Just to give you a laugh as you head out for the weekend, the trailer for THE SMURFS, which stars Neil Patrick Harris as the human who gets embarrassed and frazzled by dealing with his new friends, and Harvey Pekar Hank Azaria as Gargamel.
Just to make it clear, you will laugh because this looks so dire, not because it is funny. Oh Peyo!
Good or bad, the release of a SMURFS movie was what made it possible for me to finally be able to publish Peyo’s classic material in English at Papercutz.Without a major media tie-in, it’s difficult to get mainstream bookstores to carry graphic novels– despite what anyone says. THE SMURFS graphic novels from Papercutz may be hiding in the kids section of your favorite bookstore or comics shop.
It’s really great that they’re being reprinted, Jim. It’s fun stuff, I’ve bought all the volumes you’ve released so far.
Yeah, my 12- and 8-year-old sons are crazy about the new reprints. And of course they’ve independently come up with all of the uses of “smurf” in that movie trailer. I also appreciate that, like the Dark Horse Little Lulu collections, they’re packaged and priced for casual readers rather than fussy collectors.
WHY GOD WHY? Will no one learn the lesson of the Marmaduke movie? It doesn’t matter how recognizable the original property is, if the movie is that bad, it will tank. And there’s honestly no reason that a Smurf movie should be bad.
It’s sad, because a heartfelt take on the original material could be a really great all-ages fantasy story. Instead, another snark and fart-fest of a movie.
On the upside, I can confirm that the reprints have been selling very well at the comic shop I manage. I really hadn’t expected kids today to even know what they were, or if they’d seen early trailers, to have been inspired enough to buy comics based on that. But somehow, maybe the innate awesomeness of Peyo’s art, they’re being drawn to Smurfs.
That trailer was so bad, I’m surprised I didn’t write it.
I share joy in the Peyo material being back in print. However, a number of kids previously unfamiliar will regard this -thing- as the original and not bother with the books, more’s the pity.
Aside from the overuse of “smurfing”, the dialogue in this trailer could have come form just about any recent CG remake. Sad.
I have no idea why there is so much smack talk about this film.
I have a 6 year old daughter that I showed this to and she was super excited. This movie is meant for kids… and kids will enjoy it. THIS is now her most anticipated summer movie.
Just chill folks.
the Tiki
I propose we consider this a Harold & Kumar spinoff and regard the Smurfs as NPH’s drug-fueled hallucinations.
Jim we’ve got the Smurf Books front and center in our kids section in the front of the store. These things are constantly turning over and over.
So Smurf means both fuck and fart. Got it.
Wow- is it weird I’m rooting for Gargamel?
Is there anything from cartoons or comics that Hollywood hasn’t made worse than its original source material? Maybe Batman: The Animated Series or the Fleischer Superman. But most of it is horrible, and at best, mildly off and not very satisfying. And it seems to be the same with novels — Hollywood never fails to make movie that is fraction of the experience of reading the novel.
Ah, don’t smurf. I’m going to smurf right over to see it. I think it will be smurfy.