The Smurfs 2 2013

Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: A new, not very engaging movie featuring a lot of blue skin and household-name voices. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: This insipid, and sometimes awkward, blend of animation, computer generation and live action wastes a ton of talent and lacks a true sense of whimsy. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: A sequel that changes scarcely a drop of Smurf-essence in its winning formula. Read more

Kevin McFarland, AV Club: Smurfs 2 is at least slightly superior to the absolutely dire first film, but it remains a series for kids whose parents can't just pop in a DVD of something better. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: What is it with the Smurfs? Why do people like them? Why have people always liked them? Read more

Loren King, Boston Globe: That the mushroom- dwelling blue creatures still manage to be endearing even in their second big-screen extravaganza (in 3-D, no less) is about the best that can be said of "Smurfs 2." Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The trouble with this stunted sequel is that the doughy, blobby-hatted Smurfs are mostly window dressing for an abrasive slapstick bash built around a tiresome kidnap plot ... Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Not so much of a film as it is a collection of images and sounds that bludgeon you. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: Beyond a few chuckle-worthy one-liners and some amusing visual comedy, there's not much to engage adults, although the wee ones should be distracted enough. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: Right down to the brute functionality of its title, "The Smurfs 2" may be the platonic ideal of a major studio sequel - no markedly better or worse than the first and with just enough difference to lay claim to being something new. Read more

Frank Lovece, Newsday: Not Smurftastic, but not Smurfawful, either. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Even movies aimed at very small children don't have to be painful for adults to sit through, and the good ones even have a few pleasures for them, as well. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: Voicing Papa Smurf here turned out, alas, to be comedian Jonathan Winters' final role. (A crueler fate than Orson Welles signing off with 1986's animated "The Transformers: The Movie"? You be the judge.) Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: They're as lethally uninteresting as Barney the Purple Dinosaur, though a Godzilla-style "Barney vs. Smurfs" is a movie I would pay to see, provided maximum destruction were promised. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: There's a dark and gratuitously negative vibe to "The Smurfs 2" that makes it unfit even for the undiscriminating young moviegoers that made the first one a hit. Read more

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Will kids like "The Smurfs 2" at least as much as the first one? Answer: Is a Smurf's butt blue? Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's not exactly "Ratatouille," but this quasi-animated movie makes an amusing late-summer vacation from superheroes and shoot-'em-ups. Read more

Bruce Ingram, Chicago Sun-Times: "The Smurfs 2" probably isn't any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it's almost certainly not any better. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Yes, this is the point in the summer when I outsource my critical judgment to my kids. Read more

Phil Brown, Globe and Mail: Only adults with 'Smurf-holm syndrome' could love this film. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The Smurfs 2 has everything you hated about the first movie, and more. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The Smurfs 2 will keep a child reasonably entertained for 105 minutes--but so will a large, empty cardboard box. The box is more likely to stimulate a child's imagination and less likely to contain jokes about testicles. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: There's a modicum of fun to be found in the blue-hued special effects, knockabout humour and decent voice cast. Read more

Matt Patches, Time Out: Patient Adult Smurfs will be checking their watches as Excitable Child Smurfs lose themselves in the high jinks. Read more

Nick Schager, Village Voice: Its tolerant messages remain buried beneath lame pop-culture references, hectic slapstick, fart jokes, and endless Smurf-puns that-Azaria's funny, over-the-top cartoon villainy aside-make one pine for the Smurfpocalypse. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It would be too much to say that there's a good movie somewhere inside Smurfs 2 looking to get out. But it wouldn't be too much to say that sometimes, the movie we do have tries harder than we might expect. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: I found "The Smurfs 2" to be more enjoyable and far less obnoxious than [the original]. This, of course, is like saying having a cavity filled is preferable to a root canal, but in the dog days of the summer blockbuster season, beggars can't be smurfers. Read more