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Since my childhood years, the lovable Smurfs have gone through a whole lot of changes—from Saturday morning cartoons to live-action adventures with Neil Patrick Harris. And now, in the latest Smurfs adventure, they go on a wild and unexpected quest to save one of their own.
Smurfs travels to Smurf Village, where No Name Smurf (voiced by James Corden) is struggling to find the thing that sets him apart from the other Smurfs and makes him special. After trying and failing at pretty much everything, he makes a wish for something that can be just his—and he suddenly finds himself with magical powers that no Smurf has had before. But when his newly discovered powers attract the attention of an evil wizard and Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is kidnapped, No Name and Smurfette (Rihanna) set out on a mission to rescue him.
In order to find Papa Smurf and bring him back to Smurf Village, Smurfette, No Name, and the others travel through a portal in a magical phonograph on an adventure through multiple locations and universes—from the real-world streets of Paris to the Australian Outback to strange claymation and anime dimensions. Along the way, they meet Papa’s old friends, enlist a band of cake-loving puffballs called the Poots, get caught in the middle of sibling rivalry between Gargamel and his brother, Razamel (both voiced by J.P. Karliak), and learn that the Smurfs are actually the guardians of a magical book that keeps the universe in peace and harmony. And if you’re thinking that all of that sounds strange and entirely random, you’re absolutely right.
Smurfs is a bizarre, haphazard adventure that feels more like a series of short clips than a cohesive story. Most of it feels entirely unnecessary—as if the writers thought of an incredibly thin plot and decided to hire a bunch of familiar actors to voice the characters and pad the story with a bunch of insanity in hopes that no one will notice. Admittedly, younger viewers might be too caught up in the silliness and the cute characters and the musical numbers to care—but parents will want to wait for the home theater release, so they won’t have to sit through it with their kids.
Far from the lovable Smurf Village adventures of the old Saturday morning cartoons, the latest iteration of Smurfs is rambling and strangely complicated—an odd adaptation that only younger kids can enjoy.
Families can join the Smurfs on their quest when Smurfs arrives in theaters on July 18, 2025.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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