The Movie:

The Smurfs And The Magic Flute, the first feature length movie to feature the most famous creations of Belgian cartoonist Peyo, was made in 1976 under the title La Flûte à six schtroumpfs. Eventually, two English dubs were made for the film, the first of which was for the UK market as the film was released there in 1979. The second dub was for the North American market and it was released in 1983 after the animated television show had proven to be very successful very quickly.

Fans of the TV series who haven't seen this film before might be a bit taken aback by some of the differences here. Remember, this was made a few years before the animated series so it shouldn't be so shocking to see that certain characters from the TV show aren't included in the feature. The story revolves around a young knight named Johan and his jester, Peetwit (two earlier creations from Peyo's cartoons in the 1950s - trivia note: The Smurfs first appeared in their comic strips before getting their own). A travelling salesmen arrives at the castle to sell Peetwit a flute but the King knows just how horrible Peetwit is when it comes to music and so he kicks him out but not before he leaves a flute. The King, not wanting Peetwit to even see the flute, tries to burn it but it won't catch on fire. When Peetwit eventually gets his hands on it, his music sends the entire population of the castle into a dancing frenzy - at this point all involved realize that there's something different about this flute.

Enter the sinister Matthew McCreep - he wants the flute and will stop at nothing to get it so when he learns that it's been left at the castle, that's exactly where he heads. He steals it from Peetwit who teams up with Johan at the King's request to retrieve the flute from McCreep who intends to use it to cheat people. Peetwit and Johan first visit a wizard who sends them to the magical land of The Smurfs, the strange blue creatures who created the flute in the first place, and their leader, Papa Smurf, agrees to help them in their pursuit of McCreep and in their efforts to retrieve the flute.

Though the film was released theatrically by Atlantic, most who remember it probably saw it by way of the Vestron VHS release that made the rounds in the eighties as the title was popular and did quite well on home video. As to the movie itself, it's a fun story. Some might lament the absence of Smurfette or Gargamel but Peetwit and Johan are fun characters who more than make up for their absence. Though the Smurfs themselves don't actually appear in the movie until just past the twenty minute mark, something that may dismay younger viewers who need the little blue guys to be on the screen at all times, the storyline is in keeping thematically with what we saw in the animated TV series. Lots of magic, good morals, fun characters, hiss worthy villains, catchy music and some charmingly odd animation.

A lot of the appeal of a movie like this is going to be the nostalgia that has set in for those who remember it from their childhood. It might not appeal as much on a visual level to today's kids used to CGI animation and the slower pace might have trouble holding the attention of some youngsters. With that said, however, this is enjoyable enough and completely passable entertainment. The last half of the movie picks up the pace considerably and if this isn't a particularly deep or amazing film, it's a good seventy five minutes of harmless fun and there's certainly nothing wrong with that.

Video:

Shout! Factory presents The Smurfs And The Magic Flute on DVD in 1.85.1 non-anamorphic (yes, you read that right) widescreen in a transfer that is perfectly watchable but nothing to write home about. The aspect ratio looks correct and there's no obvious cropping here but the whole non-anamorphic thing is understandably going to irk some. Minor print damage is evident but never a serious problem and detail is okay, if not remarkable. This could have looked worse but so too could it have looked much better.