ettes also didn't do much of anything character wise. The main villain did have one of the funniest scenes in the film, which isn't saying much. The bird could've had more potential as an incapable bird. The cat showed Gilgamesh the answers, which wasn't very funny the first time they did it, yet they do it 4 times again. Out of all the characters, ‘Hefty’ was the most developed. He showed compassion in a scene where an enemy drowned. He showed his crush for Smurfette throughout. He also abides by his stereotype but only when the event gave the opportunity. In all, these characters are the weakest part of the film.

A Blue Smear of Plot 

The plot of this film is by the numbers bland. The story is written beat by beat lazily. There is no attempt at diving into the single theme they could've hit in the film, which is uniqueness. They kind of toss all that away for stereotypical characters. The dialogue was another stab in the heart of this film. It felt like there were three writers, one for simple fart jokes, one jokes for everyone and one for adult jokes. None of them worked and none of them landed, if anything it made the films dialogue come off as annoying. The writers also try to fill every moment with jokes. Instead of focusing on the good ones, they choke out the funny by barraging the audience with mundane jokes.

Smurf-imation

The best part of this film is the visuals. It's cute, clean, and has vibrant colors that work well for all the critters. There are some cool designs too. Like a luminescent bunny that sounds like a horse, a ladybug that records information and dragonfly's. All these creatures looked good. There is a cool take on a rapid stream that was interesting to see. Other than that, the environment didn't have much to show. The director didn't do much in a noticeable way either. If anyone deserves credit it’s the lead artist for deploying the clean art style.

So, what’s left to dislike? The music here was awfully annoying there was about 3-4 montages that had your typical modern day pop music attached. It was a double whammy of, "this whole sequence is pointless and we're listening to equally pointless music!". Other negative thing was the constant barrage of added sounds that aren't there, like those old school Tom and Jerry sounds when they slam into something or get hit upside the head. At first it wasn't too distracting, but they used it in the entire film which defeated any purpose it served.

 In Smurfing 

3/10 bad

The Smurfs isn't disgusting, it’s just not worth seeing. The writing is cheesy, corny, and cliché. Most of the jokes and gags have been in so many other children movies its almost annoying. There is no character development or arc of any sort. The visuals were nice, and some of the creature designs were neat. I guess the real question is, would I take my child to see this (if I had one) and the answer is an easy no. Go watch a Pixar or Disney film instead.