Interpretato da Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofa Vergara, Tim Gunn e Hank Azaria, con le voci di Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Jeff Foxworthy, Paul Reubens, Alan Cumming e George Lopez, il film prodotto da Jordan Kerner e distribuito dalla Columbia Pictures.
Si tratta del primo film ibrido (grafica computerizzata combinata ad azione dal vivo) basato sul franchise dei Puffi.[1] Dopo cinque anni di contrattazioni, Kerner ottenne i diritti nel 2002 e mise in sviluppo un progetto per il cinema con il sostegno di Paramount Pictures e Nickelodeon Movies, poi trasferito nel 2008 a Columbia Pictures e Sony Pictures Animation.[2]
Esiste un luogo, un luogo che non conosce malinconia, e il colore blu sinonimo di felicit, un luogo abitato da esserini blu alti quasi tre mele. Si trova dentro una foresta incantata, nascosto dietro a un villaggio medievale. Molti sostengono che questo luogo sia immaginario, che esista solo nei libri, o nella fantasia dei bambini. Noi ci permettiamo di dissentire.
Nel Medioevo, cacciati dal perfido, malvagio e spietato stregone Gargamella dal loro villaggio nel sottobosco, i piccoli Puffi sono costretti a scappare. Una volta sparpagliati nell'ambiente, Puffo Tontolone si imbatte in una grotta "proibita" e altri cinque Puffi lo seguono. Trattandosi per di un portale magico per un teletrasporto temporale, i nostri amici vengono catapultati dalla loro epoca fino alla nostra: esattamente in mezzo a Central Park, a New York, negli Stati Uniti d'America. Aiutati da una giovane coppia sposata in attesa del primo figlio, Patrick e Grace Winslow, piccoli e disorientati come sono, i Puffi sono bloccati nella Grande Mela e devono infatti sbrigarsi a trovare un modo per tornare nel loro villaggio prima che Gargamella li trovi.[3][4]
Nel 2002 il produttore Jordan Kerner si assicur i diritti sulla propriet de I Puffi, al termine di un ciclo di lunga contrattazione durato per cinque anni, mettendo in sviluppo un lungometraggio in grafica computerizzata e tridimensionale sotto la supervisione di Paramount Pictures e Nickelodeon Movies.[5][6][7][8][9] Nel 2006, Kerner spieg come fosse nelle sue intenzioni la realizzazione di una trilogia, per espandere meglio la storia di fondo del personaggio Gargamella[10]:
Impareremo [di pi] circa Gargamella e i Puffi, e su come iniziato tutto e cosa succede realmente dentro quel castello. C' un mago onnipotente... ci sono un mucchio di cose che saranno rivelate non appena andremo avanti.
Le prime immagini animate furono pubblicate in rete a inizio 2008.[11] In giugno, fu annunciato il cambiamento di vertice del progetto, con Columbia Pictures e Sony Pictures Animation nuove proprietarie dei diritti cinematografici, da un accordo con Lafig Belgium.[12] Kerner spieg che l'interesse della Sony per il film sui Puffi si accese da una conversazione con l'amministratore delegato e presidente Michael Lynton, che seguiva sempre I puffi nei Paesi Bassi. Secondo una proposta di Lynton, il film avrebbe dovuto essere prodotto mescolando azione del vivo e grafica computerizzata.[6] Qualche tempo dopo, David Stem e David N. Weiss (autori di Shrek 2 e Shrek terzo) furono incaricati della scrittura della sceneggiatura, con Raja Gosnell alla regia.[6][13]
Le riprese iniziarono a New York il 26 marzo 2010.[14] A maggio, alcune scene furono filmate nel quartiere di SoHo a Manhattan.[15] Sempre in maggio, la produzione fu temporaneamente bloccata dopo che un operatore ebbe un incidente nel set costruito in un negozio di giocattoli su Fifth Avenue e 58th Street; poi ricoverato in ospedale.[16]
L'uscita cinematografica nel territorio nordamericano era inizialmente prevista per il 17 dicembre 2010, ma a causa di diversi ritardi slittata prima al 29 luglio 2011[18] e da ultimo al 3 agosto 2011[2].
Con un costo di produzione di 110 milioni di dollari[21], il film ha debuttato alla prima posizione del botteghino[22], permanendo per pi settimane. Solo in Italia ha raggiunto un risultato d'incasso di oltre 11.000.000 Euro, mentre in totale ha raggiunto un incasso di 563.749.323 dollari.
Nel 2011 stato prodotto il cortometraggio natalizio I Puffi - A Christmas Carol, dove sono state mischiate la tecnica d'animazione in CGI, con la pi tradizionale tecnica in 2D. L'episodio stato allegato alla versione in DVD del film.
The Smurfs (French: Les Schtroumpfs; Dutch: De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. The Smurfs was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by the Belgian comics artist Peyo (the pen name of Pierre Culliford) in 1958, wherein they were known as Les Schtroumpfs. There are more than 100 Smurf characters, and their names are based on adjectives that emphasise their characteristics, such as "Jokey Smurf", who likes to play practical jokes on his fellow Smurfs. "Smurfette" was the first female Smurf to be introduced in the series. The Smurfs wear Phrygian caps, which came to represent freedom during the modern era.
The word "smurf" is the original Dutch translation of the French "schtroumpf", which, according to Peyo, is a word he invented during a meal with fellow cartoonist Andr Franquin when he could not remember the word salt.[1][2][3]
The Smurfs franchise began as a comic and expanded into advertising, films, TV series, ice capades, video games, theme parks, and toys. By 2008, the franchise had generated $4 billion in revenue, making The Smurfs one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.[4]
At the time he came up with the idea for the Smurfs, Peyo was the creator, artist, and writer of the Franco-Belgian comics series titled Johan et Pirlouit (translated to English as Johan and Peewit), set in Europe during the Middle Ages and including elements of sword-and-sorcery. Johan serves as a brave young page to the king, and Peewit (called Pirlouit (pronounced Peer-loo-ee) in the original French version) functions as his faithful, if boastful and cheating, midget sidekick. In 1958, Spirou magazine started the prepublication of the new Johan et Pirlouit comic book La Flte six trous ("The Flute with Six Holes").[5] The adventure involved their recovery of a magic flute, which required some sorcery by the wizard Homnibus. In this manner, they met a tiny, blue-skinned humanoid in white clothing called a "Schtroumpf", followed by his numerous peers who looked just like him, with an elderly leader who wore red clothing and had a white beard. Their first full appearance was published in Spirou on October 23, 1958.[6] The characters proved to be a huge success, and the first independent Smurf stories appeared in Spirou in 1959, together with the first merchandising. The Smurfs shared more adventures with Johan and Pirlouit, got their own series and all subsequent publications of the original story were retitled La Flte six Schtroumpfs (also the title of the movie version of the story).
With the commercial success of the Smurfs came the merchandising empire of Smurf miniatures, models, games, and toys. Entire collecting clubs have devoted themselves to collecting PVC Smurfs and Smurf merchandise.
Both the comics and cartoons have been translated in many languages. In most cases, the original name "Schtroumpf" is replaced by a new term. The most common are variations of the Dutch translation "Smurf", which is also used as the name in English. However, other names are indicative of their gnome-like appearance.
In Spanish, they are called Pitufos, a term invented by Miguel Agust who was the head of the Spanish magazine Strong, which first published the cartoon in Spanish. According to Agust, he was walking around Barcelona while trying to come up a name for the cartoon. He came across a sculpture of the Ox of Patufet and was inspired by the word Patufet. From Patufet he derived the non-existent word Pitufo. The name later spread to most Spanish-language versions of the cartoon.[8]
In Hebrew, the name chosen was "Dardasim" (דרדסים), originally an old-fashioned Hebrew term for a slipper which due to the series' success in Israel has now gone completely out of use in its original sense.
A characteristic of the Smurf language is the frequent use of the undefinable word "smurf" and its derivatives in a variety of meanings. The Smurfs frequently replace both nouns and verbs in everyday speech with the word "smurf": "We're going smurfing on the River Smurf today." When used as a verb, "to smurf" typically means "to make", "to be", "to like", or "to do".
Humans have found that replacing ordinary words with the term "smurf" at random is not enough: in one adventure, Peewit explains to some other humans that the statement "I'm smurfing to the smurf" means "I'm going to the wood", but a Smurf corrects him by saying that the proper statement would be "I'm smurfing to the smurf"; whereas what Peewit said was "I'm warbling to the dawn". So "I'm smurfing to the smurf" is not the same as "I'm smurfing to the smurf".[10]
In the animated series, only some words (or a portion of the word) are replaced with the word "smurf". Context offers a reliable understanding of this speech pattern, but common vocabulary includes remarking that something is "just smurfy" or in some cases, "smurftastic".
In Schtroumpf vert et vert Schtroumpf (see Smurf Versus Smurf), published in Belgium in 1972, it was revealed that the smurf village was divided between North and South, and that the Smurfs on either side had different ideas as to how the term "smurf" should be used: for instance, the Northern Smurfs called a certain object a "bottle smurfer", while the Southern Smurfs called it a "smurf opener". This story is considered a parody on the still ongoing taalstrijd (language war) between French- and Dutch-speaking communities in Belgium.[11]
When they first appeared in 1958, the Smurfs lived in a part of the world called "Le Pays Maudit" (French for "the Cursed Land"). To reach it required magic or travelling through dense forests, deep marshes, a scorching desert and a high mountain range.[12] The Smurfs themselves use storks in order to travel long distances, such as to the kingdom where Johan and Pirlouit live, and keep up-to-date with events in the outside world.[13]
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