Though only 17 years since I've known of it, I thought I'd commemorate the 25th(!) anniversary of the film by revisiting my childhood memories of it. Being a kid of the 80's, the Smurfs was one of the cartoons I grew up on. Apparrently they've been around since the late 50's and made it to the big screen in 1976 with this Belgium feature. I still remember saying "Mom, why are their voices different than on the tv show?" Today is still puzzles me. If this was dubbed for American audiences two years after the show premiered, why did they not go with the tv voices? Still don't know. And also, the voices we do get all seem to be echoing somewhat, with the exception of Papa Smurf. And there is no Smurfette. Or Gargamuel. Or Azreal. But it doesn't hurt the film at all, as the Smurfs are secondary anyway. They don't even show up until 25 minutes in! And aren't even really seen until 35 minutes in! But when the Land of the Smurfs is reached, it's guilty pleasure time, for me at least. The three dopey songs featured are somehow extremely catchy. The one explaining how the Smurfs tell each other apart. Then later it's human character Pee-Wee trying to make out the Smurf language. Capped off by "We're the Smurfs, la, la!" The main story concerns the title instrument, which makes people dance upon hearing it. It's stolen by a villian named McCreep, who robs people by playing the flute, which causes them to be unable to defend themselves. They dance about and he makes off with their gold. The flute was created by the Smurfs, so a prince and a short, excitable musician from a royal court are recruited in tracking down the Smurfs for help. Harmless fun for kids, and I still get a kick out of it today. The animation if fair for a 25 year old movie, as the real star for me was Pee-Wee. So, give it a shot for youngsters or have fun taking yourself back in seeing it for the first time in awhile.