Set three years after the gang’s first original adventure in New York, it is Smurfette’s (pop star Katy Perry) birthday, and in the midst of her friends trying to keep her party a surprise, she ends up feeling alone and outcast. This is compounded by a series of nightmares she’s having about her true parentage and whether she’s really a Smurf or Gargamel’s (Hank Azaria) daughter at heart. There was a real feel of nostalgia for me when I went to watch this movie. My younger self would have been delighted that the little Smurfs had made it to the big screen. This nostalgia, however, was quickly washed away within the first ten minutes of the opening titles. Gone were the innocent, wide-eyed creatures I remembered, and in their place were sarcastic, unfunny and dare I say mostly unlikeable little creatures that resembled the original Smurfs in appearance alone. The only redeeming character left was Papa Smurf (still voiced by original voice artist Jonathan Winters in his last feature movie) who actually had some of his original qualities. And then we have the Naughties, the almost Smurfs that were created by Gargamel to try and extract Smurf Essence. The first, Vexy (Christina Ricci) is basically a carbon copy of Smurfette, albeit a bit naughtier (go figure) but Hackus (JB Smoove) is the most irritating and quite frankly pointless CGI creation since Jar Jar Binks hit our screens back in The Phantom Menace. I think even children will be insulted by his stupidity, as their own intelligence is being questioned by his inclusion. My biggest irk with this movie, though, was the plot. I’m all for kids’ movies with a moral message, but I felt the importance of family and ‘it’s who raises you that matters’ was shoved down my throat with a giant, sugary stick. Make your point, sure, but make it in a more subtle way. The only redeeming feature is Hank Azaria’s Gargamel, who is a villain evil enough root against, but not so evil that kids will go away with nightmares. The Smurfs 2 is out now in the UK. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.