Review: The Smurfs “Smurfy Magic Duel/Doctor Brainy & Mister Dumb”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Smurfy Magic Duel

Papa Smurf and Willow challenge each other in a magic duel.

Doctor Brainy & Mister Dumb

Brainy invents the “Smurf Scale”. However, instead of weighing his brain, the machine makes Brainy totally stupid.

Our Take:

The first episode’s plot sees the two Smurf leaders at odds with each other. Papa Smurf challenges Willow to see which magic is better than the other when Willow criticizes his work as outdated. Papa’s magic is alchemy, meaning he can make potions, while Willow’s abilities are more natural as she provides magic through nature.  

Most of the humor consists of the two using Smurfette and Lily as their guinea pigs to see which of their magic is helpful in dealing with specific situations. Papa’s potions make Smurfette bounce extra high and magnetic, while Willow’s magic has Lily communicate with the birds and transform into a Smurf. Unfortunately, they both appear to be as flawed as the other. When Papa Smurf accidentally uses Gargamel and Azrael’s hairs to make them appear in Smurf Village, he and Willow join forces to combine their magic to make another potion that sends them back.

The second episode sees one of Brainy’s “clever” ideas going haywire. Although, it seems that his new invention has an unusual effect on the inventor instead of the victim. When Smurfette makes fun of Brainy due to his intelligence annoying the Smurfs, he makes a machine to weigh his brain and prove how intelligent he is. However, the device made him so dumb that he couldn’t distinguish between a book and a banana.

The humor in this episode consists of Brainy’s stupidity affecting some of the Smurfs, including Papa, more than his intelligence. It also caused Brainy to be friends with Dimwitty, which doesn’t bode well for the latter’s fire brigade buddy, Clumsy. Papa and Smurfette attempt to make Brainy smart again with a potion, but not before overcoming a couple of issues to get to him, including a jealous Clumsy. They successfully do so, but based on the episode’s conclusion, there might still be a hint of dumbness left inside Brainy’s massive brain.

Overall, both episodes provide plenty of magic and silliness to make their familiar storylines watchable. “Smurfy Magic Duel” is an enjoyable competition between the two magic wielders that leads to them learning that both types are superior together. “Doctor Brainy & Mister Dumb” is as goofy as the premise itself, which is enough to see Brainy and Dimwitty be “Silly Friends”.