Smurfs lands seriously low Rotten Tomatoes score with critics calling it "one of the worst children's movies," but it's still the second highest rated in the franchise

The newest Smurfs movie has landed a less-than-desirable Rotten Tomatoes score, but it’s still actually the second highest rated in the whole franchise.

The new movie, simply titled Smurfs, is due to land in theaters on Friday, July 18, but has already earned a flurry of rather negative reviews from critics. At the time of writing, on July 17, Smurfs stands at a 21% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.

Many reviews outline how the movie seems to drag on despite its 90-minute runtime. "There’s far too much downtime between Smurfs' sporadic delights," said Alonso Duralde from The Film Verdict, and Screen Rant’s Mae Abdulbaki wrote, "Something is missing that a fun adventure can’t make up for."

Others pointed out how there seems to be no real meaning behind the movie. "Smurfs is exactly what happens when everyone involved in a project thinks kids are just tiny, dumb adults who couldn't possibly understand anything with depth or meaning," said Kaitlyn Booth from Bleeding Cool. The NYC Movie Guru even called it, "one of the worst children's movies since The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure."

However, here are some fans out there, as Nell Minow from RogerEbert said, "There is plenty to satisfy the long-time fans, including the usual cuddly themes and replacement of various words with Smurf." It seems like this may be one just for the die-hard Smurfs fans.

But there is a silver, or rather blue, lining, as Smurfs' 21% score actually makes it the second highest rated movie in the franchise, but we can’t tell if that’s a win or not. The highest rated film in the series is threequel Smurfs: The Lost Village at 41%, with the 2025 addition and the original, The Smurfs, in joint second place at 21%. Sequel, The Smurfs 2, sits in last place with 14%.

It seems that not even Smurfs’ star-studded cast could save the franchise, including Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman, Kurt Russell, and Sandra Oh. The new movie follows Rihanna’s Smurfette as she leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save Papa Smurf, who has been taken by evil wizards Razamel and Gargamel.

Smurfs hits theatres on July 18. For more, check out our list of the best family animation movies that aren't Disney, and keep up with upcoming movies.