Smurfing Good Time

The second instalment of the Smutf movie was released on Hari Raya. And with the visitors and all, we didn't get to watch it until the evening of second day of Raya. It was worth the wait as again. The movie was better than I expected.

All the main characters were back, although the story concentrated more on a few of the central characters as well as the development of the human family dynamics. Not much story of the Smurf village itself, mote on the human side this time. And mainly about Smurfette.

Rumour had it, the third instalment was already in the planning, to be released in 2015, but with a new character lending the voice of Papa Smurf. The current voice actor passed away in April. At the ripe old age of 87.

For the movie, we actually watched it at Signature Gardens, and there was hardly any crowd. Straight forward parking and a breeze of a drive into Gardens. Wish that it was like this on all our movie nights.

Definitely a recommended movie to watch for the family. Not such a surprise hit as Wreck-It Ralph, but fun none the less. And also not much of a laugh-a-minute as Despicable Me 2. My boys enjoyed it though. And that was the main thing.

Having a Smurfing Time

Lunchtime Thursday. Just about the best time to hit the cinema. Except that it was a public holidays and we should have considered ourselves lucky to have bought the tickets ahead of time, on the day the movie opened nationwide. The place was full.

We ordered our food and drinks, then took our seats. Irfan sat next to me and he was already clapping before the opening credit. The power of marketing eh?!

The movie was a fun ride actually, although I remembered as a child, the original comics from Peyo were much more interesting. The plot was cheesy as you would expect, nowhere near as good as Rio or Kung Fu Panda, but really, you couldn't expect to see a Spielberg masterpiece here. It was fun, and my boys had a great time.

The graphic was excellent although one couldn't help but notice that the human actors were doing their scenes in front of a green screen. Their movement were kind of awkward, accommodating the Smurfs character into the frames which was obviously inked in digitally afterwards. But believable still.

The waiting area after the boys were done with it ....The lights were too dim for photos. Irfan settling into his seat ....The movie was rather short by all accounts. It started just before 12.30 and we were already out of the theatre by 2.

All in all, it was a fun day out. My boys had been talking about the movie for quite some time and when I told them I got tickets for today's show, they woke up pronto this morning. Would I recommend the movie? Definitely. Especially if you have kids with you. A feel good movie, most definitely.