Variety
There have been worse ideas, but in this case the execution isn't good enough to bring the notion of an emoji movie to funky, surprising life.
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The Emoji Movie 3D
T.J. Miller, James Corden and Ilana Glazer play emojis on a mission to save the hidden world within our phones in this CGI family comedy.
The Emoji Movie unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside our smartphones. Hidden within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone's user. In this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene (Miller), an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become 'normal' like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5 (Corden) and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak (Glazer). Together, they embark on an adventure through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it's deleted forever.
Less2017Rating: G, Some scenes may scare very young children86 minsUSASony Pictures Animation
AnimatedComedyKids & Family3D
The Emoji Movie 3D | Reviews
Time Out
Disregard that PG rating and keep your children far away from director Tony Leondis' vile animated faux-comedy. Beneath its trippy surface lurks an insidious philosophy hazardous to impressionable minds.
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The New York Times
This movie's "believe in yourself" message is borne out, in a perverse way, by the very fact that it even exists. And yet the whole thing remains nakedly idiotic.
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The Guardian
A viewer leaves The Emoji Movie a colder person, not only angry at the film for being unconscionably bad, but resentful of it for making them feel angry.
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Sydney Morning Herald
Shows that even in the heart of the system, self-expression can occur through the unlikeliest of means.
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Los Angeles Times
There could be far worse ways to spend 86 minutes. But maybe, just maybe, it'd be the better choice to spend those 86 minutes outside, or reading a book, or talking face-to-face with another human being. Because The Emoji Movie could not be more meh.
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Hollywood Reporter
If only this smartphone-centric dud, so happy to hawk real-world apps to its audience, could have done the same in its release strategy - coming out via Snapchat, where it would vanish shortly after arrival. But even that wouldn't be fast enough.
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