There’s certain leeway that has to be given to a children’s movie. The goal is to entertain kids, after all, and that sometimes means a film is going to be a bit less deep and thoughtful and more chaotic and random. That can work well, as it did early this year with movies like Dog Man and Paddington in Peru. It’s important, though, to strike the right balance. If you want the movie to be about something, to have a message, you need to give that message time to breathe. If the meaning is bit more muddled, then it’s probably a good idea to crank the zaniness up to compensate. What you should never do is have a muddled message and not all that much silliness. Unfortunately, it seems nobody told that to the makers of Smurfs.

The movie seems to be aiming for having a deep meaning. It tells the story of No Name Smurf (James Corden), the only Smurf that hasn’t figured out his “thing” yet. When Papa Smurf (John Goodman) gets kidnapped, No Name and Smurfette (Rihanna) have to lead a team of Smurfs across the world to save him. Along the way, No Name may just discover what really makes him special.

All of which is a perfectly solid plot for a Smurfs movie. The message of “you’re special just for being who you are” isn’t an uncommon one in children’s films, and it’s a fine thing to be teaching kids. It’s also horribly undermined when it turns out that what makes No Name special is his ability to do literal magic. Turns out, he’s the only Smurf that can, and it’s powerful! He’s actually the most special Smurf, not because he’s kind, or smart, or brave, but because he can create interdimensional portals and shoot lasers from his hands! He’ll probably sell toys, but I doubt he’ll do much for a child’s self-esteem.

I’d be willing to forgive the messaging issue if the movie was really dedicated to being fun. It isn’t. In fact, it weirdly plays a lot of the plot straight. Sure, there’s jokes and antics, some of which land alright, but mostly it’s a ton of exposition and lore that drag the pace of the story to a grinding halt. Frankly, the whole thing is boring.

Beyond the issues with the plot and message, everything else is...fine. The voice cast is pretty decent, even if most of them are horribly wasted in bit parts. Corden is alright but might have been phoning it in a bit. I found Rihanna’s performance distracting for the first half of the film, but I got used to it. I can say the same for her songs, which make up most of the soundtrack. They never add anything to the movie, but you’ll probably stop noticing at some point.

Just about the only thing I have real praise for is the animation, which is actually pretty well done. Even when the cartoon characters are shown in real world settings (a totally pointless gimmick that adds nothing to the film) they looked really good. It’s nice to know that at least the animators were trying their best.

All considered, I’m not sure who Smurfs is for. It’s not particularly meaningful, the story is basic, it’s not very funny, and it’s boring more often than not. Some solid animation is the only thing that manages to be above average. I suppose if that’s your thing, you might have a good time with this one. Aside from that, it’s tough to recommend. If the goal was to revitalize the Smurfs franchise and introduce it to a new generation of fans, I think it’s fair to say they really smurfed this one up.