Saturday April 1st, my little family and I headed to the latest Sony Pictures movie Smurfs: The Lost Village for the world premiere in Downtown Culver City. Well Downtown Culver City was completely redone to look we walked right into a Smurf Village. As we checked in, we were given a selection of Smurfs hats to choose from, then were handed balls to Smurfette dunk tank filled with bouncy balls, life-sized Smurf characters such as Brainy and Papa Smurf were on hand to take family photos with as well there bring the cutest Mushroom/Forest inspired bouncy house for the kiddos to go crazy.
So with all the fun we were having not to mention, KIIS FM DJ JoJo playing fun tunes to dance to we got hungry. In perfect Smurfs fashion…most of the food was Smurf Blue like the frozen yogurt, cotton candy, lemonade, insides of the Hot Dog on the Stick Corn Dogs, bagels and more. There were also amazing food trucks to grab burritos and D’Amore Pizza. Everything was delicious!
We then moved on to getting some airbrushed tattoos and some Smurf accessories. Who doesn’t need Smurf accessories in their life?
The Smurfs premiere was being held in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of Culver City so celebration was in the air. City officials such as Mayor Jim Clarke, Police Chief Scott Bixby and Fire Battalion Chief Rob Kohlhepp and students from across Culver City were on hand during the star studded blue carpet. Stars such as Demi Lovato, Ariel Winter, Meghan Trainor, Joe Manganiello, Jack McBrayer, Danny Pudi and Jeff Dunham were all there in support of their new movie and to be a part of the unveiling of “Smurfs Lane,” a real street name in Downtown Culver City.
Smurfs: The Lost Village is fully animated (80s style) opposed the the last two Smurfs movies which were part animation and part live. While it is more modern to have CGI and live actors, I feel like the last 2 Smurf movies felt like a new twist on one of my childhood favorite cartoons versus bringing me right back to my childhood watching Smurfs while eating breakfast on the weekends. The Lost Village is an extremely relevant film today because it has a very strong theme of girl power as well as the difficult journey of finding your true identity played out by Smurfette.
Demi Lovato, voice of Smurfette, said at the press junket for this movie: “My character is an independent womanm I like to think of myself as being an independent woman.” As a parent, there is no better message to send to kids than to embrace yourself and everything that you stand for. This message cannot be delivered enough times and Smurfs: The Lost Village does an excellent job conveying this in a very kid friendly manner.
Smurfs: The Lost Village is out in theaters April 7th!
