I really didn't like The Smurfs. In addition to being insipid and stupid, it was, as I said in my review, "so completely lifeless it never manages to justify its own existence." That said, I do think that a studio could make a good Smurfs movie. All they would have to do is stick to what made the characters great in the first place and refuse to modernize them for a "young, hip crowd." I don't want to see The Smurfs rapping over Run DMC in New York City - I want to see them doing their thing in Smurf Village. For those hoping that the sequel would rectify this problem, I wouldn't hold your breath.
THR has learned that J. David Stem and David Weiss, the writers of The Smurfs, have already begun working on The Smurfs 2, which is already set for a Aug. 2, 2013 release date. Stem and Weiss, along with Jay Scherick and David Ronn (who also worked on the first movie), began working on a story idea in the spring, months before the first film's release. This was done so that animators would have more time to work on a sequel if the project got greenlit. When The Smurfs earned $35 million in its opening weekend, the film got the go-ahead. The first draft has already been handed in and, according to the trade, the studio believes "it has a template for a sequel."
You know what the really terrible part about this is? Even though the critics bashed the hell out of The Smurfs, because the movie has made so much money they will have no incentive or motivation to learn from their mistakes. Instead, they will try and mimic everything that they did in the first movie and expect the same results. Even worse is the fact that they will probably work.
