Review: The Smurfs “Smurfboards/Monkey See, Monkey Do”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Smurfboards

Vanity and Jokey start smurfboarding around the village, leading to Brainy attempting to teach them the “Highway Code”.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

The magical supply store mixes up orders from Gargamel and Papa Smurf, and the latter receives a monkey.

Our Take:

For the first episode, much of the humor comes from Vanity and Jokey skateboarding and performing tricks through the village. But unfortunately, their boarding skills are causing potential harm to the other Smurfs. As a result, Brainy decides to teach them to ride their boards safely. But, of course, since this is Brainy we’re talking about, his idea wasn’t met with welcome arms.

The episode is basically another scenario in which Brainy gets constantly picked on for being bossy and always following the rules, mainly the traffic rules. Additionally, it offers a suitable lesson about the importance of safety. Unfortunately, the ending with Vanity and Jokey not learning this lesson from Brainy’s own recklessness overshadows that important message for its young viewers. On the bright side, it offered enough slapstick humor to compensate, including Brainy getting hit by a fire truck while crossing the street. 

The second episode sees the Smurfs getting into some monkey business due to a mix-up with their orders. When Papa Smurf receives a monkey that Gargamel was supposed to get, the tiny simian runs amok in Smurf Village until it starts hanging out with Jokey and Dimwitty. Not wanting the monkey to leave, Jokey and Dimwitty dressed Brainy up as the monkey and disguised it as Baby Smurf. However, their plan resulted in Brainy being transported to Gargamel’s place, where he’s trained to capture the Smurfs for the wizard.

I can say that this episode is a slight improvement over the previous one. It features a simplistic yet solid plot where Jokey’s plan to get what he wants goes awry again. Plus, the humor involving Jokey and Dimwitty hanging out with the monkey was pretty charismatic. 

Overall, both episodes were enjoyable enough for me to get past Jokey’s irritating actions. The first episode has a good lesson about safety hidden underneath Vanity and Jokey’s selfless disregard for safety. Meanwhile, the second episode delivers a harmless and humorous plot that introduces the newest, hairy member of the Smurf family.