Girl Power Hits Smurfland

The Smurfs have turned 50 and made it to century 21, but some say the lack of girl Smurfs makes it old-fashioned. An upcoming Smurfs movie plans to fix the gender imbalance in Smurf society, Der Speigel reports: "There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years," said Hendrik Coysman, who heads the company that owns Smurfs rights. "One of these is girl empowerment."

One of Europe's leading feminists has called the Smurfs' gender bias "difficult to ignore" and said that even fairy tales need equal representation. The 2008 smurf flick, Happy Smurfday, is under tight wraps but is rumored to be packing girl power: Sally Field, Lucy Liu, Julia Sweeney, Jessica Simpson, and Marisa Tomei are said to be providing voices. (More Smurfs stories.)