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Home Video Hell is where filmic outcasts—straight-to-video, straight-to-vod, or barely released—spend eternity.

The condemned: Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania (2017)

The plot: Was the world clamoring for a decade-late sequel to Surf’s Up, the mid-2000s animated movie about penguins doing non-penguin things that wasn’t produced and co-directed by George Miller? Perhaps not. But what about a sequel that mostly ditches the one novel thing about Surf’s Up—the fact that it was an animated mockumentary—but adds a quartet of pro wrestling stars (plus WWE owner Vince McMahon), all surreally voicing “themselves.” Flightless bird surfers Cody Maverick (Adventure Time’s Jeremy Shada, replacing Shia Labeouf, who is either too much of an artist or not enough of one to take part in something like this) and Lani (Melissa Sturm, replacing Zooey Deschanel) now quietly run a surfing school for penguin tots, but have their lives...

Tra-la-la-la-la-la... The Smurfs capped off the summer with a live-action sequel full of fun and hijinks, and as autumn approaches, the gang of lovable little blue characters are back with an all-new, Halloween-themed special mini-movie combining live-action with the traditional, hand-drawn animation of the beloved Saturday morning cartoons.

Pics: 'Smurfs 2' and Smurf-tastic Cartoons Come to Life!

"My attachment to this story is really the fall," The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow director Stephan Franck (whose credits include The Iron Giant and Despicable Me) tells ETonline. "The history of it, the colors of it, the spookiness of it a little bit, that's what was really great in this -- within the Smurfs' universe, to bring in ... a little bit of the mystery, which is in the books. I think there is an artistry to the fall, the colors are really inspiring."

The Smurf-tastic special bookends the traditional Saturday-morning-styled animation with a live-action/CGI-animated scene with Smurfs...

Back in June, I was invited to the Sony Pictures Animation facility to get an early look at The Smurfs, so it's only fitting that I came back to Spa for an event celebrating The Smurfs on three-disc Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD December 2. The three-disc Blu-ray includes the brand new animated short The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol, a smurfy version of the classic Charles Dickens story. The short centers on Grouchy (George Lopez), who is normally rather happy during Christmas, but is his usually cantankerous self this year. Papa Smurf brews up a potion to get Grouchy back into the Christmas spirit, which features the Smurfs of Christmas Past, Present, and Future.

I got to watch this animated short at Spa, which is a lot of fun, especially for longtime fans of the original animated series, since most of the short is done in the traditional hand-drawn style fans of...

Director Troy Quane and producer Kurt Albrecht discuss The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol

It isn't uncommon for an animated movie such as The Smurfs to include a bonus short film on the Blu-ray or DVD release. The Smurfs hits the shelves on three-disc Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD release on December 2, and the three-disc Blu-ray will include the holiday-themed short The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol, which puts a smurfy spin on the classic holiday tale by Charles Dickens. I recently had the chance to speak with The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol director Troy Quane and producer Kurt Albrecht at Sony Pictures Animation, where we got to screen this wonderful animated short, which mixes in the old-school hand-drawn animation with the new style shown in The Smurfs. Take a look at what the director and producer had to say below.

Can you talk about how early this whole project came about? Was...

Here we go with the first Film Diary post in its new weekly slot. It’s been pretty quiet so far, but from here on in it’s going to get a lot more bumpy. Remember, if you’re willing to offer me suggestions for what to watch, I’m more than willing to take them on board- if I don’t own them, I’ll even go and source them so I can share the love.

For anyone who missed it, here’s the skinny. Basically, what I’m presenting here is my attempt to chart a whole year’s worth of film-watching – something I have wanted to do for some time now. The aim is to post frequently, chronicling every film I watch this year – both offering reviews and setting myself the ultimate goal of watching (and writing about) as many films as humanly possible, without abandoning the necessary functions of normal existence…...