It is quite
clear from the spooky content in this single 22-minute Smurfs special that The
Legend of Smurfy Hollow was made as a Halloween short better suited for release
in October rather than September. I imagine that the initial plan was for this
short special to help get a little more from the box office release of the
Blockbuster CGI sequel for these popular animated blue creatures from the
1980s. It still seems to be an attempt to boost box office, but the September
release shows how little confidence there is in the attention span of young
audiences. In one month’s time there will be other films to pillage for home
entertainment.
The film version
of these beloved little creatures utilizes cutting edge computer generated
interfacing to bring them to life while the original cartoon from the 1980s was
the traditional hand-drawn 2D animation. This 22-minute short special utilizes
both, although does a much better job at imitating the hand-drawn animation
than the computer generated images. The computer generated images bookend a
hand-drawn story told around the campfire. It has the typical moral message of
a Smurf cartoon, paired with a mildly spooky storyline following in the
tradition of the headless horseman.
The one saving
grace of this rushed short is the inclusion of many of the actors who lent
their voices for the features films as well. Hank Azaria provides his voice for
the animated version of Gargamel while Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen and Anton
Yelchin all reprise their roles as Smurfs, Gutsy, Brainy and Clumsy. There are
no special features and it almost seems as though this could have simply been a
bonus on the feature-film home release, making this a purchase only necessary
for die-hard fans.
Entertainment Value:
5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 2/10
Disc Features: 0/10
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