The Smurfs Christmas (2013) 1

The Belgian-born franchise offers fans six stories to yule tide them till the big day.

The Smurfs Christmas (2013) 1

Little Peter’s Christmas is a cliched tear jerker truism with the usual heroes and villains. Santa is under the weather. Gargamel takes advantage to find the Smurf’s village, but is discouraged when St. Nick bounces back.

Peter and his mother are rewarded for their poverty and observance of hard work by Santa and the Smurfs by story’s end.

The Ogre and the Smurfs has nothing to do with Christmas. For this tale, Gargamel throws the Smurfs under the bus so as not to be eaten by the giant. Fortunately for the blue woodland creatures, Ogres aren’t very bright and the table is turned on their antagonist.

A sacrifice puts Gargamel on ice in Strange Snowmen. It’s a tale of warmth, both from the heart and the sky.

The Smurfs disturb nature in Hibernatus Smurfimus. Snow blankets the woods as those who slumber through the winter sleep in oblivion. That is until a few Smurfs wake the dozing denizens. Their interruption does pay off when they escape the clutches of those who try to capture them.

Monsters and legends are undone in The Little Tree. Gargamel has turned a ferry into a tree. Her sister must procure the golden pinecones that fall in a far-off land. Lumberjack Smurf helps along the way and Gargamel’s villainy is repaid in repossession.

This does have Christmas undertones for those who are counting.

Gargamel finds the satisfaction in giving rather than receiving. The Smurfs still come out on top in The Smurfs Christmas.

The Smurfs began as a comic book before branching to television and merchandising. Their first appearance was in Johan et Pirlouit in 1958. English translations have been published in the America courtesy of Papercutz. Marvel Comics provided a mini-series in the 1980s.