It’s 2017 so the lead character in the new movie Smurfs: The Lost Village is Smurfette, voiced by Demi Lovato, a girl smurf who seeks to discover herself in Smurfkind.
That it’s 2017 also means that movie critics are calling out Smurfs: The Lost Village, which also features the voices of Julia Roberts and Mandy Patinkin, for being sexist.
The lovable Belgian blue troll-like creatures have been accused of sexism, and so to change that, two female scriptwriters were hired to put Smurfette front and center of the third Smurfs movie since 2011.
It doesn’t seem to have worked commercially (the movie opened to an underwhelming $14 million) nor critically: “The eye-popping but soul-sapping Smurfs: The Lost Village missed an opportunity to celebrate girl power”, noted April Scotti of The New York Daily News.
Amusingly Scotti takes issue for Smurfette being admired by the rest of the (male) Smurfs: “Her realization that she’s the only chick around is tabled while wannabe wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson) sets off to take over a “lost village” of Smurfs — and Smurfette takes it upon herself to find and warn them.
“That’s when the would-be-heroine’s near solo adventure ends and she’s joined instead by the aforementioned team of dunces — God forbid a girl sets out on her own.
“Smurfette of course ends up spending half her time putting up with Hefty’s compliments on her physical beauty and politely fending off his advances, like a good girl does.” Her conclusion is that “too many sexist stereotypes fly” in the film.
The Capital Times, a liberal paper in Madison, Wisconsin, also takes issue with the Smurfette. “She was created by the evil wizard Gargamel out of a lump of coal to flirt with all the male Smurfs and sow chaos in the village,” fumed critic Rob Thomas.
“Yeah, that’s a great message for girls…with an uninspired storyline, muddled morals and jokes that might make only very small children laugh, this attempt at blue empowerment falls flat.”
