How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris has signed on to appear in the upcoming film The Smurfs, the animated film mixed with live action that will bring the beloved 80’s cartoon to the big screen next year. Filming on The Smurfs begins in April and, very unfortunately, NPH will NOT be playing a Smurf in the film … which is such a shame because he really would make a cute-lookin’ Smurf:

Neil Patrick Harris will star in Sony’s big screen adaptation of The Smurfs, says Deadline Hollywood. He won’t be voicing one of the Smurfs though as the project is a mix of live-action and animation. Harris will play the lead live-action character. The site says that filming begins in April, when Harris will be on hiatus from CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother.” The Raja Gosnell-directed film is scheduled for a July 29, 2011 release. “The Smurfs” were created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known throughout the world as Peyo. “The Smurfs,” originally called “Les Schtroumpfs” in French, were created for a Belgian series of comic books, first as minor characters. The villagers, known for their blue skin and small statures, spawned a line of statuettes, games, toys, theme parks and a hit TV series, which ran as part of NBC’s Saturday-morning lineup from 1981-90.

AHHHHH … I really wish NPH was playing a Smurf in this film. The mixture of animation and live action has me worried that it will turn out kinda terrible like the Alvin and the Chipmunk movies … or even worse — like the Garfield movie! Ugh!! I’m really not convinced that this Smurfs movie is going to turn out well and may, in fact, mar some of our beloved memories of the original 80’s cartoon. I do take comfort, tho, in the fact that if anyone can make this movie better … it’s Neil Patrick Harris. I guess we’ll have to wait and see … I’m still totally on the fence.

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Last September we got our FIRST LOOK at the new updated animated version of The Smurfs in a preview poster that made its way to the Internets. Today, we get an even newer look at what the new Smurfs will look like in a newly leaked animated rendering of the character design … behold:

What’s up with Belgium? Half of them speak French, the other half speak Flemish. I don’t even know what Flemish is, but I’m pretty sure you speak it through your nose. Maybe it’s that wonderful push and pull that makes creativity sparkle. The Smurfs were awesome because they were named after what they were like. Brainy, Handy, Hefty, Vanity or, you know, Ette. Talk of a Smurfs movie has been buzzing for years, but finally, now, it is upon us. Raja Gosnell, of Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Scooby-Doo fame, is currently in pre-production on a live action mixed with CG feature in New York City. (Yes, the Smurfs village is in Central Park. Awesome.) One of our spies was able to grab a shot of this adoreable CG rendered Smurf. You’ll notice it looks a lot different than the Smurf that was featured on a leaked poster some months back. It says “Smurfy” next to him – but we’re guessing that’s more of an exclamation than the little dude’s name.

HMMMMM … I’m still not totally on board with this idea to move The Smurfs into the world of CGI but at least this version of a Smurf looks cuter than the previous version we saw last year. Yeah, I’m still not sold … especially since the Smurf village now resides in Central Park? No. What do y’all think … do we like or hate with the fires of Hell?

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Macy’s Department Store hosted their 83rd annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, NY today and, as usual, the big inflated balloons that made their way down (well, over) the streets of New York were the main attraction. Here are a few photos of some of the big character balloons that were included in today’s parade and read a fun piece on how the balloons themselves have become a NYC tradition of their own:

The tradition that is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has spun off its own tradition — on Thanksgiving eve, New Yorkers and tourists alike gather on the Upper West Side of New York City to watch their favorite characters come to life in the forms of giant balloons. On Wednesday, cartoon balloon characters were inflated in a public ceremony before their televised march down Seventh Avenue Thursday morning in the 83rd annual Macy’s parade. The balloon line-up includes returning favorites such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Spiderman and Kermit the Frog. The only balloon newcomer this year is the Pillsbury Doughboy. Each year, in a tradition that began when Felix the Cat became the first Macy’s parade balloon in 1927, all balloons are pre-inflated outside the museum, and are held down with nets and sandbags during the night before the parade. Every balloon is the product of months of design and testing by the self-named “Balloonatics,” who work in the Macy’s Parade Studio to turn pencil sketches into ready-for-flight balloons. Sketches become giant clay sculptures the exact size of the parade balloon, and polyurethane fabrics are cut based on the sculptures, then heat-sealed to make the balloon. Several indoor and outdoor tests are conducted with the balloons by hundreds of balloon handlers, to make sure each balloon can make its flight safely and intact. The four main giants of Thursday’s parade will be Sailor Mickey, Ronald McDonald, Spiderman and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Other notable appearances include a 53.5-foot high Pikachu whose cheeks will emit a rosy glow, and Flying Ace Snoopy which will be making its record 34th appearance in the Thanksgiving Parade. The 31 balloons that will be featured on Thursday were inflated Wednesday and on public display in a five-block radius around New York’s American Museum of Natural History, from 81st to 77th streets between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Macy’s workers used hoses to fill each character with helium, section by section, in a careful, time-consuming process. The inflation ceremony attracted a throng of onlookers who were ushered around the netted balloons as they were inflated in preparation for Thursday’s parade.

I’ve never been able to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person but I have seen it many, many times on TV when I was a kid. I don’t know why but I still love seeing these balloons in the parade … I guess they speak to the kid in me. I’m very happy to see that Pikachu from Pokémon is still included in the parade all these years after the manic fad has died down here in the US. As far as traditions go, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are one of my faves. Which of the Macy’s balloons are your faves?

[Photo credit: Getty; Source]

OY! The day I feared would one day come … has come at last. That beloved cartoon from the 80’s, The Smurfs, is getting a modern CGI make-over for a new movie version of the ‘toon … and here is our first look at what the little guys will look like … behold:

This first image of a CGI Smurf from Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming Smurfs movie was posted online last night, but we had to take a few more steps to make sure it was the real deal. It turns out that the studio ran the promo image, of which you can find a scan below, in a magazine recently. Opening in theaters on December 17, 2010, the film will be directed by Raja Gosnell. “The Smurfs” were created in 1958 by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known throughout the world as Peyo.

Let me be the first to say, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don’t like it. I much prefer the 2D version of The Smurfs over … this. My inner child is crying out for a return to the original animation. What do y’all think?

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