Critical response On
Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 14% approval rating with an average rating of 4.1/10, based on 92 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Like its predecessor,
Smurfs 2 may amuse small children, but it's largely an unambitious, charm-free collection of slapstick gags and one-liners." The rating put the film as the 16th on the list of worst reviewed films of 2013.
Metacritic calculated a weighted average score of 34 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
The Smurfs 2 was nominated for a
Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. Justin Lowe of
The Hollywood Reporter said "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." Matt Patches of
Time Out New York gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Patient Adult Smurfs will be checking their watches as Excitable Child Smurfs lose themselves in the high jinks." Frank Lovece of
Newsday gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Not Smurftastic, but not Smurfawful, either." Loren King of
The Boston Globe gave the film two out of four stars, saying "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." Joe Williams of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch said "It's not exactly "
Ratatouille," but this quasi-animated movie makes an amusing late-summer vacation from superheroes and shoot-'em-ups."
Gregg Turkington of
On Cinema gave the film five bags of popcorn, suggesting
Jonathan Winters deserved an
Oscar for the film and that it was the best performance of his career. Other reviews were more agnostic regarding the film's quality. Mark Olsen of the
Los Angeles Times gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "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." Claudia Puig of
USA Today gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "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." Jordan Hoffman of the
New York Daily News gave the film two out of five stars, saying "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.)" Alonso Duralde of
The Wrap said "
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." Peter Howell of the
Toronto Star gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying "
The Smurfs 2 has everything you hated about the first movie, and more." Sean O'Connell of
The Washington Post gave the film two out of five stars, saying "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." Peter Hartlaub of the
San Francisco Chronicle gave the film zero stars out of four, saying "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." Bill Goodykoontz of
The Arizona Republic gave the film two out of five stars, saying "There are a few laughs here and there, along with a couple of jokes for grown-ups uncomfortably squeezed in. But this is a movie made for two groups: small children and people who have fond memories of the TV show. For them, it'll be fun, and the assurance of a third "Smurfs" scheduled for 2015 will be welcome news." Nick Schager of
The Village Voice said "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." Neil Genzlinger of
The New York Times gave the film two out of five stars, saying "The movie doesn't have the wit of the first installment and seems as if it might be hard for young children to follow, though who knows with young children?" Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, saying "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." Bruce Ingram of the
Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of five stars, saying "
The Smurfs 2 probably isn't any worse than you might expect. On the other hand, it's almost certainly not any better. It's just a matter of figuring out how much punishment you're willing to endure for the sake of the small child you're taking to the movies." Kevin McFarland of
The A.V. Club gave the film a D+, saying "The film undermines its rudimentary plot points at every turn with base humor. By marginally addressing the Smurfette Problem, 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."
Box office The Smurfs 2 grossed $71,017,784 in North America, and $276,527,576 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $347,545,360. the film did not meet Sony's expectation, which was generally attributed to the original's negative reception and competition from another family sequel,
Despicable Me 2. In North America, the film debuted at #1 on its opening day, earning $5.2 million. The film opened to #3 in its first weekend, behind
2 Guns and
The Wolverine, earning $18.2 million. Over its extended five-day weekend, it earned $27.8 million, below the original's three-day weekend ($35.6 million), and below Sony's projection of $35 million, which the studio blamed on too many PG-rated films in theatres. Outside North America, the film debuted with $52.5 million from 43 countries. In Russia and Latin America, it performed better than the first film, while in Europe, it under-performed. ==Music==