Some films just sound terrible from the offset, a live-action/CGI hybrid of The Smurfs would fall firmly into that category. The film will be helmed by Raja Gosnell who brought us the similar-in-concept Scooby Doo movies, and will apparently see the little blue creatures ‘deal with each other and humans, particularly an evil wizard obsessed with capturing them for his own sinister purposes’. If ever there was to be a piece of news to instill some faith into the production though, this is it. The first major piece of casting has been announced and it’s…wait for it…Neil Patrick Harris.

The star of How I Met Your Mother and the former Doogie Howser, M.D. has signed up to play the lead role which could either prove to be an awful career decision or be the first suggestion that this flick could be on the right tracks. Harris is totally awesome and he’s been proving it in spades week in, week out as Barney Stinson, with his cameos in both Harold and Kumar films and in Joss Whedon’s Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I never thought I’d say this but I’m now very excited about The Smurfs, especially as it’s unclear who NPH will play. He’s definitely playing a human lead, which could mean a friend of Papa Smurf and co or the evil wizard in question, Gargamel – which we’re all secretly hoping he is.