Review: "Smurfs" is a Half-Baked Reboot That Misses Its Stated Goal

As the son of a Belgian mother who was very proud of her home country's creation of The Smurfs, I have always had a soft spot for the characters — particularly the Hanna-Barbara cartoon series of my youth. While it was never my favorite show, I did enjoy having something to watch with my mother who seemed to have no interest in DuckTales or Gummi Bears. And while I have seen the franchise be rebooted and rebooted, when Peyo announced they would be taking the franchise back to its roots, I was excited to see what they were going to do.

Unfortunately the new film, simply titled Smurfs, is nothing but a disappointment. While the animation style could be considered evocative of the original comics, the story, humor, and nearly everything else is a complete miss.

To start, the film is a live-action and animation hybrid, but there is no rhyme or reason as to what is made in what medium. It almost feels like live-action backgrounds are used when they didn’t want to build another environment and live-action characters are used to avoid rigging another model. Typical villain Gargamel is mostly dispatched in favor of his younger brother Razamel, which is hardly bringing the story back to its roots.

You may be forgiven if you think the film is actually called Rihanna is Smurfette: Smurfs as it is prominent in all of the marketing. This type of stunt casting is typically a disaster, but I actually was pleasantly surprised with her performance. Meanwhile, James Corden as No Name Smurf, brought nothing special to the character. But while many of the performances are fine, they can’t make up for the totally off tone of the film. References to Zoom, podcasts, and other modern terms feel like a lame attempt to look relevant, which will inevitably make the film feel dated at some point.

The film does have a touching conclusion that helps disguise the fact that the whole plot makes no sense. While I don’t want to spoil anything, there is a complete flip of the film’s internal logic, which just underscores how half-baked the movie really is. While young kids will find reason to giggle, there are so many better family films to see out in theaters.

Perhaps the saddest part of the movie is that this half-hearted reboot may put the franchise on an extended hiatus. The Smurfs, as Peyo actually envisioned them, is a franchise that should be kept alive. But it shouldn’t be done so just to release a film, they should put the time and effort into crafting an endeavor that truly speaks to the franchise’s DNA and legacy. I do hope the Smurfs return, but next time consult Brainy Smurf and Poet Smurf before greenlighting the project.

I give Rihanna is Smurfette: Smurfs 2 out of 5 smurfs.