The latest attempt to jumpstart the iconic Smurfs franchise back to boxoffice life, Smurfs, will be perfectly acceptable fodder to keep the kiddies amused, and because of its original 80’s Saturday Morning cartoon series, just might provide enough nostalgia to make it bearable for their parents. For me however, even though the Smurfs was the Belgian creation of comics artist Peyo in 1958, when it hit paydirt I was well beyond the generation that would appreciate it most. My memory of the Smurfs was not so admiring as I was, in another life, writing children’s television when the series was a smash and one of my gigs at NBC was to craft interstitial vignettes with the casts of the network’s popular sitcoms as the glue that held their Saturday morning kids lineup intact. One of them was not exactly a sitcom but the animated Smurfs and my assignment was to write a script that would be used for these wraparounds with the voice cast. It was the only one I did that was a complete and utter failure, my script tossed in the dustbin. “Smurfette and Papa Smurf would just never have conversations like this, Pete. Do you have any idea who they are?” Guess not, but I am not sure the filmmakers of the latest incarnation know who they are either.
So in the interim I have attempted to get through watching various versions of Smurfdom including 2017’s Smurfs: The Lost Village, the most recent attempt at big screen glory for the little blue wonders. Earlier in the decade there were also a couple of live action/animation hybrids, and countless other versions. Now along comes a fully CGI animated new rendezvous fronted by none other than Rihanna who voices Smurfette and also serves as a producer. The 2017 film also had a pop star, Demi Lovato in the Smurfette role, so why not try again with an even bigger musical star? There are in fact 14 original songs here including a new one for Rihanna called “Friend Of Mine”. While many of them are toe-tappy enough, none are particularly memorable. Rihanna however does just fine in the role although when she opens her mouth to sing I couldn’t help but think, ‘hey Smurfette sounds just like Rihanna!’
The film itself directed by veteran Chris Miller (the Oscar nominated and terrific Puss In Boots, Shrek The Third) and written by Pam Brady whose past animation writing credits include the subversive South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, a ‘toon that is about as far as you can get from the homogenized story she cooks up here. Whether a new generation is eager for these lovable blue citizens is a question that will be answered as Smurfs fall in the popular culture somewhere between the 7 Dwarfs and Minions, and now may even be upstaged for its youngest audience by shades of Bluey.
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Plotwise all seems well in the hidden Smurfs Village until patriarch Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is snatched away and tossed into another universe by evil nemesis brothers Razamel and Gargamel (JP Karliak voicing both). It seems that bad news pair (at war with each other as well) are doing the dirty work for the Evil Alliance of Wizards who are in possession of three of the four magical books that will help whoever has them control the world. The fourth book, known as Jaunty (Amy Sedaris) is what they really need to do this, and it has been well hidden away with only Papa Smurf knowing its whereabouts and he ain’t coughing Jaunty up.
Thus the Guardians of Good go into action with smart and savvy Smurfette and companion No Name (James Corden) who has self image issues. The Guardians include Papa’s brothers, Ken (Nick Offerman) and Ron (Kurt Russell) and they are formidable in the quest to leave the village and travel the universe by way of Paris, Munich, and the Australian Outback in order to rescue Papa Smurf and save the day.
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In between we meet numerous other characters, most notably leader of the Snooterpoots, the sassy take-no-prisoners life force known as Mama Poot, a cake-loving kickass character voiced to the hilt by scene stealer Natasha Lyonne. A who’s who of a voice cast (used no doubt to create lots of promotional opportunities and talk show appearances) of mostly new characters includes Daniel Levy as recent college graduate Joel who is tasked with helping the evil Razamel, Sandra Oh as Moxie Smurf, Jimmy Kimmel as Tarevgrade, Octavia Spencer as Asmodius, Nick Kroll as Chernobog, Hannah Waddingham as Jezebeth, and a variety of Smurfs played by Alex Winter as Hefty, Maya Erskine as Vanity, Billie Lourde as Worry, and Xolo Mariduena as Brainy. Turning up for his first movie is also Grammy nominated musical star Marshmello as the slow witted Turtle. If only Brady’s by-the-numbers script gave these terrific performers some snappier dialogue. I guess I am just spoiled by last year’s animated gems like Flow, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, Wallace & Gromit , and on and on. This one just does not try hard enough, colorful though it is. Paramount Animation brings it to what life there is, but it is certainly a disappointment in light of the fantastic and smart animated reboot the studio did with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a couple of years ago, courtesy of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. But never fear, undemanding kids will probably get on board for this anyway as a time killer.
Producers are Jay Brown, Ty Ty Smith, Robyn Rhianna Fenty, Ryan Harris.
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Title: Smurfs
Distributor: Paramount
Release date: July 18, 2025
Director: Chris Miller
Screenwriter: Pam Brady
Cast: Rihanna, John Goodman, James Corden, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Billie Lourd, Xolo Mariduena, Kurt Russell, Marshmello
Rating: PG
Running time: 1 hr 32 mins