On Smurfette’s (Katy Perry) birthday, she cannot help but think of her conflicted* origins — rather than a “true-blue” Smurf, she was in fact created by the hapless* evil sorcerer* Gargamel (Hank Azaria). Gargamel wants to kidnap* her from her forest home to get the formula* for the magical Smurf essence that Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters) used to bestow her with* blue-skinned bliss*.

    Once he has the secret, Gargamel plans to power up a host of Naughties, Smurf-sized creatures he’s created, to help him take over the world.

    So he sends his Naughty daughter Vexy (Christina Ricci) to drag Smurfette through a magic portal* and into the real world where he can more effectively manipulate* her identity issues.

    Papa Smurf and his mismatched* extraction team, including Grouchy (George Lopez), Clumsy (Anton Yelchin) and Vanity (John Oliver), will have to travel to the live-action world to reunite in Paris with the sympathetic* young family of Patrick (Neil Patrick Harris) and Grace (Jayma Mays) Winslow, their live-action counterparts from the original movie, if they’re to have any chance of saving Smurfette.

    Returning the movie to the European locale of the Belgian Smurfs comic-strip originator Pierre Culliford adds some fun, with Paris as the backdrop* for the Smurfs’ rescue mission. Except for the classic cityscapes, there’s little new stuff in this follow-up.

    Gargamel’s CGI cat cohort* Azrael is awkward. Apart from that, the mix of animation and live-action appears fairly seamless in a 3D rendition.

    (SD-Agencies)