Smurfs (2025)

By: Mike Ward on Thursday, July 17

PG Running Time: 92 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • With the return of Smurfs, we have a few funny new additions - Way Back There Smurf and Special Effects Smurf are clever, funny concepts.

  • Natasha Lyonne arrives as a character, Mama Poot, and adds some lively energy to an otherwise mundane viewing experience.

  • Will keep kids attention, the animation techniques on display here are pretty impressive.

NO

  • We deserve a good Smurfs movie. This ain’t it. Completely incoherent in terms of tone and storytelling - this movie has no idea what it wants to be.

  • “Rihanna is Smurfette,” huh? Based on her voiceover performance, are we sure she didn’t just have AI say her lines for her?

  • There may not be a more insufferable animated character to come along this decade than “No Name Smurf.”


OUR REVIEW

The cinematic equivalent of “this meeting could have been an email,” Smurfs is a movie that leaves you sitting in slack-jawed disbelief. Badly conceived, lacking any discernible direction or tone, this fourth theatrical attempt at creating a Smurfs movie franchise amounts to a fourth consecutive failure in capturing the lasting nostalgia of the 1980s animated television series.

For this go-’round, the marketing selling point for Smurfs is “Rihanna is Smurfette.” Check out the poster - it even looks like part of the movie’s title. And yes, Rihanna steps into the role as the lone female character in the Smurfs Universe, sleepwalking through her lines and showing no range in developing her character or in making any of her dialogue leap off the page.

Smurfette, despite top billing, turns out to not even be the main character. That arguably belongs to No Name Smurf, voiced by James Corden. After a song-and-dance introduction where the characters have names on screen, but are never said out loud (meaning the youngest viewers who cannot read will have no idea what the Smurfs’ names are), we end up stumbling into a story where No Name struggles to find his place in the world.

No Name is insufferable. Papa Smurf (John Goodman) tries to give him advice and praise and support. When he continues to whine and bemoan his existence, Smurfette recites lines of encouragement you would find from a gallery of inspirational cat posters. Even still, No Name cannot figure his life out. When he realizes his “thing” is magic, he accidentally opens a portal that allows evil wizard Gargamel and his more evil brother Razamel (both voiced by JP Karliak) to abduct Papa Smurf and force Smurfette to try and lead a Smurf Army to rescue him.

Though largely animated, we have live-action elements when Papa Smurf’s animated brother Ken (Nick Offerman) shows up, but in the “real world.” There’s an emotional ballad smack dab in the middle of the movie that I have already forgotten and there are three specific characters who made me chuckle in any way, shape, or form:

- Sound Effects Smurf (Spencer X) is funny once or twice. 

- Way Back There Smurf (Chris Prynoski), positioned far in the background of every scene he’s in, is an absurd and funny concept. 

- Then, we have Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), who adds some energy as Mama Poot, the unfortunately named leader of a group of fluffy ball creatures known as Snooterpoots.

Beyond that, the animation looks fine, but the movie is truly inert. I cannot recall a time when I have watched a movie with kids and families in attendance and no one reacts to anything. My wife, who tested her marriage vows by attending this with me, claims there were laughs in a couple of places. I completely missed them. 

One thing I do know: the kid kicking the back of my seat wasn’t paying much attention.

As a childhood fan of the 1980s series, seeing this franchise fail over and over again is disappointing. I am also unclear why Rihanna chose Smurfs as her first foray into film production and why a movie pitched to young children would need “Rihanna is Smurfette” as a selling point. After nearly a decade away from music, is she big with 5-year-olds? Also, is Pam Brady, the screenwriter of Team America: World Police and South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut the best choice to tap into the nostalgia and legacy of the Smurfs and translate that to the big screen?

An absolute mess, Smurfs reaches a new low in an already dismal movie franchise. Director Chris Miller (Puss and Boots) has no sense of what kind of movie he is trying to make. And with the music, the stories, and the performances clashing together, he has achieved in creating the collective sound of A-list celebrities doing the absolute minimum to cash big paychecks for a day or two worth of work.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Rihanna, James Corden, John Goodman, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Levy, Amy Sedaris, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Kurt Russell, Billie Lourd, Marshmello, Spencer X, Chris Prynoski, Xolo Maridueña

Director: Chris Miller
Written by: Pam Brady
Based on the comic book series “The Smurfs,” created by Peyo
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Paramount Pictures