Amazing! Everything I liked about the first movie is missing from this one and I blame all of you for it!

The first movie "The Smurfs" made its money back but I don't think it was both the critical and financial success the studios were hoping for. So things needed to change for its sequel, in order to be a more successful one! Well, unfortunately that in this case meant that everything I liked about the first movie was dropped and this movie is filled with exaggerated comedy, such as bad slapstick, cheesy one-liners and a whole bunch of other childish stuff, that I hate seeing in animated movies.

For some reason the movie also felt to need to oversimplify things even more. This time around, the story truly doesn't matter and most of the time is pretty much nonexistent anyway. Gargamel's big plan never really makes any sense to me, purely due to the way how its being handled in the movie. It's actually a very messy and far from focused movie, that puts all of its effort and focus on its lame comedy, rather than ever on its story or characters.

Were the Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays characters truly needed again in this movie? Don't get me wrong, I still (for most part) like Jayma Mays and Neil Patrick Harris in this but I really do feel that this movie would have benefited from the presence of some new fresh characters and actors portraying them. Sure, they introduce Brendan Gleeson as a new character but that's not enough really. Besides, all of the human characters (aside from Gargamel) feel pretty pointless in this. Even more so than was the case for the first movie.

Thing I also really didn't like about the movie was that it was trying to throw in some modern elements to make the Smurfs all hip suddenly, for today's young audience. Just look at the cover on which Papa Smurf is wearing some sunglasses. Not that that's something that's happening in the actual movie as well but still, it should tell you something about the movie its intentions. It introduces some new Smurfs for instance, better known as Naughties in this, who are dressed up- and behave more like modern Smurfs. Totally unnecessary, uncreative and lame.

It also makes tons of, not so very clever or subtle, references, which works out mostly annoying. It's also weird how this movie is featuring a lot of sexual innuendos in it again, just like its first movie. All things that were put in there for the adult audience and keep them entertained, while they are watching it with their kids, who are still too young to catch any of the sexual innuendos. It's always a cheap and lame thing for a kids movie to do in my opinion. If you make a kids movie than don't worry about the adults and just make it entertaining and fun for kids to watch, without worrying about anything else.

Too forced, too lame, too messy..no, this is not a good sequel or fun and entertaining children's movie at all.

4/10

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This movie is smurf!

Seriously, sometimes it's better to watch a movie once the hype or controversy surrounding it has calmed down. Of course everybody was hating on this movie, even way before its release. It's a CGI animated movie, combined with real live actors in it, set in modern day New York, based on a popular classic comic book and television series for kids. Everything about it sounds bad and like a terrible and very unappealing, far from creative, idea. It had disaster written all over it, especially once you learn that it's directed by Raja Gosnell, who previously did movies such as the Scooby-Doo movies, "Home Alone 3", "Big Momma's House" and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua".

But lets be honest here; is this movie really bad? No, it's quite an enjoyable movie and especially for kids of course. Sure, it's a very simplistic movie but it's an entertaining one nevertheless. There is nothing too surprising or outstanding about any of it but on the other hand there also isn't ever anything truly terrible about any of it either. It's never going too over-the-top with anything and isn't constantly trying to be a cute and funny movie, by forcing all of its comedy, unlike other genre movies often tend to do.

It's good to see that they stayed close to the original source material. Not necessarily with its story or settings of course but more so with its characters. They weren't ever trying too hard to update any of the Smurfs to today's standards, by making them all hip and dress them up different. No, all of the Smurfs are pretty much still the same characters they were when they first were created by Peyo, back in 1958. Even Gargamel, played by Hank Azaria and Azrael, voiced by Frank Welker, were surprisingly close to the original cartoon characters and it works out well as well within the actual movie.

It also definitely was smart move by the movie to focus on just a handful of different Smurfs. It keeps the movie focused and easy and pleasant to follow, even though I was missing some of my favorite Smurfs in this movie.

I won't pretend like this is a perfect movie though, that's without any flaws. It of course still is an heavily flawed movie with its story and also a bit of a too childish one for my taste. The human plot lines do work out within the movie but it still is something I could have done without. It's just too simplistic and predictable, despite the fact that Jayma Mays and Neil Patrick Harris were still pleasant to watch together in this. They besides act well with the CG Smurfs, which is something these type of movies rarely ever seem to be able to get right.

And speaking of CG Smurfs, the effects are actually quite good in this. They besides blend in well with the real live surroundings and environments. It's nothing too fancy but it definitely serves its purpose all.

One of the things that's still terrible and very distracting about the movie is the many, many product placements in it. Thank goodness this is something most movies have learned to hold back on nowadays but this movie is definitely an exception. It isn't even being subtle with it!

A surprisingly watchable children's movie even though it's of course far from a masterpiece or an absolute mustsee. But I honestly expected to hate this movie, also since it always looked absolutely terrible to me but I was surprised how much I actually enjoyed watching it and there was nothing about it that ever annoyed me or screamed out bad to me.

6/10

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