The Smurfs, 2011

The Smurfs, 2011
Director: Raja Gosnell
Cast: Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays
slovene synchronisation: Janez Hočevar Rifle, Klemen Slakonja, Jure Mastnak, Tjaša Železnik, Jernej Kuntner






The Smurfs in short:
When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours -- in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.








Stage: local theatre, 3D show with one of my best friends that is truly mad of them. Unfortunately, only synchronized version is available in Slovenia (thumbs down!)














Preps: This was one of the cartoons I grew up with. Therefore I am more than curious how did the implementation to the stage (cinema wall) turn up. I expect to have fun and to laugh a lot, like I used to. I am not aware at this stage, that the game will be synchronized. Although all the cartoons we were washing were definitely synchronized in a way that you could die in laughter.














Reality: Uhm.. a huge dissappointment in the quality of translation. Let's leave for a moment at a side the fact that I didn't know it's going to be synchronized. And even if I did, I wouldn't have a choice. Seems that the only version available in theatres in Slovenia is a synchronized one. Bljak. Yuk. I hate sinchronizations, because they seldom reach the quality of original. Even though, in Slovenia there are several superb actors and superb voices that one can use in such cases. Sometimes I even see both versions, because the synchronized isn't so bad. All in all, I am grateful, that we are still remaining one of the normal countries, not raping the audience with synchronization overall - like in Italy, some eastern countries, etc.









This version is actually very good. I like the way the characters in blue are somehow a part of the movie and it seems pretty realistic. I am not surprised in the flow of the story, because it's pretty much predictable - up to the point where they leave for NY. Here some new horizons appear in their heads, obviously also vice versa - taking a normal human life and making some smurfs appear - and making it a reality - well, this could be a failure of the director.









In this case, I believe, a pretty decent job. Yes, the two characters are too mushy, too romantic, too much of Hollywood (especially at the ending). Could this be a subtle critic of the american system, where you can only survive on another planet, otherwise you get crushed by public, polititians, communists? It cannot be a coincidence that everything is happening in the Big Apple, because all the eyes of the world are staring at this cooking pot, waiting for some major bang to happen. Or could it just be one of the xxxth movie, filmed here, because it's just convenient. Or a free advertising for the big park, where the Smurfs appear.









The synchronized part of Gargamel is, opposed to other texts, like a different translator wrote it. Actually it's a very good one, all the other words that are used are .. well, childish. We can briefly have a look at some of the swearing words or words that express anxiety (slovene language has some really weird ones that noone uses anymore, except Grace in this movie; or Tjaša Železnik in this sense: Marička, Ježešna, etc) - cannot even dare to put this into english, because you cannot have a decent translation. But to hear this used makes me think that the audience is truly disrespected and treated as mere morons.









All in all, the movie has some pluses and rises above average. Makes me think of why it's made now and how does this interact with overall political situation in the world. Because it's pure europeans that are coming to NY (Smurfs have belgian roots), living in a deserted island, somewhere where they cannot reach reality - in this sense, do we reach reality, when we are dwarfs of americans? Some philosophical ideas to think about..














My personal rate: 6,0 (a good implementation of one of my favourites when I was young)














The Smurfs on IMDB