The Smurfs

Saturday night is always movie night at our house and we ventured out last night to the cinema to see yet another remake of a television show and that was "The Smurfs". I don't remember watching the TV show. I must've been 'past' it but my husband remembers it and loved it and has a collection of all the plastic Smurfs. I didn't know what to expect. I really don't expect much with kid's movies. I enjoy my kids getting enjoyment from them. That's about it but I must admit that I didn't mind "The Smurfs". I remember having quite a few giggles, especially at the end.

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Hank Azaria (you may remember him from such shows as "The Simpsons" - he does the voices of Moe and Apu) steals the show as "Gargamel" and is a real crack up. His sidekick "Azarel" the cat is hilarious too and I normally hate cats but I thought this one was cool.  Neil Patrick Harris (aka Doogie Howser and Barney from "How I Met Your Mother") had a small role and was okay. Also, Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury from "Glee") also plays a good part. It suits her sweet personality.

The story starts in the Smurf's mythical village but not far into the movie, they make their way to New York (as all cartoon characters do at some stage) befriending the characters of Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays, all the time trying to stay away from Gargomel. The use of the word 'smurf' in many lines is hilarious at times (my kids keep saying "I smurf you"), for example:

Patrick: "Stop saying 'smurf' for everything. Smurfity smurf smurf smurf!"
(Smurfs collectively gasp)
Gutsy Smurf: "There's NO call for that kind of language, laddy!"

  My kids, aged nearly 7 and 5 weren't scared at all in the movie. They even managed to sit still for the entire movie (except for a moment towards the end when my daughter kept asking for something to eat and I kept telling her to 'shoosh'). Oh, the fun of the movies! I highly recommend it and I can see a "Smurfs" 2, 3, 4......

Saturday Night Movie Night - Enchanted

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Tonight's offering was an older movie from 2007 screened on 'free to air' TV. It was a coincidence it was on because I'd only seen Amy Adams the night before in "The Fighter" and was telling my husband what other movies she'd been in, including "Enchanted" which was quite a different role for her. She was also "Julie" in "Julie and Julia" starring Meryl Streep.

The movie started out animinated and it's your typical princess fairytale with a little bit taken out of every fairytale movie. The evil queen/stepmother character is played by Susan Sarandon and she pushes Giselle, the Amy Adams character, down a well and into 'real life' in the middle of Manhattan. From there, Patrick Dempsey, a single Dad with a 6-ish year old daughter, find Giselle and take her in and the love story begins.

It's a really delightful movie. My 4 year old son was a little restless towards the end. I think he still likes his movies animated but my nearly 7 year old daughter is enjoying non animated films a little more.

There is a little bit of a 'scary' part near the end with the evil Queen turning herself into a not so bad looking dragon but my son didn't say it was scary. He thought the chipmunk character was cool.

Saturday Night Movie Night - Enchanted

[photo source]

Tonight’s offering was an older movie from 2007 screened on ‘free to air’ TV. It was a coincidence it was on because I’d only seen Amy Adams the night before in “The Fighter” and was telling my husband what other movies she’d been in, including “Enchanted” which was quite a different role for her. She was also “Julie” in “Julie and Julia” starring Meryl Streep.

The movie started out animinated and it’s your typical princess fairytale with a little bit taken out of every fairytale movie. The evil queen/stepmother character is played by Susan Sarandon and she pushes Giselle, the Amy Adams character, down a well and into ‘real life’ in the middle of Manhattan. From http://1947partitionarchive.org/node/720 there, Patrick Dempsey, a single Dad with a 6-ish year old daughter, find Giselle and take her in and the love story begins.

It’s a really delightful movie. My 4 year old son was a little restless towards the end. I think he still likes his movies animated but my nearly 7 year old daughter is enjoying non animated films a little more.

There is a little bit of a ‘scary’ part near the end with the evil Queen turning herself into a not so bad looking dragon but my son didn’t say it was scary. He thought the chipmunk character was cool.