This week's featured adaptation is "The Smurfs," and the movie reviews have been uneven (though they were all were written by adults). It's a big-screen version of the tale of little blue folks, a group created by the Belgian artist Peyo and made into a TV cartoon in the 1980s.

According to the offical Smurfs site, after Peyo left school in Brussels, he looked at newspaper want ads and considered openings for a dental assistant and an illustrator. He was too late for the job at the dentist's office, so he turned to the city's vibrant cartooning scene. One of the pleasures of walking around the city now is seeing the large cartoon murals scattered about. Next time you're in Brussels, you can get a feel for Peyo's work at the Belgian Comic Strip Center, a fascinating museum.

Some sample movie reviews:

-- Tribune: The slapstick is very small-kid friendly, and even the most adult-friendly jokes are pretty mild stuff. Yeah, the Smurfs are still sickeningly sweet and upbeat. But if you've got kids, it's not nearly as torturous to sit through as you might have feared.

-- Los Angeles Times: To borrow the lingo of the little blue people who populate "The Smurfs" — What the Smurf? If that sort of bad "blue" pun, as opposed to fun, is to your little one's liking, then parents, you are in for a fingernails-on-the-chalkboard, ahem, treat.

-- Washington Post: [P]arents, be warned: Unlike family films produced by Pixar, "The Smurfs" will only appeal to a pre-adolescent audience.