Animated movies often like to load up their casts with celebrity voices, and stars are seemingly only too happy to show up for an acting gig they can conceivably do in their pajamas. We're not sure of Julia Roberts' wardrobe for her work on Smurfs: The Lost Village, but People reports that she's playing a character named SmurfWillow.
The Lost Village sees Smurfette (Demi Lovato) coming into possession of a mysterious map which purports to show the location of a strange lost village. She, along with Brainy (Danny Pudi), Clumsy (Jack McBrayer) and Hefty (Joe Manganiello) head off through the Forbidden Forest to find it before the evil wizard Gargamel [{href='http://www.empireonline.com/people/rainn-wilson/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'}) can. Quite how SmurfWillow fits into all that remains to be seen, though she's described as "wise". So she and Papa Smurf (Mandy Patinkin) seemed destined to get on like a smurf on smurfire.
“Smurfs are such a fun part of our animated culture,” Roberts tells the magazine's site. “They were popular when I was a child and they were popular when my kids were little. It’s fun to be part of such a sweet group that continues to entertain young people.” And Roberts isn't the only new arrival, as Sony has announced that Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper and Ariel Winter are among those adding their voices as Smurfs that our heroes meet in the titular village.
Smurfs: The Lost Village will be out on 31 March.