The director of Shrek 2 and Gnomeo & Juliet works blue on the first all-animated Smurfs movie.
Lets just say that this is a re-envisioning.
We are restoring Peyos vision in dimensional film form, so maybe its a restoration of a franchise.
Visually it certainly is.
We did want it to be as much a new version as we possibly could.
We wanted to make it stand alone.
Its not Part 3, its a freestanding film.
Then I started looking at the original.
So I wanted as much as possible to capture what he did.
The studio had decided they needed to do a film that was completely animated, he said.
They wanted something that was broader in scope and able to be more imaginative, which animation offered.
It wasnt very hard to win them over to do that.
The biggest question that everyone always has about the Smurfs is, Why is Smurfette the only girl?
We decided, okay, what if there were other girls?
What would it do?
Would it be mind-blowing to these Smurfs?
It would be a whole new thing.
The dramatic impact of that was exciting.
One example is, the Smurfs can only eat Smurfberries.
They can eat Smurfberry pie, Smurfberry sandwiches, all that, but its always Smurfberry-related food.
I didnt know that, thats just one example.
We just wanted to be sure we honored certain things.
I think theyre very happy with the result.
We were very sensitive to what they wanted and didnt want.
It was a great relationship.
But he adds, I do enjoy it.
I dont mind the length of time.
Its a bunch of short-term goals.
Smurfs: The Lost Villageis out in theaters April 7.
