Sorrowful Smurfs

Family/Action/Comedy. Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Hank Azaria and the voices of Jonathan Winters, Anton Yelchin, Katy Perry, Fred Armisen, Alan Cumming, George Lopez. Director: Raja Gosnell.

Based on the comic books by Peyo, The Smurfs 3D brings the iconic characters to life on the big screen using the same digital magic as Alvin And The Chipmunks.

The flimsy plot transplants the “little blue people, three apples high” from the safety of Smurf Village to the towering skyscrapers of Manhattan.

Here Papa Smurf and his kin go largely unnoticed, even when riding atop yellow taxis through neon-laden Times Square. In an age of omnipresent CCTV cameras, smartphones and social media, it seems inconceivable the internet wouldn’t be abuzz with footage of a new species on the city streets.

Suspensions of disbelief aside – and there are plenty in Raja Gosnell’s film – most of the comedy is aimed at younger audiences, such as when evil wizard Gargamel inspects a portable loo, thinking it to be a cauldron, and rushes out choking “Somebody has been working dark and terrible magic in there”.

The four scriptwriters throw in random pop culture references for older viewers, such as an exchange between Gargamel and his cat Azrael borrowed from Brokeback Mountain, and Smurfette recreating Marilyn Monroe’s iconic steam vent pose from The Seven Year Itch.

The Smurfs 3D recycles the fish-out-of-water plot of Alvin And The Chipmunks and doesn’t have any original ideas about what to do with the tiny characters once they are at large among us.

Harris and Mays are both endearing in thankless roles and the vocal performances are solid though unremarkable, including a self-referential moment for Perry when Smurfette coos “I kissed a girl . . . and I liked it!”

The Smurfs 3D doesn’t benefit at all from the eye-popping format, so if childhood nostalgia compels you to see Gosnell’s film, opt for the cheaper 2D version.