Smurfs Review
Smurfs (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Chris Miller, written by Pam Brady, Butch Hartman and Peyo and starring Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman, John Goodman, JP Karliak, Dan Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Billie Lourd, Xolo Mariduena and Kurt Russell.
Director Chris Miller’s new reboot of the animated Smurfs franchise starts out OK but loses its way pretty quickly with tepid plot developments and a lack of elaboration on the backgrounds of the lovable characters that the film presents. Smurfs tries hard in the beginning and then gets too comfortable in its boring story line to rise above the levels of mediocrity. There are some good casting choices for the voices of key Smurfs, but like everything else in this new overstuffed animated film, they get lost in the shuffle.
Rihanna is featured as the voice of the blue Smurfette who has blonde hair and is “besties” with a Smurf who is known as “No Name (James Corden).” No Name is reassured by Papa Smurf (the recognizable voice of John Goodman) that No Name will find his talent and soon find a name special or unique to his characteristics. No Name fails to succeed in any of the talents he tries to specialize in. There’s always Smurfette’s shoulder to lean on, though, and they discuss Smurfette’s own problems dealing with being the only truly different Smurf in a village full of guy Smurfs like Brainy and Hefty. No Name is different too, but his time will come. Magic enters into the equation as the movie informs us that a book (voice of Amy Sedaris) escapes a group of four book in order to hide out in the Smurfs’ peaceful village, but the status quo is soon disrupted for the worse.
Smurfette and some of her pals are sucked into the streets of Paris by a portal. Smurfette, No Name and company are determined to save Papa Smurf who is kidnapped and informs his fellow Smurfs that they must find the similar to Papa, Ken (voice of Nick Offerman), to try to figure out how to overcome the seemingly evil brothers, Gargamel and Razamel. And, that book that escaped is going to face problems now as well as the story progresses.
There is plenty to take in from the plot for young kids about fitting in and standing out in a positive way in society. Smurfette wants No Name to feel comfortable in his blue skin despite his differences from the rest of the Smurfs crew. There are too many scenes with Gargamel and Razamel acting weird and, although the villains advance the plot through their actions, there is something truly missing in this reboot. In one of the more recent Smurfs reboots, our lovable heroes found themselves transported to places like M&M’s World in Times Square and the Smurfs had more fun back then. The Smurfs in the new reboot are all dressed up with nowhere to go, so to speak.
The Smurfs can’t catch a break, cinematically speaking. For years, disappointing Smurfs movies like The Smurfs and the Magic Flute from decades ago failed to live up to the expectations. Rihanna brings some positive vibes to her role as Smurfette, but nobody asked for some edge to the character of Smurfette. She was nicer and more interesting when she didn’t have such a large role in the action. Too many Smurfs get lost in the shuffle here as the movie presents its by-the-numbers plot. This film starts out by introducing all the Smurfs, but it fails to follow through on developing most of them in a proper way throughout the picture.
Smurfs doesn’t play when it comes to moving briskly. It’s edited fairly well and moves from one scene to the next without much of it dragging. Yet, the film gets bogged down by characters who are only wicked because the plot requires them to be. Gargamel, the brother and the bad cat all seem like they would be better off left on the cutting room floor because more interesting things happen when the villains are not on-screen. It would have been better if it was just about No Name finding his path in life in a way that didn’t include defeating bad guys and saving the day in this particular way.
Corden and Goodman provide good voice-over performances in their respective roles, lending a fair amount of energy to their characters. With a cast that includes voice-over work from Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel and Octavia Spencer, you’d expect more screen time from some of their characters than the viewer is actually treated to.
Smurfs has some heart and a few cute dance numbers featuring our beloved blue friends. However, it is not the definitive movie that the franchise needed to successfully reboot the series in a positive way. Watching the Smurfs go through their paces trying to save the day (and Papa Smurf) feels all too safe and familiar even for a reboot. Younger kids could enjoy Smurfs, but adults will most likely get tired of the scenes that take us away from our blue little friends in order for plot details to emerge that rarely go anywhere at all intriguing.
Rating: 6/10
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