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LOVE IT
Kids adore tiny creatures living in communal bliss. (I even liked Snorks, and I'm not all that chipper.) The Smurfs is the granddaddy of
this Saturday-morning genre, hypnotizing us with exploding presents,
then sneaking in morality tales, alternative lifestyles (thanks, Vanity
Smurf!), and classical music like Mussorgsky's Pictures at an
Exhibition. And all that happiness makes the sugary cereal go down
easier. Only Gargamel could hate them. — Whitney Pastorek
LOATHE IT
Urrgh, me Gargamel! You can sugar-coat this blue blight, but kids don't
need cartoons with dribbles of high culture; they need real high
culture. The Smurfs' most annoying trait is to replace nouns and verbs
with the word smurf. Hanna-Barbera got hold of the Belgian-created
critters in '81, then stiffly animated them to squeak things like ''Papa
Smurf can smurf anything he smurfs his mind to!'' It's nostalgic dreck
young minds should be steered away from. — Ken Tucker
