The past two years have been great for animation. Last year, half of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 2024 were animated: Inside Out 2, Moana 2, Despicable Me 4, Mufasa: The Lion King, and Kung Fu Panda 4, with all but two earning Fresh scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with Despicable Me 4 and Mufasa just narrowly missing the mark at 56%.
Animation has reigned supreme once again in 2025, with China’s animated movie Ne Zha 2 ranking as the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide with over $2 billion at the box office. Meanwhile, KPop Demon Hunters is dominating Netflix. Dreamworks’ Dog Man, which debuted in January, was a modest success that earned an 80% Rotten Tomatoes score and made over $145 million at the box office.
Elio, despite its 82% Rotten Tomatoes score, debuted to only $20 million at the box office, the lowest opening weekend ever for a Pixar movie. Now, a new animated movie has debuted with a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score, yet there is still optimism that it could perform well financially.
Smurfs Debuts With A Dismal Rotten Tomatoes Score
But It’s Still The 2nd Best In The Billion-Dollar Franchise
Smurfs has debuted with a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score, but it’s still the second-best in the billion-dollar franchise. The upcoming reboot follows Smurfette who, after Papa Smurf is kidnapped by the evil wizards Gargamel and his brother Razamel, leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save him.
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The voice cast includes Rihanna, 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, Kurt Russell, and John Goodman.
Now, ahead of its theatrical release in a few days, Smurfs has debuted with a dismal 24% score from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie has 33 reviews at the time of writing, so its score should fluctuate as more are published. The movie doesn’t yet have an audience score, though it will begin to take shape once the movie releases in theaters.
Although an abysmal score, it’s still the second-best in the franchise, which has grossed a combined $1.1 billion at the box office:
Movie
RT Critics Score
RT Audience Score
Box Office
The Smurfs (2011)
21%
43%
$563.7M
The Smurfs 2 (2013)
14%
56%
$348.5M
Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)
41%
54%
$197.6M
Smurfs (2025)
24%
TBD
TBD
What Smurfs’ Rotten Tomatoes Score Means For The Movie
What Are The Critics Saying?
Smurfs’ Rotten Tomatoes score means that its reviews are overwhelmingly negative. For instance, in ScreenRant’s Smurfs review, Mae Abdulbaki writes, “There’s a lot of adventure in this animated musical but there isn’t enough of everything else… while I wanted to be more enthusiastic about it, something is missing that a fun adventure can’t make up for.”
Many find the new Smurfs movie to be a creatively shallow and corporately motivated reboot.
Otherwise, critics are calling it chaotic, uninspired, and devoid of any emotional depth. While a few praise its animation, music, and nostalgic elements, many are criticizing its cluttered story, weak characters, and lack of clear focus. Despite a handful of defenders, many find the new Smurfs movie to be a creatively shallow and corporately motivated reboot.
Smurfs releases in theaters on July 18.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
4/10
Release Date
July 18, 2025
Runtime
92 Minutes
Director
Chris Miller
Writers
Pam Brady, Peyo
Producers
Ryan Harris