THE PLOT THUS FAR
The Smurfs team up with their human friends to rescue Smurfette, who has been kidnapped by Gargamel since she knows a secret spell that can turn the evil sorcerer’s newest creation – creatures called the Naughties – into real Smurfs.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
When Smurfette assumes that the rest of the Smurfs have forgotten her birthday, she’s very depressed & wanders off alone. She thinks that she’s not a true blue Smurf as she was originally a Naughty created by the evil wizard, Gargamel. Meanwhile Gargamel hatches an evil plot to kidnap Smurfette & get her to tell the formula to turn two of his Naughties, Vexy & Hackus into real Smurfs. Vexy enters the portal to Smurf village, kidnaps Smurfette & takes her back to Earth. Now, it is up to Papa, Grouchy, Clumsy & Vanity to rescue Smurfette from Gargamel before he coerces her to give him the formula.
While I liked the animation and I really don’t oppose the idea of mixing smurf world with the non-animated human world, I felt most of the smurfs were rather poorly written. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but there was something missing about Papa Smurf despite his expected warmness and there was something extremely off-putting about Smurfette, which, at least for me, had a thoroughly negative impact on pretty much all her scenes and more importantly on the credibility of her inner struggle about where she really belongs. The intro about her “creation” was done well, but afterward it just didn’t work for me.
The Blu-Ray comes with 2D and 3D transfers. The 3D transfer is dynamic with a flexible amount of pops and field of depth. While I didn’t get a chance to view this installment in theaters, I have to admit that nothing has been lost in the translation to home entertainment. Plus, you get a DVD copy and a ton of featurettes. If that wasn’t enough, you also get the Legend of Smurfy Hollow mini movie that we reviewed back in October.
The A/V Quality is stacked with an immense 1080p transfer that shines a little brighter when the Smurfs are flying at you in 3D. It’s also part of Sony’s latest 4K mastering push. I’d normally call that marketing fluff on par with Superbit, but it really helps the print to shine. But, let’s not forget the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track. By the end of the first act, you’ll think the movie is all subwoofer bass. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to families.
RELEASE DATE: 12/3/2013