The Smurfs: Critic Reviews

The Smurfs may be blue, but their movie is decidedly green, recycling discarded bits from other celluloid Happy Meals like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield, and Hop into something half animated, half live action, and all careful studio calculation.

On a hot summer day, "The Smurfs" is a decent enough excuse to haul the little ones into an air-conditioned theater.

I felt like plunging a razor into my tensely exposed wrist from the very first minutes.

Its sole claim to fame may turn out to be as the most slyly foul-mouthed children's film yet made.

There are a handful of genuinely sweet scenes in Smurfs promptly undone by adult actors and filmmakers, who must believe that the little blue troublemakers couldn't maintain a film on their own.

I wouldn't smurf Gosnell's 'The Smurfs' on my smurfiest enemy.

In all, the worst parts of "The Smurfs'' can probably be summed up in two words: Smurf rap.

Gosnell directs as if every scene must be either a nauseating roller-coaster ride or a syrupy melodrama.

Director Raja Gosnell also made "Scooby-Doo" and "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." At least for families, this is a bit smurfing better than those.

Smurfs are the Barneys of the fantasy world.

...the adults who take [the kids] to see the movie won't feel too good about themselves, or their existences, or the state of life on the planet, as the lights go up.

It's raw and mean-spirited, with too many of the Smurf word substitutions more naughty than nice ("Who Smurfed?" or "Where the Smurf are we?"). That's Smurfed up.

"The Smurfs" has brains, heart and style, which will endear it to adults as well as young viewers.

Adorable and annoying, patently unnecessary yet kinda sweet, it's a calculated commercial enterprise with little soul but an appreciable amount of heart.

[A] relentlessly witless and cynical children's movie packed with potty jokes, product plugs and double-entendres along the lines of "What the Smurf?"

Pop singer Katy Perry's Smurfette faces award questions about being a rare female smurf, and blurts out, "I kissed a Smurf and I liked it."

Kids are sure to find it smurf-errific, smurf-ilicious or just plain smurfy. Adults will happily settle for smurf-ectly inoffensive.

The Smurfs ends up being just below average, it won't give you nightmares, and small ones might dig it.

The Smurfs mostly takes place in a grown-up world of cosmetics advertising and expectant parents. Without a child character to interpret and join the action, it's a pretty dull way to introduce young viewers to the new blue crew.

For all the digitally enhanced Smurfness, the results are remarkably mirthless.

Even Neil Patrick Harris, who has proved he can save just about any sinking ship (see prime-time awards shows such as the Emmys or Tonys), cannot make this boat float.

The Smurfs is a cute family film that suffers from being a little formulaic and uninspired, and the CGI smurfs don't look like the original characters.

Filmgoers who enjoyed the cartoon (or comic strips) as a kid will very likely be left with the taste of sour Smurfberries.

The kids might enjoy it, but The Smurfs is nothing but an annoying, noisy commercial for Sony products. Save for Hank Azaria's amusing take on Gargamel, the film is fatty junk food.

...a cynical extension, not even an earnest spin-off.