SINGING THE BLUES

DESPITE A STELLAR VOICE CAST AND PLENTY OF SONG AND DANCE NUMBERS, SMURFS REBOOT LACKS THE QUALITY OF OTHER COMPUTER- AMATED ADVENTURES

- REVIEWS BY DAMON SMITH

I FEEL blue, and not in a satisfying and Smurfali-cious way.

Director Chris Miller's colour-saturated reboot of the fun-loving film franchise - based on characters created by Belgian artist Peyo in 1958 - is a lacklustre clone of Trolls stuffed with hip-swivelling song and dance numbers.

A caterwaul from the heart, Always on the Outside (by James Corden) opens with the soul-searching lyric, “Who am I? Where do I belong?”

Smurfs doesn’t appear to know what it is or where it belongs in the glittering pantheon of computer-animated adventures.

Papa Smurf (voiced by John Goodman) secretly hides a magical book with the power to suck the goodness out of the universe in Smurf Village.