The Smurfs' Magical Adventures

The Smurfs' Magical Adventures is an American hand-drawn animated web television comedy film produced by Studio Peyo, Sony Pictures Animation and Warner Bros. Animation, based on the characters created by Peyo and the original Hanna-Barbera TV series, serving as a reboot, starring an celebrity-based voice cast consisting of Jack Angel, Anna Kendrick, Billy West, Jeff Bennett, Michael Bell, Frank Welker, Alan Oppenheimer, Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, Dee Bradley Baker and Dan Castellaneta. It premiered on Netflix in September 2019. The film was directed by Rich Moore, who also worked on The Simpsons.
This film follows the adventures of Johan and Peewit in the first segment, as well as the Smurfs dealing against Gargamel in the last two segments. It also features the animated return of Homnibus' teenage servant, Oliver, who is currently voiced by Animaniacs voice actor, Rob Paulsen. Following the retirements of Danny Goldman and Bill Callaway, and the deaths of June Foray, Lucille Bliss, Hamilton Camp, Bob Holt, Linda Gary, Kip King, Don Messick and Paul Winchell, new voice actors and actress were brought in to play their respective characters.
The film was originally nominated for Best Film on the Internet, but lost to the web live-action remake of Disney's Lady and the Tramp. Nevertheless, the film was a big success overseas in the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Poland. The film got a DVD/Blu-ray release on Febraury 14, 2020 (Valentine's Day), according to the third segment involving romance. Despite its controversy of Smurfette in the third segment, the film still remains a cult following among the Smurfs fanbase.
==Synopsis==
Peewit acquires a flute, which is bad enough for the castle's inhabitants, but this one has the ability of making its audience dance crazily before they collapse from exhaustion. When a thief steals it and uses it to commit further robberies, Johan and Peewit decide to consult the flute's makers: some little blue beings called the Smurfs.
Later on, the evil sorcerer Gargamel wants to create a magic stone, and finds out that one of the ingredients in his recipe is a Smurf. Gargamel and his pet cat Azrael catch a very unlucky Smurf, who they plan to drop into their magic cauldron. Papa Smurf leads a rescue effort to free their fellow Smurfs and foil Gargamel's plan.
After being vanquished, Gargamel magically created Smurfette as a spy to help him to do away with the Smurfs once and for all. Smurfette tricks Greedy into opening the Smurf River Dam (to flood the village), but later -- when he realizes Smurfette wants to be "a real Smurf" -- Papa Smurf has an ace up his sleeve.
==Plot==
The film starts with a book opening to show the words, "Once upon a time..." on the page.
=== The Smurfs and the Magic Flute ===
One day, a merchant brings musical instruments to sell to Peewit, the court jester, but because Peewit is such a terrible musician the King throws the merchant out before Peewit arrives. However, he has left behind a flute that has only six holes. The King throws it into the fireplace in his room, which starts to emit green smoke. When the fire is put out, Peewit retrieves the flute from the ashes unharmed. He cleans it and starts playing it for the whole castle realizing that it causes everyone to dance when it is played.
That night a man named Matthew McCreep learns from the merchant that the same flute he had been looking for is at the castle. He heads over to the castle and steals the flute from Peewit. The king sends Peewit and the young knight Johan out to catch McCreep, who uses the flute to rob people of their money. However, McCreep uses the flute to stop them. Johan and Peewit then go to the house of Homnibus the wizard. Using a spell called Hypnokenesis, the wizard sends Johan and Peewit to Smurfland where the magic flute was built.
Upon arriving, they meet a Smurf who leads them to the village. Papa Smurf greets the two of them and tells them that they will make a new flute in order to counter McCreep's flute. The Smurfs head into the forest and chop down a huge tree to get wood from the tree trunk's very centre as only this kind of wood can be useful in crafting a magical flute. Afterwards, they celebrate with a party. However, just as Papa Smurf is about to give the flute to Johan and Peewit, the two are warped back to the wizard's house. Homnibus tries the spell again but passes out from a headache.
Meanwhile, McCreep, who has now stolen over 7,000 gold pieces, arrives at the castle of his secret partner, Earl Flatbroke. McCreep tells Flatbroke of his plan to go to an island to hire people for an army to raise war on the King's castle; fortunately, two Smurfs had been listening to this. Back at the wizard's house, the Smurfs regroup with Johan and Peewit and give them the magic flute. Then they head to the port of Terminac where McCreep sets sail for the island. However, they are too late. Papa Smurf tells Johan and Peewit about Flatbroke's castle and Johan comes up with a plan.
Flatbroke receives a letter from McCreep (written by Johan) to come to the island. He heads over to Terminac to board a ship where Johan and Peewit are also on board in disguise as well as Papa Smurf and three others. They head to the island where Johan and Peewit tail Flatbroke. Suddenly, Peewit comes face to face with McCreep and they both start playing their flutes to each other. They both become exhausted soon after, but Peewit knocks out McCreep with a final note.
With McCreep and Flatbroke being brought back to the castle and all the stolen money recovered, Peewit now has two magic flutes. Johan tells him that the flutes are dangerous and must be brought back to the Smurfs, but Peewit begins to carve a phony flute to give to them instead. At the castle, Johan and Peewit give the flutes back to the Smurfs, and after they leave, Peewit starts playing the flute, only to realize (to his horror) that it has no effect on the townsfolk; it is the fake flute he had made.
=== The Smurfnapper ===
A reclusive sorcerer named Gargamel wants to create the Philosopher's Stone that turns base metals into gold, and his book says that one of the ingredients is a Smurf. After finding out what a Smurf is, and that his favorite food is sarsaparilla, he goes with his cat Azrael to install a trap in the woods.
The next day, two Smurfs go out into the forest to look for nuts. One of them ends up following a sign pointing to sarsaparilla, but instead it leads him into a trap that Gargamel catches him in. The other Smurf, Brainy, returns to the village to tell Papa Smurf about the situation, and all the Smurfs go to Gargamel's home to rescue the prisoner.
When Gargamel first goes out with Azrael to look for mandrake roots, the Smurfs enter and attempt to free the captured Smurf by cutting the rope that holds his cage to the ceiling. But before they can open the cage, Gargamel returns, so they go into hiding and watch as the wizard notices the cut rope and decides to replace it with a thick chain. He then goes to the attic to find the sulfur, which gives the Smurfs the next opportunity to free the captured Smurf. This time three Smurfs pull on a rope that lifts up a metal file to the cage so that the captured Smurf could file his way through the bars. But all too soon Gargamel returns and they go into hiding again, leaving the wizard wondering how a file and a rope got over there. Nevertheless he has all the ingredients put together, which leaves him waiting for the first ray of daylight to come, so he goes to sleep.
During the night, the Smurfs concentrate on a new task: getting the key from Gargamel so they could free the Smurf from his cage. However, they have to deal with Azrael first, so one of them tricks the cat into attacking him while standing near a window. Azrael charges while the Smurf dodges, causing the cat to jump out the window, and then he closes up the window before he can return inside.
Unfortunately, even with all the effort the Smurfs put into getting the key from Gargamel so they could free the captured Smurf, it is all for nothing, for the wizard wakes up at the break of dawn to discover the key mysteriously appearing in the lock, making him wonder if he's gone crazy. Nevertheless, he goes ahead with attempting to add the final ingredient for creating the Philosopher's Stone: the captured Smurf. It is then that Papa Smurf calls his other little Smurfs out from hiding to attack the wizard, overpowering him to the point where he has fallen unconscious. The Smurfs rejoice as they return home to their village. Brainy on the way home lectures to the once-captured Smurf, only to be kicked out of the way as a result.
Gargamel wakes up and sees that the Smurfs are gone, so he decides to take his elixir that turns him into a giant to go after them, but after drinking he finds out that the Smurfs have switched the contents of the bottles so that he now appears Smurf-sized. As he now swears to get even with the Smurfs someday for what they have done, Azrael appears behind him ready to play with his new "pet toy".
=== The Smurfette ===
Gargamel rants and raves from the tower in his castle toward his defeat over the Smurfs. With get his revenge on them for ruining his chance to make the Philosopher's Stone, Gargamel studies a chart he has of a Smurf to examine their weaknesses, and stumbles upon one possible weakness he can exploit: their big hearts. Taking a lump of blue clay, and combining it with various ingredients such as crocodile tears, half a pack of lies, and a hard stone for a heart, Gargamel brings to life his weapon for get his revenge on the Smurfs through their hearts -- a Smurfette.
The next day, Hefty leads a group of male Smurfs into the forest to gather smurfberries, having every Smurf choose a direction to go off in for this task, when Hefty hears the voice of a female crying. He then sees what appears to be a short black-haired female Smurf sitting on a mushroom all by herself. The female says that she's a Smurfette and that she was looking for a way to the Smurf Village. Hefty says that he'll take her there, but Smurfette wants him to carry her there -- which he does, over his shoulder.
At the village, Smurfette tells Papa Smurf about her being all alone in the forest when he invites her to stay, setting her up in her own Smurf house. Inside, she secretly contacts her master Gargamel through her compact, telling him that she is now in their village. Gargamel now instructs Smurfette to go and capture their little blue hearts, warning her not to fail him. Stepping out of her house, Smurfette knocks Handy out with the door, and makes Clumsy pound Brainy into the ground instead of the post when she turns his attention towards her. Smurfette decides to try a more subtle approach: a picnic.
Some time later, while the Smurfs are busy gathering up wood in a cart, Hefty receives an invitation to a picnic by Smurfette, which he ends up turning over to Harmony, claiming to be too busy. Harmony, using the same excuse, turns the invite over to Vanity, who then turns it over to Grouchy, then to Brainy, then to Greedy, and then they all decide to part ways, leaving the invite on the ground for Papa Smurf to pick up. Papa Smurf looks at it briefly and then realizes he has important work in his laboratory, so he discards the invite. Meanwhile, Smurfette waits in the forest by a picnic blanket, wondering if any Smurf is going to show up, when Jokey does with one of his surprises, which explodes when she opens it.
Smurfette decides that her next plan, instead of luring them out, would be to flood them out. Going up to the dam, she entices Greedy with a delicious cake she has made by having him open the flood gate to the dam, which initially he refuses to do, but ultimately he gives in. But before he could close up the dam, Smurfette forces the gate to remain open, fighting with Greedy for control over the switch. Soon the switch breaks, and Smurfette falls into the gushing waters. Papa Smurf and several other Smurfs head toward the dam, rescuing Smurfette as she is being carried away by the waters while Greedy seals the gate closed.
Afterward, Smurfette faces judgment in a court case as she is about to be carried off to be punished, when Papa Smurf asks her if she has anything to say on her behalf. She then bursts into tears and confesses that she was a creation of Gargamel sent to destroy them, and that she deserves to be punished for her actions. This makes the other Smurfs, including Grouchy (and Hefty, who, at first, wanted to beat her up) feel so sorry for her, that they start to cry as well. Papa Smurf comforts the sobbing Smurfette by telling her it's not her fault she was made by an evil wizard, to which Smurfette says that she wishes she could be a real Smurf. Hearing this, the other male Smurfs now recoil in surprise, saying that it's impossible for her to become a real Smurf. Papa Smurf, on the other hand, is willing to give it a try and takes her into his laboratory where, using his magic, he puts her into a sleep while he uses various ingredients for her transformation. Then... "And now with the power of all I command, Smurfette, become Smurf, and before me stand!" Papa Smurf says and the change is now complete.
The male Smurfs are all waiting outside Papa Smurf's door, waiting to see if Papa Smurf would succeed in his task, and, emerging from his lab, he does, as a long blond-haired female Smurf greets them. The greeting she gets from her fellow Smurfs is more favorable: they all come to her bearing gifts, all of them wanting her to be near each of them, which soon leads to fighting among themselves. Meanwhile, Smurfette tells Papa Smurf that, even though she now looks like a Smurf, she doesn't feel like one. Papa Smurf tells Smurfette that that part is one she'll have to manage on her own, and she'll know what to do when the time is right.
Back in her own house, Smurfette is busy freshening up when her compact glows, showing the face of her former master Gargamel, who now sees that Smurfette has changed. Smurfette reacts negatively to Gargamel at first until he tells her that he only wants to fulfill her wish to pay back the Smurfs for their kindness, by offering to throw a surprise party for them by the great oak tree. All Smurfette had to do was invite them there, which she does to a very eager crowd of Smurfs, who then follow the red carpet into an opening by a tree. But the surprise is on them when it is revealed to be a trap by Gargamel, and not only do the Smurfs suspect that Smurfette was still up to no good -- real Smurf or not -- Smurfette realizes that she has been tricked. She wonders what to do now when she hears Papa Smurf tell her that she'll know what to do when the time is right.
Soon Gargamel and Azrael face a lone masked Smurf who challenges them to chase him. Azrael gives chase to the Lone Smurf, but he proves himself to be too quick and agile for him to catch, and soon sends Azrael right back into Gargamel while he frees his fellow Smurfs from Gargamel's trap. Then the Lone Smurf challenges Gargamel and Azrael to chase him up a tree, which they do until they end up falling down from it, leaving them unconscious. After the Smurfs had all safely escaped, the Lone Smurf appears unto them and reveals himself to be Smurfette. The other Smurfs are truly convinced that she is a real Smurf at last.
Back at Gargamel's castle, the evil wizard sits injured and blaming Azrael for his failure when he hears a knock on his door. It is a horrid-looking female human who's looking for Gargamel, which makes Gargamel want to run from her, swearing to the Smurfs that he shall have his revenge on them. Back in the village, though, the Smurfs celebrate Smurfette becoming one of them at last, and Grouchy is seen secretly scrawling a love heart on a Smurf house, mumbling "I love the Smurfette, too" and then adding "but I hate anybody to know about it" before walking off.
==Voice cast==
*Jack Angel - Papa Smurf
*Anna Kendrick - Smurfette
*Billy West - Brainy Smurf, Homnibus
*Jeff Bennett - Clumsy Smurf, Painter Smurf
*Michael Bell - Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Johan
*Frank Welker - Hefty Smurf, Poet Smurf, Azrael, Peewit
*Alan Oppenheimer - Vanity Smurf
*Nancy Cartwright - Jokey Smurf
*Hank Azaria - Gargamel
*Dee Bradley Baker - Greedy Smurf, Harmony Smurf
*Rob Paulsen - Oliver
*Jim Cummings - The Good King
*Tress MacNeille - Dame Barbara
*Dan Castellaneta - Tailor Smurf
*Tom Kane - The Narrator
==Production==
In the summer of 2018, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures announced that they are rebooting The Smurfs with Studio Peyo for a film on Netflix.
Production began in the fall of 2018. Animators, such as Dave Feiss, Jamie Oliff, Eric Goldberg, Bruce W. Smith, Lynne Naylor and Chris Reccardi also contributed to doing character layouts for the film. In mid-February 2019, it was announced that Rich Moore was hired to direct the film.
On July of 2019, a first look of the movie was released to the public. This trailer reveals that a Spanish studio, Alfonso Entertainment (successor to Alfonso Productions, who worked on Cosgrove-Hall's Count Duckula during the late 1980s to early 1990s) is providing the animation work overseas (a la Carbunkle Cartoons' style on Nickelodeon's Ren and Stimpy and Harvey Comics' Baby Huey).
The soundtrack for the film was composed by Mark Watters.
==Reception==
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and fans of the original Smurfs comics and 1980s cartoon show. It was praised for its animation and humor, as well as re-adapting old comic stories to the screen, while it was panned for Tom Kane's narration due to it already being used in the live-action/CGI duology.
==Trivia==
*The film's plot is mainly based on the Smurfs' first appearance in the Johan and Peewit comic story, "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute", as well as the original comic story "The Smurfnapper", and Hanna-Barbera's version of the original comic story, "The Smurfette".
**The only difference from the 1976 film in the first segment, is that most of the songs were omitted, except for one, "It's A Smurf, Smurf, Smurf".
*Rich Moore optioned to use the Peyo art style for the film, because the simplistic CalArts-style character designs and backgrounds used at the time (such as Regular Show, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, etc.) would never work on a very European cartoon.
*Originally, the producers wanted to adding Monty the vulture (Gargamel's second pet from Smurfs: The Lost Village) to the film due to being a crew-favorite, but because Kelly Asbury (who was busy directing the computer-animated film UglyDolls) wasn't involved with the production of the film, he got removed after they failed to get the rights to use Monty.
**Also, Gargamel's motive was initially intended to steal the essence of a Smurf. But because Raja Gosnell wasn't involved with the production either, this idea was all but omitted and reverted back into Gargamel's original motive of turning Smurfs into gold as in the comics.
*Tom Kane's narration (and the recurring gag of him being frequently interrupted by a character) serves as both a tribute and parody to Narrator Smurf from the live-action/CGI duology, without permission from Raja Gosnell.
*The film brings back the traditional hand-drawn art style of the old 1980s Smurfs cartoon show, as well as an upgrade to have a more fluid animation style.
==Tropes==
See /Tropes
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