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The Smurfs is far from the greatest movie out there, but it also is far from the worst. It was a lot of fun. I continue to find it perplexing why so-called professional reviewers insist on panning kiddie films for being juvenile or simply plotted. Duh. Roger Ebert, who I don't always agree with in his reviews, but still respect his opinions, just put out his "5 Worst Movies of the Year So Far List," and it only proves that maybe only people who actually attend a kid's movie with a kid should write a review.

The Smurfs take Manhattan:  (L-R) Clumsy, Grouchy, Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Gutsy and Brainy

3 of Ebert's bottom 5 are movies squarely aimed at younger folks, or at least the young at heart: Thor (which he just doesn't seem to be able to stop slamming, Mr. Popper's Penguins and the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It seems a little unnecessarily spiteful of him to pick on these recent films when there was so much other dreck out there this year (The Green Hornet, No Strings Attached, Just Go With It, Mars Needs Moms, Beastly ...). Even putting together a "worst of" list, whether in July or at all, seems a bit much. But as far as kids movies go, kids don't want nuance. Not from Smurfs or pirates or penguins.

There's actually quite a lot of almost risque humor in The Smurfs that will sail over children's heads but give their parents or chaperones a few giggles. There was also a direct tribute to the little blue creatures' creator, which was nice — Peyo, the nom de plume of Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, who created "The Schtroumpfs" in 1958. We ended up at the 3D show, which I was initially not happy about. Like Ebert, I don't want to see murky, overpriced fare that doesn't really appear to be in three dimensions. But I wasn't going to make the kid wait an hour for the 2D showing, so in we went. The Smurfs is probably the first of any 3D movies that I have seen, among them the awful Alice in Wonderland, the IMAX 3D Deathly Hallows Part 1, and that recent Pirates of the Caribbean, which actually seemed to integrate the technology from the beginning of the movie until the end, rather than just inserting a few "in your face" moments to justify the higher ticket price. So I'm even glad we saw it in 3D.

Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) entertains some unexpected house guests

The movie begins with a really nice hyper-colored segment set in Smurf Village, where everything is sunshiny until the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) launches an attack which propels the plot and the movie's main Smurfs — Clumsy (Anton Yelchin), Gutsy (Alan Cumming), Grouchy (George Lopez), Smurfette (Katy Perry), Brainy (Fred Armisen), and Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) — to current day New York City, Central Park to be specific, with Gargamel and his naughty cat Azrael hot on their trail. Lucky for the Smurfs they end up at the apartment of Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris) and his wife Grace (Jayma Mays) and hijinks ensue. Any movie that utilizes the great Jonathan Winters is OK in my book.

There were annoying things. Because it's set in NY, someone putting the movie together seemed to have the feeling that it should be peppered with "real" New Yorkers, in tired and unnecessary cameos. So Tim Gunn, Liz Smith, Joan Rivers, and Michael Musto showed up for a scene or two, but why? A few older kids in the audience might recognize Papa Gunn from Project Runway, but seeing him in a Smurfs movie would just confuse them. As for the rest, if they are there for the adults — if anyone even recognizes them — I'm an ex-NYer, so I did, but I was hardly thrilled to do so — they would, like me, probably think, "Joan Rivers. Who cares?"

Besides the boring cameos, the dilemma of whether Harris would prove successful with his boss or his job was also a big yawn. Sofía Vergara, as Harris's obnoxious boss, started to have a subplot with Azaria that began and then disappeared. The Smurfs would have been a far better and tighter film if it had stayed squarely with Harris and Mays and the Smurfs, but just the briefest wisp of a script propels the main action, which centers on getting the Smurfs around New York, looking for a way back home, and getting Harris into trouble.

Azrael the cat and Gargamel (Hank Azaria)

But there were good things, too. Besides the undeniably cute rendered Smurfs, Neil Patrick Harris proved what an excellent physical comedian he is as he reacted to the tiny blue guys and one girl, who at one time even had him captured and trussed a la Gulliver. Hank Azaria went all out, chewing any scenery in sight. If there wasn't anything left to chew, he built new scenery and started gnawing on it. This might have been annoying for some, but I happen to love Azaria and whatever over-the-top accent he is currently plying. Gargamel's mostly-CGI kitty cat, Azrael, had my 7 year-old daughter giggling throughout.

The Smurfs is undeniably silly, and disappears from your mind pretty quickly after you leave the theater. But I don't usually have long recap discussions after taking the kid to a matinee. It's nigh near impossible to not hum the theme song as you're heading for the parking lot and fishing for the car keys, too (La, la, la, la la ...). I can't help myself, however, wanting to encourage my daughter to hone her own critical faculties, so I asked her on the way out, "So what was your favorite part?" Depending on what movie we've just seen her answer can range from "Everything!" to, in the case of The Smurfs, "When they stopped Gargamel's magic." Does Ebert know someone with a kid under 10 who could go with him to the movies? He might enjoy them more.

Related articles

• 'Cowboys & Aliens,''Smurfs' tie for No. 1 spot (sfgate.com)
• Interview: Neil Patrick Harris Talks 'The Smurfs' & Geek-Love (screenrant.com)

catching up with ... burlesque

A movie I missed in theaters but was intrigued to see was Burlesque. Seeing it now after watching Christina Aguilera weekly on The Voice was a bit surreal. Chistina's "persona" on The Voice is very similar to the character Cher plays in Burlesque, a mamma-hen to young performers. But Christina's styling on The Voice is so over-the-top burlesque glam. There seems to be some life/art crossover happening that Aguilera hasn't completely reconciled.

All that aside, she looks and sounds great in Burlesque, which is a also a very fun movie. The glittery eye shadow budget clearly was greater than the one set aside for the scriptwriter (actually writer and  director Steve Antin, who has also acted and is the brother of Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin). The plot strings together so many show-biz cliches that anyone in the audience could have written better dialogue for the actors in their sleep. But none of that really matters. Burlesque is about Cher and Aguilera getting to look fab and have fun a in a series of splashy musical numbers.

Christina Aguilera - Show Me How You Burlesque - Official Music Video - Burlesque Vidéo

The supporting cast is amazing. Stanley Tucci plays Cher's gay factotum, and as always, is just wonderful to have around. Kristin Bell plays the resident bad girl rival for Aguilera, and for some reason looks a lot like Parker Posey — was she the original choice for the character? She gets quickly shuttled into the background, as her story and her character is never a real threat to the main plot, which is about Cher maybe losing her burlesque club and Aguilera climbing to the heights of ... singing in Cher's burlesque club.

And that is where Burlesque gets all of its goofy charm and fun. Aguilera's Iowa waitress wants to leave her boring existence and go to L.A. She pounds the big city pavement for about one afternoon and then is attracted to the bright bulbs on the flashing "Burlesque" sign. Once inside, sipping a free drink from a cute bartender (love interest Cam Gigandet), her world is rocked. She turns to look at the girls lip-synching on-stage in their glittery eye make-up and their spangly costumes and watered-down Bob Fosse choreography and she is transported. She is in heaven.

It's this twist from the typical "I'm going to Hollywood and make it big" movies that makes Burlesque a little confusing, yet endearing. This girl doesn't have big career aspirations. She's got this amazing, powerhouse voice, and there are intimations that she could quickly move on to the big-time, but she never gives any indication that she is in the least bit interested in doing so. Its kind of refreshing. She just wants to sing and take her clothes off in front of an audience. It's weird, but it's kind of empowering, too.

Aguilera's character gets to sing and dance and wear a succession of amazing outfits and wonderful wigs. She also frequently daydreams, seeing herself in extravagantly staged burlesque numbers, belting out a song. In some ways the entire movie is one long fevered daydream of a girl from Iowa who can really sing.

The musical numbers are ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining, mining moves from music videos and old movies. The only sore spot was the criminal underuse of Alan Cumming, who could have really added something — at the very least one show-stopping musical number — to the movie. This is the guy (who I was lucky enough to see) who reinvigorated Cabaret on the stage. He could have taught them all to out-Fosse Fosse. The people behind Burlesque clearly are aware of this, as they stage one risqué background number with him and two girls, but it's frankly not enough.

Burlesque - You Haven't Seen the Last of Me. 

Cher gets a mid-movie number, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which is lit beautifully, looking at times like a colorized BW clip. She has a nice rapport with both Aguilera and Tucci. The movie plot requires her to spend most of her time being pissed off about something, so her main expression is to purse her lips and then for scenes when she's really fed up, purse them some more, but she's Cher and she's fabulous and she should make more movies. But Burlesque belongs to Aguilera. Now if she could just start styling herself in her real life (or at least her role on The Voice) as she looks in this movie. One can dream.

life is a cabaret, old chum

I saw Natasha Richardson in Cabaret in New York quite a few years ago. It was a wonderful birthday present from a friend who was able to get us discounted tickets because of her current theater-related job. We saw it at Studio 54, which was tricked up to look like a real cabaret, with decadent-looking waitresses taking your drink orders throughout the performance. I was most excited walking into the theater at the prospect of seeing Alan Cumming as the Emcee and he exceeded all my expectations and then some, working the stage and the audience with impish glee. My most pleasant surprise of the evening was Richardson. I didn't know what to expect and she was wonderful - beautiful, singing well, and bringing a real edge to the character. After the show, while we were waiting outside the theater to catch a glimpse of Cumming, Richardson came out quite quickly, was gracious talking to the waiting folks, and then quietly grabbed a cab. A New York moment.

Right now I can only think of what her family is going through and especially her kids. And the irony of Liam Neeson playing a shattered widower and single parent in the silly ensemble piece Love Actually, who now has to take on the role in his real life. I was never an existentialist. I don't sit around and ponder why we must be born to die, etc., etc., or the absurdity of life when my time could be better spent living. I do from time to time regret that life seems to be so filled with the things we don't want to do, but seemingly have to do, in order to grab moments of the things we really want to do. When someone dies in this manner, before their time, it always underlines for the rest of us how precious and fleeting life is. An accomplished actress, Richardson would have been all too familiar with these lines from Macbeth:

SEYTON
The queen, my lord, is dead.

MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

All my best wishes to her family.