Clash of the Thundermans (2026) Review: Split Scores

The premise is high-concept and, frankly, a little absurd. Chloe (Maya Le Clark), now a teenager, develops a destructive new power that the Hero League decides is too dangerous to handle at home. Their solution? Ship her off to an elite boarding school for superheroes - which is, of course, a sterile, ominous institution run by government types who speak in acronyms. The family fractures: Phoebe (Kira Kosarin), Barb (Rosa Blasi), and Billy (Diego Velazquez) choose to go on the run with Chloe, while Max (Jack Griffo), Hank (Chris Tallman), and Nora (Addison Riecke) decide to track them down and bring them home.

The setup is classic sitcom irony - the family that fights crime together now has to fight each other. The narrative splits into two road-trip-style threads that occasionally cross paths, leading to the promised “full-on battle” in a forest that looks suspiciously like every Southern California location ever used for TV. The plot thins out quickly when you realize the real conflict isn’t about Chloe’s powers at all; it’s about the parents’ inability to communicate. Hank and Barb’s disagreement feels manufactured, a way to force opposing teams without any genuine malice. And the President Kickbutt (Daniele Gaither) subplot is wildly underdeveloped - she’s a threat who pops in and out without ever establishing real stakes.

Director Trevor Kirschner, a veteran of the original series, knows these actors and this world well. He shoots the action sequences with a TV-grade efficiency - no shaky-cam confusion, but also no cinematic flair. The “epic battle” between the two factions is more akin to a choreographed family squabble where everyone pulls their punches and the house doesn’t get destroyed. There’s a sweet moment where Phoebe and Max face off, and their dialogue crackles with the sibling rivalry that made them great, but the fight choreography is less “superhero” and more “action figures being moved by a patient child.”

Kira Kosarin and Jack Griffo slip back into their roles effortlessly. Kosarin gives Phoebe a weight that the script doesn’t always earn, selling the guilt of tearing the family apart. Griffo, meanwhile, has the funnier arc, playing Max as a reluctant adult who’d rather be doing literally anything else. Their chemistry grounds the film’s sillier moments. But Maya Le Clark is given the hardest task - playing a teen with an out-of-control power - and she mostly just looks worried, which is appropriate given that the script never defines what her power actually does beyond “destructive energy that makes things explode at convenient times.”

The comedy is broad, as expected. There’s a running gag about Billy’s inability to control his own gas-based powers during a stealth mission, and Nora gets most of the best quips, playing the deadpan observer to the chaos. The film’s biggest problem is its tone. It wants to be a family drama about the fear of separation, a buddy-action comedy about an inter-squad chase, and a parody of dystopian boarding-school tropes. It succeeds at none of these fully. The boarding school, which could have been a fun setting, is reduced to one hallway and a meeting room. The stakes feel low because you know no one is actually going to stay separated. The one genuine emotional beat - Barb quietly explaining why she can’t bear to let Chloe go - lands, but it’s undercut moments later by a slapstick stunt.

• Pros

• Kosarin and Griffo still have fantastic comedic and dramatic chemistry as siblings.

• The nostalgia factor is high; throws back to the show’s signature jokes and character quirks.

• A surprisingly tender performance from Rosa Blasi, grounding the chaos.

• The runtime is snappy at 90 minutes, never overstaying its welcome.

• Cons

• The central conflict hinges on a hilariously flimsy misunderstanding between the parents.

• Chloe’s destructive power is woefully vague and inconsistent.

• The titular “clash” is underwhelming, with no real consequences.

• President Kickbutt is a paper-thin villain with little to do.

• The visual effects are serviceable at best; plenty of obvious green screen and cartoonish energy blasts.

Clash of the Thundermans is a strange artifact. It’s decisively a made-for-TV movie, but it’s trying to carry the emotional weight of a franchise finale. The IMDb score suggests that the target audience - those who grew up with Phoebe and Max - are enjoying the ride, forgiving the plot holes because they’re just happy to see these characters again. The TMDb score suggests that anyone watching this with fresh eyes will be baffled by the convoluted logic and undercooked premise.

There’s enough here to satisfy the faithful. The Thunderman family still feels like a real, bickering, loving unit, and seeing them at odds is genuinely uncomfortable in the best way - even if the resolution is as predictable as a sunrise. But as a piece of cinema, it’s a misfire. The action is cheap, the villain is forgettable, and the central question - should Chloe be sent away for her own good? - is answered with a shrug. It’s a movie that argues for family staying together, but it doesn’t convincingly show us why that’s better than the alternative. For fans, it’s a warm hug. For everyone else, it’s a shrug with some decent one-liners.