Western Animation / Smurfs: The Lost Village

They were never alone.

Smurfs: The Lost Village (originally titled "Get Smurfy") is an animated film produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It is a reboot of The Smurfs in film, the biggest change being that it is an All-CGI Cartoon. The film is directed by Kelly Asbury (of Shrek 2 fame). It was released in the US on April 7, 2017.

The basic plot of the film centers around the Smurfs finding a secret village hidden within the Forbidden Forest. Some hints as to who they find in that village have been dropped by the producers of The Smurfs comics themselves, who created a tie-in story that was released prior to the movie.

This was the last Smurfs film to be produced by Sony Pictures Animation, as the rights were dropped afterwards. Paramount has picked them up in 2021 for another animated Smurfs film, set for a February 2025 release date.

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This film smurfs the following tropes:

• Adaptational Intelligence: Brainy is no longer a authoritative philosopher Know-Nothing Know-It-All, but a scientist nerd with genuine smarts and useful skills, his Insufferable Genius tendencies also being very downplayed, though by no means done away with altogether. If in the original version, he shamelessly offended everyone, now he is careful with his words so as not to sound prejudiced against Smurfette, for example.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Invoked by Smurfstorm, when she ends up giving Clumsy the control of her mount, even though he has never ridden that creature, under the logic, "if he's never done it, he can't know he's bad at doing it", she somehow ends up being right.
• Alternate Continuity: Doesn't follow at all with the last two movies.
• Arrows on Fire: Clumsy gives Smurfstorm the idea of setting one of her arrows on fire by using Spitfire's flame breath so she could knock Monty out of the sky.
• Bag of Kidnapping: Gargamel's pet vulture Monty uses this method to capture Smurfette near the beginning which sets up the plot, later after freezing the Smurfs minus Smurfette with his freeze balls he rounds them up in a bag.
• Bamboo Technology: Courtesy of Brainy; he has trained his pet ladybug (or robot?) to serve as a recorder (Snappy vibrates his wings to replicate conversations) and instant camera (Snappy memorizes an image/scene, and later draws it perfectly with his feet); he also uses fireflies in test tubes as emergency lights, and has created a device that allows him to analyze, identify and synthesize a Smurf's defining trait/essence (components include two turnips and an apricot).
• Beware the Silly Ones: Gargamel is a complete bumbling idiot. However, the movie reminds us constantly that he's dangerous and not to be trusted or easily trifled with.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: When the four Smurfs try to get their raft going in the river, Brainy makes too many interruptions to the point where Hefty interrupts Brainy with his "bark bark bing bang" to get his friend to shut up.
• Butt Biter: The fish Gargamel finds in the Forbidden Swamp tend to favor his backside. "They're bottom feeders!"
• Calling Your Attacks: Gargamel does this while throwing his Freezeballs. Lampshaded when he admits that they'd probably still work if he didn't.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Gargamel's pet vulture, Monty. He's an entirely new character.
  • And so are the Smurf girls.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Gargamel, of course. Right after the Smurfs save him from drowning, he spends about thirty seconds thanking them, then reminds them that he's evil before knocking them off their raft and taking it for himself.
• Chekhov's Gun: While testing out Brainy's Smurfy Thing Finder, Smurfette turns out to absorb magical energy instead of emitting it like natural Smurfs. She uses it at the climax to take back Gargamel's surplus energy that he has harvested from captured Smurfs.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Hefty admits that he can't stop himself from helping those in danger, even an Ungrateful Bastard like Gargamel.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: As a sort of Recursive Adaptation, this movie had a tie-in comic book called Smurfs: The Village Behind The Wall, consisting of five stories that take place in that movie's universe. It is followed by The Betrayal of Smurfblossom.
• Composite Character: Brainy Smurf is an amalgam of himself and Handy Smurf, the one who, in the animated series, often came with Schizo Tech and Bamboo Technology inventions, with his smarts being generally well appreciated and respected despite the occasional accidents. Also, Handy was Hefty's best friend in the series, just like Clumsy was Brainy's; here, Brainy's best friends with both. (Handy still appears in the movie, but in a very minor role as the village carpenter.)
• Creator Cameo: According to the film's tumblr blog, Nosey Smurf is voiced by the film's director, Kelly Asbury.
• Darkest Hour: Near the end, Gargamel is finally able to capture all the Smurfs in the lost village, and he thanks Smurfette for unintentionally leading him there, telling Smurfette that it's her "purpose" (and Smurfblossom, as she's being taken away, even asks Smurfette, "How could you do this to us?"). Smurfette is left all alone and in tears...until her "Eureka!" Moment.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The main plot has Smurfette trying to find how she fits in, as every other Smurf has a clear purpose in life.
• Disney Death: Smurfette is reduced to clay after her defeat of Gargamel, but is restored by The Power of Friendship.
• Distaff Counterpart: The Smurfettes of Smurfy Grove are this to the Smurfs, with Smurfwillow a direct counterpart of Papa Smurf.
• Driving Question: The narrator asks at the beginning of the film, "What's a Smurfette?" The rest of the Smurfs don't really have an answer to that. This question finally gets answered at the end: Smurfette can't be defined in one word, because she's many things, so she can be anything she wants to be.
• Due to the Dead: Smurfette's "body" is brought home to the Smurf village, and she is laid to rest in a field of yellow flowers, while all the Smurfs, male and female, come and join their hands in a circle to say goodbye.
• "Eureka!" Moment: During her Darkest Hour, Smurfette looks at Snappy's earlier "selfie" photo of Team Smurf, but she sadly tells Snappy that it doesn't matter, as she's not a real Smurf...wait, that's it, she's not a real Smurf! And by tricking Gargamel into casting his magic on her, thereby absorbing it, unlike real Smurfs, she is able to save the day.
• Exact Words: Smurfette accepts Papa Smurf's grounding on Team Smurf's behalf at the beginning, reassuring Papa Smurf that neither she nor the other Smurfs will leave their huts until they've really thought things out. Of course, she never said thinking things out meant staying grounded, and Smurfette of course decides to head for the Lost Village, with the other Team Smurf members deciding to go with her.
• Face–Heel Turn: Subverted near the end; Smurfette arrives in Gargamel's lair declaring that she's tired of being good, so she wants Gargamel to change her back to her evil self! However, it's an act; Smurfette is actually tricking Gargamel into causing his own magic to be absorbed, since Smurfette isn't a real Smurf.
• Fake Defector: Smurfette pulls this on Gargamel by offering to lead him to the Smurf Village if he turns her back to her evil form. It's a trap.
• Fiendish Fish: The fish of the Swamp of No Return are monstrous creatures with glowing eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth.
• Fish Eyes: Gargamel's pet vulture, Monty, gets a wall-eyed look from time to time.
• Genki Girl: Smurfblossom for her perky, enthusiastic and sweet personality.
• Girlish Pigtails: Smurflily, the female Smurf who Smurfette first discovered in the Forbidden Forest, wears her hair in pigtails, and acts more girly than the others in Smurf Glade.]]
• Glad I Thought of It: Gargamel does this to Azrael a couple of times, stating aloud something that Azrael noticed and brought to his attention as if he noticed it first.
• Gray Rain of Depression: After Gargamel has rounded up the Smurfs, Smurfette remains alone in the destroyed village; cue sad rain.
• Groin Attack: In the opening sequence, Smurfette knocks an apple off a Smurf's head by accidentally kicking him in the groin.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The golden-haired Smurfette, the only blonde in the entire movie, who urges the others to be better, reminds them that they're the good guys, even to the point of saving Gargamel.
• Hand Signals: Hefty does this when he, Brainy and Clumsy go to Gargamel's lair to rescue Smurfette. However, no one can understand what he's trying to say, as Brainy points out.
• Harmless Freezing: Gargamel invents Freezeballs, which temporarily freezes his victims and leaves them floating helplessly in the air.
• Heroic BSoD: Gargamel captures all the Smurfs, and goes away gloating to Smurfette that she's fulfilled her purpose; she breaks down crying.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In absorbing and redistributing all of Gargamel's power, Smurfette ends up being drained of all her essence, becoming an inert lump of clay. Fortunately, she is later revived by The Power of Friendship.
• Heroic Build: Unlike other Smurfs, who could reasonably be described as having pear or egg-shaped torsos, Hefty has a visibly carrot shaped body.
• Hidden Elf Village: The focus of the film. Ironic, considering the Smurf Village itself is one. Interestingly, unlike other examples of this trope, after their initial suspicion, the residents of the hidden village are actually very friendly and welcoming to Team Smurf (except Smurfstorm, who remains suspicious); they even throw the newcomers a big party.
• Horse of a Different Color:
  • Bucky, the Glow-Bunny, is almost a literal example, since Smurfette and company ride him like a horse, and glows in the dark.
  • Smurfstorm (and later Clumsy)]] ride on a Dragonfly.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: This version of Azrael is both smarter and a better physical adversary than Gargamel, which sort of contrasts with the simple-minded predator of the comic books.
• Ironic Echo Cut: When the Smurfs go underground to enter the forest:
  Brainy: Whatever you do, don't eat all your rations.
  Clumsy: (covered in Smurfberry juice) I just ate all my rations!
• Jerk Jock: Hefty is depicted somewhat in this manner, though it's usually via arguments with Brainy. He's basically a very "dudebro" kind of Smurf, and, when not arguing with Brainy, he's basically a Lovable Jock.
• Keet: Smurfblossom, full stop. The fact that she's voiced by Ellie Kemper helps.
• Kick the Dog: Smurfette inadvertently helps lead Gargamel to the lost village, and Gargamel really enjoys rubbing this in Smurfette's face, gloating that now she's fulfilled her "purpose".
• Little "No": After Smurfette's "death", Papa Smurf refuses to accept it, and begins to frantically look up for a spell or something to save her. Brainy sadly tells him that magic can't solve that.
• Logo Joke: The Torch Lady in the Columbia logo is revealed to be a wooden standee, which falls over, revealing Smurfette, who holds up a mushroom in a manner similar to the Torch Lady.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Gargamel's Freezeballs can freeze Smurfs. But Smurfette being an energy absorber, an anti-Smurf of sorts, they don't work on her.

• Man-Eating Plant: Or in this case, a Smurf-eating plant, which the Smurfs encounter in the Forbidden Forest. Only instead of fully eating the Smurfs, the plants gulp and then spit them back out.
• The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: In the credits, Vanity's reflection comes through the mirror to give him a kiss on the lips.
• The McCoy: Hefty, to Brainy's The Spock, as illustrated by their argument over whether or not to save Gargamel from drowning.
• Meaningful Name : As always, every Smurf has one; Smurfette lacking one of these is part of the reason why she's Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life, since she lacks a name that helps her to define her role in the village aside from being the only girl.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: In the Forbidden Forest, the Smurfs encounter dragon-like insects that breathe fire. Brainy has trouble trying to classify them before he settles on the obvious pun. "Okay, they're dragonflies."
• Mood Whiplash:
  • After Gargamel's defeat, everyone's good and happy... until we are shown that Smurfette has reverted to clay.
  • A happier one, after Smurfette is revived by all the Smurfs' spontaneous magic... that is, when they finally notice.
• Motor Mouth: Smurfblossom talks a mile a minute.
• Mythology Gag:
  • As the film begins, Clumsy is whistling the theme from the Hanna-Barbera series.
  • Clumsy's Sleeping Dummy is just three apples, alluding to Peyo's description of Smurfs being three apples tall.
  • Gargamel's pet vulture Monty is based on the Howlibird from the story "The Smurfs and the Howlibird" ("Les Schtroumpfs et le Cracoucass").
  • When the main Smurf party discuss the mysterious Smurf race's appearance, one suggests that they have orange skin, which is a nod to The Astro Smurf comic book story, where the Smurfs have to drink a potion to disguise themselves as the orange-skinned "Swoofs".
  • One image in the Creative Closing Credits shows Vanity's reflection popping out of the mirror and kissing him; in the series, in the comic book story 'The Hundredth Smurf', said Smurf is precisely Vanity's reflection coming to life.
• Nice Girl: Smurfette herself, and despite initial hostility and suspicion, the female Smurfs in the Lost Village also turn out to be very friendly (except Smurfstorm), throwing Team Smurf a huge party and including them in all sorts of fun activities.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Smurfette is the one who unintentionally provides Gargamel with evidence of another Smurf village, enabling him to find a map to it. Later Clumsy and Smurfstorm end up leading him the rest of the way after he got lost due to misinterpreting the map, though no one really brings this up, with the emphasis still on Smurfette leading him there.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Gargamel hadn't thrown the Smurfs into the river and stolen their raft, they would have stayed on an incorrect course and likely never made it to the village.
• No-Sell: Gargamel's Freezeballs don't work on Smurfette because she's "not a real Smurf".
• Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: When Smurfette is revived by all the Smurfs' spontaneous magic, they take their time to notice.
• Out of Focus:
  • Compared to previous adaptations, Papa Smurf. The focus is on the quartet of Smurfette, Brainy, Hefty, and Clumsy, though Papa does follow them to the village in the latter half.
  • Grouchy Smurf, who was a main character in the live action movies, only appears in one scene.
• Pragmatic Hero: Brainy, unlike Smurfette and Hefty, is willing to let Gargamel to die. Later, he suggests killing Monty, Gargamel's vulture, but settles on just knocking him unconscious.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Smurfwillow calmly gives Team Smurf a chance to explain why they're in the lost village, and later on, even after Smurfstorm informs Smurfwillow that Smurfette was created by Gargamel, Smurfwillow still allows Team Smurf to assist in defending the village.
• Reverse Psychology: Gargamel tries to use this on a captured Smurfette to make her talk. Unfortunately, he's not very good at it.
  Gargamel: Stupid reverse psychology never works!
• Save the Villain: Hefty insists on saving Gargamel and Azrael from drowning after the river chase. Smurfette backs him up despite her own history with Gargamel and Brainy's objections, arguing that they're supposed to be the good guys.
• Senseless Sacrifice: During Gargamel's attack on the Lost Village, Hefty takes a Freezeball to protect Smurfette. However, Gargamel throws another one at her shortly after... and it turns out she's immune to it anyway.
• Ship Tease: Between Hefty and Smurfette. He's the one Smurf who shows a real romantic interest on her, and it's implied that she returns his feelings to an extent.
  • Papa Smurf and Smurfwillow also find themselves sharing abit of chemistry in a few brief scenes.
  • Smurfstorm starts to develop some slight attraction toward Clumsy during their dragonfly ride.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the trailers, Brainy is heard saying "We're not in Smurf Village anymore."
  • A Smurf playing the sax section of "Careless Whisper" by Wham! in the early part of the movie.
• Sleeping Dummy: Brainy, Hefty, and Clumsy use these to trick Papa Smurf when they sneak out of the village, with Clumsy's dummy being three apples, with the top one only consisting of the core.
  Papa Smurf: Oh, that's not even convincing!
• The Smurfette Principle: Hilariously,^note considering it's the Trope Namer and completely, subverted. The entire Lost Village is solely female Smurfs, and the post-reveal trailers prominently show off three of them. Notably, Smurfette is barely mentioned in the promotional materials, though she can be considered the lead in the actual film.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: This can be considered more of a Smurfette movie than a Smurfs movie, as most of the Smurfs Village takes a backseat to her personal search.
• Thought-Aversion Failure: While lost underground, Clumsy keeps doing whatever the others tell him not to do out of compulsion. Happens later when they are crossing the river on a raft and Clumsy notices a lever on the raft.
  Brainy: I wouldn't touch that if I were you.
  Clumsy: Oh, now all I wanna do is touch it.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Aside from the Save the Villain moment mentioned above, Clumsy has a moment when he feels sorry for Gargamel, while describing him to Smurfstorm:
  "Oh, you know, he's your typical wizard. Long, black robe, lives alone with his cat and his bird..." *beat* "It's sad, really."
• Taking the Bullet: During Gargamel's attack on the Lost Village, Hefty jumps to take a Freezeball intended to Smurfette.
• Toilet Humour: When Brainy tries to impress the Smurf girls with his knowledge on the chalkboard, Hefty draws a little cloud on the chalkboard behind Brainy to suggest that he just passed gas.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The first theatrical trailer actually does a good job at hiding that the mysterious creatures of the Lost Village are female Smurfs. For some reason, the other forms of marketing have taken to playing this straight by revealing the characters' names and their voice actors, and by showing clips of them in a music video. Not to mention the TV trailer showing off two of them near the end.
• True Companions: Smurfette, Brainy, Hefty and Clumsy are this, to the point where Hefty refers to themselves as "Team Smurf".
• Ungrateful Bastard: Gargamel sweeps all of the Smurfs off the raft with his arm after they have rescued him.
• Unwanted Assistance : While Smurfette appreciates Hefty's support, she dislikes that he thinks she ALWAYS needs his help.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Clumsy Smurf becomes this when he tells Smurfstorm that Smurfette was created by Gargamel, which only seems to confirm Smurfstorm's suspicions that Smurfette is untrustworthy.
• Vile Vulture: Gargamel's pet vulture Monty. While bumbling and goofy, he can still occasionally be dangerous.
• Vitriolic Best Friends: Hefty and Brainy often mock and play pranks on each other, with them displaying their worst sides when arguing; Hefty his Jerk Jock side (he's pretty much a Lovable Jock most of the time) and Brainy his (otherwise very downplayed) Insufferable Genius side. However, they're still close friends and True Companions, with Brainy willingly participating in Hefty's outdoors activities, and Hefty offering himself as a guinea pig for Brainy's experiments.
• Why Won't You Die?: Gargamel asks this when he sees that Clumsy has survived their last encounter.
  Gargamel: Smurfs! Why won't they just die?
• With All Due Respect: This conversation between Smurfette and Smurfstorm.
  Smurfette: With all due respect, you don't know Gargamel.
  Smurfstorm: Yeah, well, with no due respect, you don't know us.
• You Are Grounded!: At the beginning, Papa Smurf becomes upset that Team Smurf ventured into the Forbidden Forest and put themselves in danger, so he grounds all four of them. He actually feels guilty about this the very next day, and even plans to tell Smurfette that the grounding has lasted long enough—before he finds out that all four Smurfs have already left for the Lost Village. Then he threatens to ground them for a month of blue moons.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Gargamel thanks Smurfette for helping him find the lost village, noting that she has finally fulfilled the purpose that he created her for.

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