The Smurfs and the Magic Flute courtesy Morningstar Entertainment
Somehow a magic flute has gotten out of Smurfland and into the hands of young practical joker Peewit and the good knight Johan. That isn't so bad...but when Peewit loses the flute to the sinister Oily McCreep, the Smurfs have to come to the rescue!
Legendary TV exec Fred Silverman had the knack of getting great ideas for a show from just about anywhere...including his own daughter's Smurf doll! Realizing that this line of toys represented an enormously popular world, that could make an excellent kid cartoon, Silverman put together a deal which would bring the now-classic animated series out near the end of his three-year stint as President and CEO of NBC. In 1981 NBC and Hanna-Barbera debuted the Saturday morning cartoon version of The Smurfs, and it quickly became a huge success. So much of a success, that the 1976 Belgium-made (and French-language) animated film La Flûte à six schtroumpfs was brought to the USA in 1983, dubbed in English, and distributed in theaters by Atlantic Releasing as The Smurfs and the Magic Flute.
The film, personally overseen (and co-directed) by Smurfs creator Peyo (a.k.a. Pierre Culliford, a native of Belgium), was animated by Belvision Studios in Brussels. It was mainly based on the story in Peyo's ninth graphic novel ("comic album") of The Smurfs. The musical soundtrack was by Michel Legrand, who won Oscars for his scores and songs on films such as The Thomas Crown Affair, Summer of '42 and Barbara Streisand's Yentl. The English-language character dub for The Smurfs and the Magic Flute unfortunatley did not use the same voice cast as the television series, causing some complaints from fans, but the film was successful at the theater: it set a record - which it would hold for a couple of years - as the largest box office take of an animated film not made by Disney.
Canadian video distributor Morningstar Entertainment has announced that they will bring The Smurfs and the Magic Flute to DVD on March 18th, releasing it north of the border with digitally remastered video and enhanced audio. Besides the 74-minute feature, it will also include a bonus slideshow on this disc. List price is CA$19.98 SRP, but Amazon's Canadian branch is taking pre-orders at a discount. Anyone with an Amazon.com account can use it to purchase this DVD at the provided link (paying the appropriate shipping costs, of course), and it will work just fine on any Region 1 (North American) DVD player. Sounds like a Smurf-tastic way to add this to your collection!
This release of the only feature film for The Smurfs is timed to join in with 2008's celebration of the 50-year anniversary of Peyo's characters and their world. I'm sure TV Guide's resident Smurfs fan, Michael Ausiello, will be all over this one...and I know many of you will be, too! — David Lambert
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