Goodness Makes the Badness Go Away

It is a rule of television: If you are a popular cartoon, you will inevitably get your own Christmas special.

And thus is true of The Smurfs. You know--those loveable blue creatures that are only three apples high. And they celebrate Christmas too. In fact, in the middle of their Christmas preparation, they find two children stranded in the snowy woods. Their uncle is a powerful lord and their grandfather is hurt. The Smurfs care for the children as a powerful warlock seeks revenge on their uncle. He uses Gargamel as a pawn, but in the end, the Smurfs' goodness saves the day!

It is a cute story, if a bit predictable. The best part has to be the little boy mistaking Papa Smurf as Santa Claus. Though it is a bit easy to do so--he has a long white beard and wears red. The trouble comes with the fact that Santa isn't three apples tall nor blue. The special also shows even Gargamel knows when the line has been crossed though he was probably acting more to save himself than following his conscious.

And it has to achieve a new level of cheese with the Smurfs' Christmas song: "Goodness makes the badness go away. Goodness makes the badness go away. Badness can't start if there's goodness in your heart. Goodness makes the badness go away." I am sure people familiar with this type of storyline knows how this song gets used. But it is catchy and you will find yourself humming it. All day long.

So for introducing a song more sugar-filled than "it's a small world" but for bringing Christmas cheer to the Smurfs, I award this special four candy canes out of five.