Review of The Smurfs 2 (2013) by Leon N — 18 Oct 2013

My son wanted to see this, so we did. Even before going, I wasn't expecting much, and I wasn't disappointed: trite plot, characters, little humor. I think I may have chuckled twice. This was certainly nothing to write home about.

My son did enjoy it, but he was not riveted to the screen. Good actors, but even the great Hank Azaria looked as if he would explode at one point if he had to say just one more cliche, bad-guy phrase in that trite hey-if-you-haven't-noticed-already-I'm-the-evil-guy accent.

Oh, but there was also the obligatory pulling of the heart strings. The story of Patrick and his step-dad at odds only coming together after Patrick while giving advice to Pap Smurf realizes he should take his own advice.

And Smurfette showing she's a "true Smurf" while saving the lives of the alleged evil Smurfs created by Gargamel. Finally, it appears the writers ran out of material, so they end up slap-sticking the audience to death (see Gargamel's cat over-do it again and again, along with the Smurfs and humans).

And it also appears that the writers want you to know this is the "contemporary" sequel with reference after reference to 2012 technology. Overall, ho hum. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Move along.