A fantasy film for Smurfphiles

A fantasy film for Smurfphiles By Troy Ribeiro FILM: The Smurfs 2 CAST: Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Brendan Gleeson, the voices of Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Christina Ricci, Anton YelchinDIRECTION: Raja GosnellBased on the characters and works of Belgian comic artist Peyo, The Smurfs 2 is a sequel to the 2011 film, The Smurfs. For the uninitiated, the Smurfs are blue, three apple-high friendly individuals who live in mushroom houses in Smurf Village, a fantasy land.In this franchise, Gargamel the wizard is flourishing in Paris. But he is running out of his magical powers. So he creates a group of mischievous Smurf-replicas called the Naughties; Smurfette (voiceover by Katy Perry), Vexy (voiceover by Christina Ricci) and Hackus (voiceover by J B  Smoove) to obtain the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. Apparently, this concoction would help Gargamel to rule the world.Unfortunately for him, things don’t work according to his plans. Smurfette, the cute blonde naughty, who he had sent to snoop and rob the Smurfs of their “Smurf-essence”, is a changed individual as she “chooses to be a Smurf”.So, he with the help of Vexy and Hackus kidnaps Smurfette from Smurf-land and imprisons her in Paris.Laced with familial bonding, an adventurous flight around Paris and emotional blackmail what follows is the Smurfette-rescue operation. Papa Smurf (voiceover by Jonathan Winters) along with Smurfanity, Grouchy and Narcissi-murf (voiceover by George Lopez, Anton Yelchin and John Oliver respectively) traverse to Paris and in collaboration with their human friends — Patrick (Harris), Grace (Mays) Winslow and Victor (Brendon Gleeson), they rescue Smurfette.The plot is layered with lessons like dealing with different types of parents — real parents, adoptive parents to stand-in parents. It is strongly underlined with the moral: “It does not matter from where you come, what matters is what you choose to be.”It takes patience to go through the first half hour of the film as the narration screeches of show and tell technique and smurfological dialogues; that is, diction morphed with smurf references. Once you get used to this, you begin to appreciate the film.The dialogues are preachy and the humour is derived from the repetitive actions or verbal jokes. But the best and crassy lines are mouthed by Patrick’s ever-embarrassing step-father Victor.Hank Azaria as Gargamel along with his Cat excels in his cartoonish avatar of the evil wizard. Brendon Gleeson as Victor sparkles with all the absurdity in the film. It is actually funny to watch him transform into a mallard and then return to his normal self, suddenly mid-air.The voice of Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf is endearing. Katy Perry and the rest of the cast beautifully and effectively synchronise their voices with the characters.Director Raja Gosnell and his accomplished team have seamlessly merged the camerawork with the computer generated images. But the film will only appeal to Smurfphiles and those who understand Smurfology. — IANSLukewarm frothy potboilerFILM: The HeatCAST: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bachir, Dan BakkedahlDIRECTION: Paul FeigConventionally speaking, the buddy cop movie is the domain of men. The formula here is nothing new. You have seen it many times before, but the pairing of Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy is what makes you warm up to The Heat.While hedging for a promotion, the prudish FBI Special Agent from New York, Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock), a methodical investigator with a reputation for showmanship and arrogance, is forced to partner Boston street-level officer Shannon Mullins (Melisa McCarthy) to track down a drug lord before his next big shipment comes in.What keeps you amused is to see how the straight-laced Ashburn deals with a foul-mouthed, uncouth Mullins, especially when they start off on the wrong foot. What follows is that Ashburn gets a directive to allow Mullins’ involvement in her case and neither is initially pleased.However, Ashburn’s buttoned-up tactics paired with Mullins’ penchant for gun waving unite the two in a reluctant mutual respect. Then slowly, in a formulaic process, they bond over family matters, passion and commitment towards their job.With a variation in the plot points and set-ups, there is nothing that you’ve never witnessed before, but it’s how it is presented that makes you chuckle. It’s the fine moments of slapstick comedy that sticks out in phases. And one such moment is how Shannon deals with her undertrials and plays Russian roulette to extract information. The stake is high, and the moment priceless. It keeps you in splits.The chemistry between Bullock and McCarthy brings the screen to life. McCarthy steals the show and gets the maximum laughs for her shrewd performance. Bullock on the other hand, with her restrained onscreen personality, is used as a foil character that ups McCarthy’s presence. Kattie Dippold’s script is lukewarm and does not gather momentum to give a boiling point. The dialogues are staid. — By Troy Ribeiro/IANSA laughfestBy Rick BentleyFILM: The World’s EndCAST: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Pierce Brosnan, Rosamund PikeDIRECTION: Edgar WrightIf Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright ever decide to quit acting, directing and writing, they should look into starting a magic act. The two are masters of the misdirection.Their latest work, The World’s End, starts out as a rather mundane story of a group of ageing buddies who return to their hometown to complete a quest that they failed in 1990: to imbibe their way through 12 pubs. Four of the friends have normal lives. Only the self-proclaimed leader of the group, Gary King (Pegg), is hanging on to his glory days.The first 30 minutes of the film is a tedious trip down memory lane as King acts like he’s still top dog in town and the rest of his mates follow him. That’s when the movie makes a 90-degree turn. The bland buddy comedy turns into a mixture of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Alien and Barfly. The comedy gets cranked up as the night out turns into a comedic battle for survival.This change of direction shouldn’t come as a surprise since the team used the same tactic in Hot Fuzz, turning the cop movie into a supernatural tale. Just as with that film, there are no hints such a change is coming and the surprise lifts the movie out of its melancholy funk into a fun adventure.Pegg’s joined by his comedy sidekick, Nick Frost, who proves that he can handle physical humour with ease. He is the perfect match for Pegg, whose humour can be a little zealous at times. Together, they give the humour — from fun jabs at nostalgia to a slapstick battle to save the world — a smooth and enjoyable pace.Even Wright’s pacing matches the two distinct film styles. He seems in no hurry to move the action along as King goes about “getting the band back together”. Once the movie takes its change of direction, the tempo picks up so much there’s little chance to catch your breath.The script by Pegg and Wright may have all the earmarks of being a deep commentary on the way technology is stripping away humanity. But that’s going way to deep. It’s a movie with only one objective: deliver as many surprise laughs as possible. — The Fresno Bee/MCTDVD courtesy: Saqr Entertainment Stores, Doha