Wednesday, September 4, 2013

DVD Review - The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow

The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow
Director: Stephen Franck
Voice Cast: Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Anton Yelchin, Hank Azaria
Studio: Sony Home Entertainment
Release Date: September 10th
ASIN: B00CXRTGSA
Retail: $6.99
Running Time: 22 minutes
Rating: G

Review:

The blend of CGI and live-action was used in this summer's The Smurfs 2, which is based on the characters created by Peyo. Now Sony Entertainment is releasing all new animated mini-movie The Smurfs 2: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow is debuting on DVD Tuesday, September 10th directed by animation veteran Stephan Frank. Alan Cumming (TV's "The Good Wife"), Fred Armisen (TV's "Saturday Night Live"), Anton Yelchin ("Star Trek: Into Darkness") and Hank Azaria (TV's "The Simpsons") return to voice Gutsy, Brainy, Clumsy, and Gagramel.

The all new-mini movie uses a blend of CGI and traditional 2D animation (similar to the original cartoon series) and spins a new twist on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Hefty, Clumsy, and Panicky (in computer animation) are huddled around an open fire telling ghost stories when Narrator Smurf shows up and tells the story about The Legend of the Smurfy Hollow! Now using hand-drawn animation, the Smurfs are told how Brainy Smurf wins the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the last nine years, but this year Gutsy wants to win, leading him to follow Brainy pass the Smurfy Hollow bridge, where most Smurfs are afraid to venture because of the fear of the Headless Horseman. To their surprise, Gargamel has set a trap for them. With the help of Smurfette, Gutsy and Brainy try to outwit Gargamel that is if they don't come face-to-face with the legendary Headless Horseman.

I grew up watching the original The Smurfs series, so I give the producers credit for paying homage to the series by adding traditional animation to the mini-movie, which also has computer animation to tie into the new film series. The plot is basically simple, with Gutsy, Brainy, and Smurfette entering into the Smurfy Hollow only to fall into the clutches of the evil wizard Gargamel, so it sounds like a plot from the original series, only with a Headless Horsemen twist. The mini-movie is cute and I can see it being popular around Halloween (which is next month) with both kids and adults. The only downside is that the DVD is only 22-minutes and there is no extras on it, not even The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol (another 22-minute mini-movie released in 2011), which is receiving its own single-disc release. That being said, I still enjoyed watching The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow and at the retail price of $6.99 I do recommend it to others.



*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I adore reading reader feedback! I will, however, remove all spam and pointless comments.

Please take note that I have the right to delete comments from this site. Please only post constructive and respectful feedback.