The Smurfs 2 is a 2013 American fantasy comedy film loosely based on the comic book series created by Peyo. Directed by Raja Gosnell and written by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick, David Ronn, and Karey Kirkpatrick, it serves as a sequel to The Smurfs (2011), and is the second installment of the Smurfs film series. Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Katy Perry, Jonathan Winters, Anton Yelchin, George Lopez, and Hank Azaria reprise their roles from the first film, with Brendan Gleeson, Jacob Tremblay, Christina Ricci, and J. B. Smoove joining the cast.
The Smurfs 2 was released theatrically on July 31, 2013, by Sony Pictures Releasing. Like its predecessor, the film was panned by critics, but wasn't as successful as the original, as it grossed $347.5 million against a $105 million budget. A sequel, The Smurfs 3, was initially planned for a summer 2015 release, but was cancelled in favor of a fully animated reboot, Smurfs: The Lost Village, which was released on April 7, 2017, and directed by Kelly Asbury, with Sony and Kerner returning to produce the film while having a new cast.
Plot
On Smurfette's birthday, the Smurfs read out the story of how she was created by Gargamel to destroy them before Papa Smurf turned her into a true blue Smurf. Smurfette has nightmares about her origin story and becomes unsure of her identity. The Smurfs are planning a surprise party for Smurfette and try to hide the preparations from her, which makes Smurfette believe that everyone has forgotten her birthday.
In Paris, Gargamel and Azrael are now celebrities, amazing people with Gargamel's sorcery, but he is running low on the Smurf essence that gives him his magic powers. With his new creations, evil Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties, named Vexy and Hackus, Gargamel creates a portal to Smurf Village by using the Eiffel Tower as a conduit so that he can kidnap Smurfette to obtain Papa's secret formula for creating Smurfs. Gargamel is too large to go through the portal, so he sends Vexy through it to kidnap Smurfette.
The Smurfs witness the abduction of Smurfette and inform Papa, who uses his magic to create crystals that allow whatever Smurf that swallows them to travel directly to the residence of their human allies, Patrick and Grace Winslow, in New York City in order to seek their help to rescue Smurfette. Papa originally intends for Brainy, Hefty, and Gutsy to use the crystals, but then Clumsy accidentally bumps into him and causes the crystals into fly into the mouths of the wrong smurfs, sending Grouchy, Vanity and himself to New York to help Papa instead. The Smurfs arrive to Patrick and Grace's apartment right after their son Blue's fourth birthday party where they also meet Patrick's stepfather, Victor Doyle. The Smurfs learn that Gargamel is in Paris and set off with the Winslows and Victor to find him.
Upon arrival in Paris, Patrick and Victor distract Gargamel during one of his performances at the Palais Garnier, but Gargamel accidentally turns Victor into a duck. Meanwhile, the Smurfs sneak backstage in Gargamel's dressing room to look for Smurfette, only to discover what Gargamel is planning. At the same time, Smurfette escapes from her prison, and the Naughties chase after her. Vexy encourages Smurfette to be naughty for fun to get her on their side, and, in the process, the three of them truly befriend each other.
Upon their return to Gargamel's hotel suite, Gargamel presents Smurfette with a tiny dragon wand as a feigned act of kindness. Smurfette still refuses to give Gargamel the formula until she sees the Naughties are dying due to a lack of Smurf essence. Faced without an alternative to save them, Smurfette writes the formula down and Gargamel uses it to turn the Naughties into real Smurfs. Immediately after they become Smurfs, Gargamel puts them into his Smurfalator machine to extract their essence.
Meanwhile, Patrick, Victor, who is human again because Gargamel's spell was only temporary, and the Smurfs work together to rescue Smurfette. The Smurfs are soon captured and put into the Smurfalator, powering Gargamel's large-sized dragon wand. Patrick and Victor arrive just in time to destroy the Smurfalator together, causing an explosion of Smurf essence that destroys the written formula and frees the Smurfs from their cages. Everyone is blasted out of Gargamel's lair through a sewer hole where Patrick and Victor reunite with Grace and Blue. Gargamel reappears but is blasted away by Smurfette with her new wand. He then falls onto the Notre Dame Cathedral, where he accidentally brings a stone gargoyle to life, which then throws him to the top of the Eiffel Tower and blasted into the air by fireworks. The Smurfs bid farewell to the Winslows, then return home with Vexy and Hackus to celebrate Smurfette's birthday.
In two post-credit sequences, Gargamel and Azrael create a portal, sending them back to their castle, and they later have a fight.
Cast
Katy Perry as Smurfette Christina Ricci as Vexy, a mischievous smurf-look-a-like naughtie created by Gargamel who is Hackus' sister and later Grouchy's love interest Britney Spears as her uncredited singing voice during the "Ooh La La" song at the end credits scene. J. B. Smoove as Hackus, a dim-witted and gluttonous smurf-look-a-like naughtie created by Gargamel who is Vexy's brother Hank Azaria as Gargamel, an evil wizard, and the archenemy of the Smurfs Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf Neil Patrick Harris as Patrick Winslow, Grace's husband, Victor's step-son, and Blue's father. Brendan Gleeson as Victor Doyle, Patrick's step-father, Grace's step-father-in-law, and Blue's step-grandfather Jayma Mays as Grace Winslow, Patrick's wife, Victor's step-daughter-in-law, and Blue's mother George Lopez as Grouchy Smurf Anton Yelchin as Clumsy Smurf John Oliver as Vanity Smurf Jacob Tremblay as Blue Winslow, Patrick and Grace's son, and Victor's step-grandson Fred Armisen as Brainy Smurf Jeff Foxworthy as Handy Smurf Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf Gary Basaraba as Hefty Smurf Adam Wylie as Panicky Smurf Joel McCrary as Farmer Smurf Kenan Thompson as Greedy Smurf Kevin Lee as Party Planner Smurf Paul Reubens as Jokey Smurf Shaquille O'Neal as Smooth Smurf B. J. Novak as Baker Smurf Jimmy Kimmel as Passive Aggressive Smurf Shaun White as Clueless Smurf Mario Lopez as Social Smurf John Kassir as Crazy Smurf Tom Kane as Narrator Smurf Mr. Krinkle, Cheeto, and FG as Azrael, Gargamel's cat. Cheeto and FG were uncredited for their roles. Frank Welker provides his voice. Nancy O'Dell as herself, a television interviewer
Production On August 9, 2011, Sony Pictures Animation announced a sequel to be released on August 2, 2013, which was later rescheduled to July 31, 2013 (two years and two days after the release of its predecessor). Director Raja Gosnell and producer Jordan Kerner returned for the film. Katy Perry confirmed at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards that she would be reprising her role as Smurfette. Sony began working on the sequel in early 2011 with writers J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn. By early August 2011, the first draft of the script was completed. On April 26, 2012, Sony announced that the film went into production. Filming took place in Paris, France. The film also marked the last appearance of Jonathan Winters, who voiced Grandpa Smurf in the 1980s TV series and Papa Smurf in the first film. The film was dedicated to Winters, who died before its release.
On July 11, 2013, it was announced that Sofía Vergara's role was cut from the film. Gosnell, the director of the film, explained: "She came to Paris and did a tiny little cameo for us, but ultimately for story clarity we had to omit that scene. ... It just muddied things up a bit. So it was a sad day for us, but she'll always be part of our Smurfy family." Several scenes were filmed in the new film studios Cité du Cinéma founded by Luc Besson in Saint-Denis in France.
Release The film was theatrically released in the United States on July 31, 2013. Sony teamed up with marketing partners in the United States and Canada to promote the film through McDonald's Happy Meals with a set of 16 toys during the summer of 2013. Sony also teamed up with Build-A-Bear Workshop to release three customized limited edition stuffed animals of Vexy, Hackus and Smurfette. NASCAR's Ryan Newman drove a Smurfs 2 paint scheme and won the Brickyard 400 in promotion of the film.
Home media The Smurfs 2 was released on DVD, Blu-ray Disc and Blu-ray 3D on December 3, 2013, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The 3D and Blu-ray combo packs also included a hand-drawn/computer-animated short film, The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow. The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 1, 2016.
In April 2021, Sony signed a deal giving Disney access to their legacy content to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix.
Reception
Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 14% approval rating with an average rating of 4.1/10, based on 92 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Like its predecessor, Smurfs 2 may amuse small children, but it's largely an unambitious, charm-free collection of slapstick gags and one-liners." The rating put the film as the 16th on the list of worst reviewed films of 2013. Metacritic calculated a weighted average score of 34 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. The Smurfs 2 was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.
Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter said "Beyond a few chuckle-worthy one-liners and some amusing visual comedy, there's not much to engage adults, although the wee ones should be distracted enough." Matt Patches of Time Out New York gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Patient Adult Smurfs will be checking their watches as Excitable Child Smurfs lose themselves in the high jinks." Frank Lovece of Newsday gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Not Smurftastic, but not Smurfawful, either." Loren King of The Boston Globe gave the film two out of four stars, saying "That the mushroom- dwelling blue creatures still manage to be endearing even in their second big-screen extravaganza (in 3-D, no less) is about the best that can be said of "Smurfs 2."
Joe Williams of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said "It's not exactly "Ratatouille," but this quasi-animated movie makes an amusing late-summer vacation from superheroes and shoot-'em-ups." Gregg Turkington of On Cinema gave the film five bags of popcorn, suggesting Jonathan Winters deserved an Oscar for the film and that it was the best performance of his career.
Other reviews were more agnostic regarding the film's quality. Mark Olsen of the Los Angeles Times gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "Right down to the brute functionality of its title, "The Smurfs 2" may be the platonic ideal of a major studio sequel - no markedly better or worse than the first and with just enough difference to lay claim to being something new."