Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - August, 2011

"The Smurfs: A Magical Smurf Adventure" (DVD) - Reviewed by Chris Heinonen

Synopsis

The Smurfs are a group of small, magical blue creatures that live in the forest.  Led by Papa Smurf, they spend much of their time trying to avoid getting captured by Gargamel, the evil local wizard.  This is a selection of episodes from the original series, now presented on DVD.

Commentary

Any child from the 80’s remembers the Smurfs, and now with a feature film coming out this summer, you can once again go back and relive the original episodes.  The show was still enjoyable to go back and watch, which was a nice surprise given that things often age poorly that are from your childhood, but it’s certainly something my son will probably enjoy watching in another year or two.

Unfortunately, The Smurfs looks like it was archived and transferred from VHS tape.  Easily the worst looking DVD transfer I have ever seen, there is an abundance of noise and artifacts and the image is just horrible.  The colors are very dull and muted as well.  Audio is better, though not overly dynamic, but it is far more acceptable than the image is.  Kids might not notice, but their parents will.

Extras

Smurf Speak and Smurftastic Moments Bonus Features.

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