In Smurfs, the evil wizard Gargamel and his brother kidnap Papa Smurf, because he’s hiding a powerful magical book that they need to take over the world. The movie has some nice things to say about fitting in and finding your purpose. But these blue gnomes often replace certain words with suggestive, Smurfy substitutes. And the story’s problematic magical components include a rethinking of the creation of the universe.
In Smurf Village, everybody has a “thing.”
Brainy Smurf is smart. Hefty Smurf is strong. Papa Smurf is a leader. Even Smurfette—who was created by evil wizard Gargamel to infiltrate the Smurfs and lead them to their doom—has discovered that her thing isn’t being evil but being good, acting as the consummate encourager of all Smurfs.
But then there’s No Name. He isn’t quite sure how he fits in. And after 10,248 tries, he’s starting to lose hope.
However, Smurfette and Papa won’t let No Name give up. They’re certain he’ll figure out his thing soon. He just needs to give it a bit more time.
Of course, No Name may not have as much time as he’d like.
When the wizard Razamel (Gargamel’s equally evil brother) locates Smurf Village after a hundred years of searching, he kidnaps Papa Smurf, threatening to squash him unless Papa turns over a magic spellbook that he’s been secretly hiding.
Papa refuses, instructing the Smurfs to find someone named Ken as he’s pulled away.
Who is Ken?
Nobody knows. Papa wasn’t able to divulge that information in time. But Smurfette and the rest of Smurf Village are on the job. And maybe by helping, No Name can finally figure out where he fits in, too.
Smurfs is all about self-discovery. We follow along as No Name tries in earnest to figure out what his purpose is, heartened by his friends all the way. Papa and Smurfette are particularly encouraging, sympathizing with No Name’s desire to fit in but also reminding him that he does belong. So instead of focusing on what he doesn’t have, they say, he should focus on what he does have: a family of Smurfs who love him and will support him no matter what.
While searching for Papa, the Smurfs learn about their heritage as mighty warriors called the Guardianeers of Good. For centuries, Smurfs have carried this mantle, protecting the whole universe from evil. And some brave Smurfs have even given their lives in the name of this cause.
When Smurfette comes face to face with Gargamel and Razamel, they try to convince her to turn sides, reminding her that she was created to be evil. However, Smurfette doesn’t give in. She remains loyal to her friends, helping them to defeat the wizards.
The film highlights the values of bravery, honesty, loyalty, patience and trust. And several Smurfs also take responsibility for their actions when they make mistakes.
“In the beginning,” we’re told, “the universe was perfect.” These lines could perhaps be heard as a superficial echo of the biblical creation story in Genesis, in which God declares that various aspects of His creation are good. But this alternate origin story then goes on to tell us that the universe was kept in peace and harmony by four magical (and sentient) books. Then, about a hundred years ago, four evil wizards (including Razamel) decided that they wanted to dominate the world. They stole/kidnapped the books, turning them evil. But one of these sentient spellbooks, Jaunty Grimoire, managed to escape with the help of Papa Smurf, thus foiling the wizards’ plot.
Since then, Jaunty has lived in Smurf Village. Papa has kept Jaunty secret from the other Smurfs in order to protect her. But when Jaunty sees how much No Name wants to discover his purpose, she decides to help him out. She makes herself invisible, hops on No Name’s head and starts performing magic, making the Smurf believe he is the one doing the conjuring.
For the rest of the film, No Name seemingly does a variety of magic, creating portals, jumping through the multiverse and tossing other characters through the air (at one point, he accidentally blows away Smurfette with a gust of air). But near the film’s end, No Name discovers the truth when Jaunty is forced to reveal herself. [Spoiler Warning] Razamel uses dark magic to transform Jaunty Grimoire into an evil spellbook with zombie features (though the Smurfs later rescue her and change her back).
Gargamel uses a spell to temporarily turn his pet cat into a griffin-like creature. We’re also shown that he molded Smurfette out of clay before animating her. Razamel opens a few vortexes throughout the film that suck in anyone caught nearby. And he possesses a sort of radar that can detect magic.
Mama Poot, a silly, furry creature, also wields magic. She uses it to light up some crystals and open portals. A few Smurfs journey through the multiverse in one scene.
We hear a fragment of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” when No Name uses magic for the first time. There is a remix of Belinda Carlisle’s song, “Heaven Is a Place on Earth.” Smurfette sings a song telling listeners to listen to what the “universe” is telling them. Someone asks if time should be viewed in a linear fashion or as a series of flat circles.
During a fight scene, a well-timed punch sends an animated bad guy soaring through the air. As he’s airborne, his clothing flies off, and we briefly see him in the buff from a distance.
The only distinctly female Smurf in Smurf Village is Smurfette, who wears a dress and heels. (The protagonists meet another obviously female Smurf later on though.) All other Smurfs wear a similar pants-and-shoe combination, but it’s unclear if they’re all supposed to be male, since many are voiced by female actors and a few are characterized by traditionally feminine traits.
That ambiguity gets a little more confusing with the introduction of a Smurf who was “ahead of his time.” To demonstrate this point, the Smurf rescues a caterpillar, telling it, “Love you, brother—or sister,” since he’s unsure of the creature’s gender.
No Name, Smurfette and Razamel enter the multiverse at one point, jumping through universes with different animation styles. In one place, they resemble anime-style characters. Both Razamel and No Name are drawn as shirtless, heavily muscled men in this scene, and Smurfette wears a dress showing some cleavage. In another dimension, they become Claymation figures. Smurfette pulls Razamel’s clay hands off his body, saying, “That’s what happens to handsy fellas.”
Some humans in the real world dance at a nightclub to Rihanna’s song “Please Don’t Stop the Music.” While the clip we hear in the movie is clean, the full lyrics of that song are more sensual. We also hear a remix of “It’s Raining Men,” where “men” is substituted with “Smurfs.” Again, while what we hear here is clean, the original song is quite suggestive.
[Spoiler Warning] Ken, whom we learn is Papa Smurf’s brother, alludes to a former romance with Mama Poot, leader of the Snooter Poots (fuzzy, critter-like creatures). Some other Smurfs tease him for this, making kissing sounds and saying, “Ooh la la!” One Snooter Poot pinches a Smurf on his tail.
Gargamel and Razamel are, as I said, evil. They want to destroy all Smurfs by squishing them. In fact, they make a contraption designed to do just that, testing it out by smashing their assistant’s hand under the thing. (Though the Smurfs manage to escape.)
In the real world, Smurfs are chased by some dogs and nearly flattened by a street sweeper. In Smurf Village, one Smurf takes on a job as a “shark tamer.” He’s later seen (alive and seemingly unharmed) with a shark on his head. A turtle friend of the Smurfs says he thinks they’re all going to die when they leave for Razamel’s castle.
The Snooter Poot home is destroyed by magic, but family members manage to escape beforehand. Smurfs battle against magically animated stone giants. Some of Razamel’s henchmen attempt to squash the Smurfs using a frying pan and ladle. Someone says that the moat surrounding Razamel’s castle is filled with the bones of those who tried to break in.
More than a few characters get knocked around during fight sequences. Gargamel hits a parked car while driving. A Snooter Poot bites Ken. A cat-turned-griffin crash-lands when the spell that allowed him to fly wears off. Smurfette and No Name are pulled into the “Surreal Dimension,” where nightmares come to life, during a multiverse-jumping sequence.
Razamel orders his assistant, Joel, to kill Gargamel’s pet cat, Azrael. We then see Joel and Azrael fighting—and Azrael is winning.
There’s no uncensored profanity in Smurfs, but we hear quite a few suggestive euphemisms and a couple of bleeped out words. When Smurfette and Ken first meet, they have a heated exchange, using the word “Smurf” multiple times in place of harsher language.
No Name tries calling himself the “Gonna Kick Your Big Giant Butt Smurf.” Later, he shortens his moniker to “Kick A– Smurf,” but Sound Effects Smurf bleeps out the word “A–.” Smurfette then repeats the name (once again, censored) to tell No Name that it’s not appropriate. And the exchange is capped off when No Name replies, “I don’t know what the [bleep] I was thinking.” He then looks at Sound Effects Smurf and claims that the bleeped word was “Smurf,” and therefore shouldn’t have been bleeped.
A turtle character says, “What the shell?” twice. Name-calling includes uses of “imbecile,” “shoot,” “sucker,” “geez,” “freak,” “stupid” and “idiot.”
In the real world, some humans have drinks at a club.
Someone says that enemies are all around, and that you always have to be ready to take them out. Smurfette is disturbed by this worldview, later telling this character he needs therapy and a hug.
A Smurf has a bathroom accident and says, “I Smurfed my pants.” There’s a joke about litter boxes. Razamel says that he sometimes sprinkles his father’s ashes into his assistant’s protein shakes. The assistant gags when he hears. Smurfette warns that you should always tip delivery drivers beforehand so that they won’t lick your food.
Gargamel loves his brother dearly, but Razamel hates Gargamel. So Razamel repeatedly manipulates his brother and acts cruelly toward him. This deeply hurts Gargamel’s feelings when he learns the truth. But then he sets out on a “spite mission” to get revenge.
The evil wizards kidnap a number of Smurfs and Snooter Poots, placing them in cages and jars. Razamel stuffs several other wizards into a large water bottle when they annoy him—a fate that befalls someone else later.
Characters lie. Someone operates a “scream buggy,” which runs on fear. A young man admits that he’s only helping the evil wizards because it’s his first job out of college, and he needs a good recommendation from them.
La la la la la la, sing a happy song!
La la la la la la, Smurfs, I think you got it wrong …
Don’t misunderstand me, Smurfs has some nice messages about fitting in and finding your purpose. And the story delivers some genuinely funny moments, too. But for a movie that’s supposed to be geared toward kids, there were too many suggestive euphemisms for my liking.
Plus, the nicer elements of the story—at least from a Christian point of view—stem from a worldview that’s still lost and confused. In one song, Smurfette tells No Name, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you you’re not anyone,” and all I could think was, There’s a lesson here about finding our identity in Jesus.
But, of course, the movie doesn’t follow my line of thinking. Instead, Smurfette tells No Name to “listen to the universe,” and really hones in on the whole “find your truth” worldview.
Not to mention the fact that the magical elements we see here—particularly the magically-based origin story of the universe—will probably warrant a bigger spiritual conversation after the film than most parents were counting on.
I do think Smurfs is a fun flick. But spiritually (and euphemistically) it perhaps has some soul-searching to do.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
