Smarty and SmartTemplate

I’ve been looking and playing a lot with Smarty and SmartTemplate, trying to get a feel for each and decide which (if either) WordPress should go with. Neither is really right for the job; Smarty does far too much, while SmartTemplate is clunky in comparison and execution. SmartTemplate is ridiculously fast, but the syntax is so painful I wouldn’t want to subject it on anyone. Smarty does have a very strong community, and I’ve been lurking on their lists for several months now, but it seems like the community is headed in a different direction than I’d like to take WordPress; Smarty becomes more and more complicated with each release. If there are any other alternatives, I’d love to hear about them. I’m leaning toward Smarty, but with a number of reservations. Time will tell.