Movie Review: ‘Smurfs' has Rihanna but not much else
But first we have 'Smurfs,' which, like 'Trolls,' gets as much mileage as it can from its pop singer-voice actor. Rihanna voices Smurfette and supplies a new song, giving a half-hearted injection of star power to an otherwise uninspired, modestly scaled, kiddo-friendly cartoon feature.
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Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Superman' flexes its might in second weekend with $57.3 million
NEW YORK (AP) — James Gunn's 'Superman' showed staying power in its second weekend at North American box offices, collecting $57.3 million in ticket sales and remaining the No. 1 movie in cinemas, according to studio estimates Sunday. None of the week's new releases — 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' 'Smurfs,' and 'Eddington' — came close to touching Warner Bros. and DC Studios' superhero success. 'Superman' dipped 54% from its domestic opening, an average decline for a big summer film. In two weeks, 'Superman' has grossed $406.8 million worldwide, a good start for the movie DC Studios is banking on to restart its movie operations. A big test looms next weekend, when the Walt Disney Co. releases Marvel's 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps.' Strong audience scores and good reviews should help propel the $225 million-budgeted 'Superman' toward profitability in the coming weeks. For Warner Bros. and DC Studios, 'Superman' is key to kicking off a 10-year plan for the comic book adaptation studio. Co-heads Gunn and Peter Safra were tasked with rehabilitating the flagging operation. Next on tap are the films 'Supergirl' and 'Clayface' in 2026. But 'Superman' is far from flying solo in theaters right now. Universal Pictures' 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' came in second this weekend, with $23.4 million in its third week of release. The seventh 'Jurassic' movie, this one starring Scarlett Johansson, held its own despite the competition from 'Superman.' In three weeks, it accrued $648 million worldwide. Apple Studios and Warner Bros.' 'F1: The Movie' has also shown legs, especially internationally. In its fourth weekend, the Brad Pitt racing drama dipped just 26% domestically, bringing in $9.6 million in North America, and another $29.5 million overseas. Its global total stands at $460.8 million. But both of the biggest new releases — Sony Pictures' 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and Paramount Pictures' 'Smurfs' — fell flat. 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' opened with $13 million, a fair result for a movie budgeted at a modest $18 million, but a disappointing opening for a well-known horror franchise. The film, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, is set 27 years after the 1997 original. Teenagers played by Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders are again haunted for covering up a car accident. The movie's reviews (38% 'fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes) were poor for 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and audiences graded it similarly. The film notched a 'C+' on CinemaScore. The original collected $72.6 million in its domestic run in 1997. Paramount Pictures' 'Smurfs' debuted in fourth place this weekend with $11 million. The latest big-screen reboot for the woodland blue creatures prominently features Rihanna as the voice of Smurfette. But reviews (21% 'fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes) were terrible. Audiences were kinder, giving it a 'B+' on CinemaScore, but the $58 million-budgeted release will depend largely on its international sales. In 56 overseas markets, 'Smurfs' earned $22.6 million. Ari Aster's 'Eddington' opened with $4.2 million on 2,111 screens for A24. Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, 'Eddington' has been particularly divisive. The pandemic-set Western features Joaquin Phoenix as the right-wing sheriff of a small New Mexico town who faces off with its liberal mayor (Pedro Pascal). While Aster's first film, 2018's 'Heredity' ($82.8 million worldwide against a $10 million budget) helped establish A24 as an indie powerhouse, but the less-than-stellar launch of 'Eddington' marks the second box-office disappointment for Aster. His 2023 film 'Beau Is Afraid' cost $35 million to make but collected just $12.4 million worldwide. 'Eddington' cost about $25 million to produce. Audiences gave it a 'C+' on CinemaScore. None of Aster's previous films have been graded higher. Yet collectively, Hollywood is enjoying a very good summer. According to data firm Comscore, the 2025 summer box office is up 15.9% over the same period last year, with the year-to-date sales running 15% ahead of 2025. Summer ticket sales have amassed about $2.6 billion domestically, according to Comscore. Top 10 movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: 1. 'Superman,' $57.3 million. 2. 'Jurassic World Rebirth,' $23.4 million. 3. 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' $13 million. 4. 'Smurfs,' $11 million. 5, 'F1: The Movie,' $9.6 million. 6. 'How to Train Your Dragon,' $5.4 million. 7. 'Eddington,' $4.3 million. 8. 'Elio,' $2 million. 9. 'Lilo & Stitch,' $1.5 million. 10. '28 Years Later,' $1.3 million.
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Toronto Sun
REVIEW: 'Smurfs' get surreal, which might be lost on the kids
Published Jul 19, 2025 • 4 minute read No Name (James Corden) and Smurfette (Rihanna) in "Smurfs." Photo by Paramount Animation / Paramount Animation Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. The biggest surprise about the new 'Smurfs' movie was the smattering of applause that bubbled forth in the darkness of a recent, kid-friendly preview screening as the credits began to roll. But the animated film – a complicated portal-hopping adventure set in the (groan) multiverse that also incorporates a smattering of live action, mostly scenery and no actors – does have its moments. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account For instance, I briefly smiled when the titular blue 'rat-monkeys,' as the film's bad guy calls these troll-like imps, dimension-hop from one world to the next in an effort to save all that is good from the evil twin wizards Gargamel and Razamel (voice of JP Karliak). Each dimension is rendered, cleverly, in a distinct style of animation: stop-motion clay, a child's crayon drawing, 1970s-era 8-bit video graphics, subtitled Japanese anime and, for reasons I don't fully understand, one surreal undersea vignette featuring a talking tardigrade – a teensy creature that looks like a bug in a fat suit – voiced by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The surprise is not that anyone liked the film. There's no accounting for taste, especially when it comes to offbeat fare like the Smurfs, an intellectual property that has it roots in Belgium, where, in 1958, comic artist Pierre Culliford, working under the pseudonym Peyo, created them as Les Schtroumpfs, but that the robust clapping seems to have come almost entirely from grown-ups. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. During the movie, their young charges appeared to fidget and shift impatiently, greeting their parents' ovation by sitting on their hands or, more likely, using them to scratch their heads in confusion. The reaction from the children in the crowd seemed to echo the closing words of Rihanna, who as the character Smurfette, articulates what I imagine more than a few in the theatre may have been thinking: 'Don't crunch our brains so much!' The script by Pam Brady (a 'South Park' producer and writer of the R-rated films 'South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut' and 'Team America: World Police') is all over the map, sometimes quite literally. Director Chris Miller ('Puss in Boots') opens the action amid the mushroom-shaped houses of Smurf Village before switching to Paris – then the Australian Outback, Munich and points beyond. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It begins by presenting a bit of lore that is easily the most unsettling thing about Smurfdom: the fact that Smurfette, the lone female among a host of males, was created from clay by the evil wizards specifically to lure the Smurfs into their clutches. More tedious scene-setting follows. Smurfette explains that all Smurfs, like Snow White's dwarfs, are named for character attributes: Hefty, Lazy, Handy, Grouchy, etc. All Smurfs, that is, except Smurfette – she's just a girl, it's implied, isn't that enough? – and one called No Name (James Corden), who hasn't yet found his thing, although he aspires to become a practitioner of the magic arts. No Name's search for identity is really what propels this overly busy story forward, in an otherwise perfunctory plot about good vs. evil that gets underway after Smurf patriarch Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is kidnapped by the wizards' factotum, Joel (Dan Levy). This precipitates a delegation of Smurfs to go on a quest, seeking help from someone named Ken – whoever and wherever he may be – as Papa urged them to do just before he got sucked into a black hole-like vortex in the sky. Other portals include the horn of a gramophone. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Yes, the story is hard to follow, and not just for youngsters. (I would urge you not to try.) It involves appearances by a Parisian neighbourhood watch group run by – well whaddya know? – a second female Smurf, called Moxie (Sandra Oh); a hairball-looking thing with the flatulent-sounding moniker of Mama Poot (Natasha Lyonne); and a magical talking book who goes by Jaunty (Amy Sedaris). Each of these characters has more or less zilch to do with the predictable message of the story, which is, as spelled out by Smurfette to No Name: 'You've got a lot more magic in you than you think. You've just got to let it out.' The more interesting question is 'Who is 'Smurfs' actually playing to?' On the one hand, its predictable reliance on naughty wordplay, inspired by the seemingly limitless meanings of the words 'smurf' and 'smurfy' (e.g., 'I think I smurfed my pants') would seem to suggest grade school. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On the other hand, the movie really leans into the self-referential absurdism. After a scene featuring No Name riding in the pouch of a bouncing CGI mama kangaroo as Smurfette sings to him, 'Don't ever give up,' No Name breaks the fourth wall by saying out loud what the rest of us are thinking: 'That part with the kangaroo was a little weird.' True, but never quite weird enough. 'Smurfs' may be all over the multiverse, but it doesn't land anywhere worth writing home about. – – – Two stars. Rated PG. At theatres. Contains action, coarse language and some rude humour. 89 minutes. Rating guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. MMA World Toronto & GTA Celebrity Tennis
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Movie Reviews: New Smurfs movie ‘a little disappointing'
Watch Film critic Richard Crouse shares his take on 'Smurfs,' 'Eddington' and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.'
