Neil Patrick Harris has been cast in Sony’s upcoming movie version of The Smurfs. The movie will do what most movies do when turning popular nostalgia cartoons into feature films, which is go with a half live-action, half CGI presentation. Harris will be providing the voice of the lead Smurf in the film, so he will not actually be physically appearing in the flick.

Harris, is one of the more popular actors working today. After bursting onto the scene as a child actor on Doogie Howser, M.D., he disappeared from the spotlight for a while doing a lot of lower-key projects.

He showed up again in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers before really making his hilarious comeback by way of films like Undercover Brother and Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Since making this return, he’s been steadily showing up all over the place, from his highly-popular TV series, How I Met Your Mother, to other voice acting gigs on Robot Chicken and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to the sequel Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

The Smurfs is directed by Raja Gosnell, who has plenty of experience on the family films and talking CGI creatures plateau. He has previously directed titles like Home Alone 3, Never Been Kissed, Big Momma’s House, both Scooby-Doo live-action films, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

[Source: Deadline Hollywood]