Three apples high

Firstly, a disclaimer. The title is this post is not a drug reference. You're thinking of the song Eight Miles High by 1960's American folk rock band the Byrds. According to their creator, Belgian artist Peyo, this is the height of the Smurfs. Someone has leaked some early rendering work from the forthcoming live action/cg animated Smurfs movie. This will be the first time that these beloved characters have been on the big screen since The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (1980), which I and my siblings were taken to see as wee laddies and lasses. Among my Smurf memories are having the figurines bought for us from BP service stations when my father bought petrol, wearing a Smurf t-shirt, eating the Smurf icy pole, which had blue and white coloured ice with an ice cream centre, the Smurf plush toy I used to keep on my bed, and the Smurf activity books that kept us amused on long car trips. No doubt the producers of this film are hoping that nostalgic members of my generation who now have children of their own will take them to see it when it's released in July 2011. There's is no word yet about the cast, especially who will be playing the villainous Gargamel, nemesis of the Smurfs, but veteran actor Jonathan Winters is rumoured to have been cast as the voice of Papa Smurf. Worryingly, Raja Gosnell is the director. He was also responsible for bringing us Big Momma's House (2000), Scooby Doo (2002), and Scooby Doo 2 (2004), so don't say you haven't been warned.