"THE SMURFS: TRUE BLUE FRIENDS"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on DVD and BluRay March 3 Official Smurf Site Studio: WB Kids Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series “The Smurfs” has found a new life on DVD with the release of “The Smurfs: True Blue Friends.” This single-DVD release contains five cartoons from the popular kids show about inch-tall creatures called the Smurfs who live hidden in the forest. Papa Smurf leads the village of friendly sprites as they try to evade Gargamel and do good around the forest.
WHAT I LIKED
Although the Smurfs have been around since Peyo introduced them in comic strip form in the 1950s, they didn’t come to full mainstream American prominence until they had their own cartoon series in the 1980s. I was still in elementary school when the series started, and like most of the kids in my class, I watched their antics on Saturday mornings. Heck, I even remember the first broadcast of the infamous Smurfette episode, which puts me on a Donnie Darko level of geekiness, I suppose.
Rather than releasing entire seasons on DVD, as Warner Bros. had with the first season of the series, it seems to be sending out the releases in more bite-sized – our should I say, “Smurf-sized” – forms. This DVD contains five episodes from 1982’s season two. Three episodes – “S-Shivering S-Smurfs,” “Turncoat Smurf” and “The Smurf Who Couldn’t Say No” – are the short-form stories that made half an episode. These feature different stand-out Smurfs, like Tracker Smurf and Pushover Smurf (if that’s not a terrible name to be saddled with when you’re born, I don’t know what is).
The other two are full-episode stories, “The Haunted Castle” and “The Black Hellebore,” featuring the Smurfs’ human friends Johan and Peewit. The human characters also come from Peyo’s comic strip and found their way into the show in its early years. I vaguely remember the characters from the show, but they were not in too many episodes.
Having watched “The Smurfs” on Boomerang with my kids in recent years, this DVD offers a nice level of nostalgia for myself – especially to see the early episodes again – and a good show for kids.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Even though this show brings back some fond memories, it’s really made for the enjoyment of children rather than grown-ups. In this respect, having only five episodes bodes well for the DVD rather than an ongoing couple dozen that might be hard to take in my later years.
This show was produced by Hanna-Barbera for Saturday mornings, so it’s relatively low-rent on the animation front: low frame rates, static background characters, limited color palette. The only other thing that does get on my nerves is the overuse of the term “Smurf.” But I suppose that’s just me getting old.
Still, it does whet my appetite for feature film coming in 2010.
DVD FEATURES
Along with a slate of WB Kids trailers, there’s three “Meet the Smurfs” options, which give a character overview of Papa Smurf, Tracker Smurf and Grouchy Smurf. There’s also an Easter egg that gives a two-minute look at a Smurf scene in storyboard form.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Smurf fans who liked the cartoon and most kids.
