The 3D animated film – The Emoji Movie – released on July 28, received a zero-rating on review aggregator website RottenTomatoes.com. While the film currently shows an approval rating of 8% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 2/10, the site’s critical consensus simply displays a no symbol (“?”) in place of text.
The film takes place in Textopolis, a world inside a smartphone that’s inhabited by various emojis. There, an emoji named Gene (voiced by TJ Miller) is ashamed that he has multiple facial expressions while his colleagues only have one each, and he embarks on a quest to be like everyone else.
Panned by several critics, most of the reviews unfavourably compare the film to Inside Out and Wreck-It Ralph. Here are some of the reviews for the film:
The Verge:
“We don’t recommend you see the movie, but we do recommend you understand it, for your own protection.”
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.”
ScreenRant:
“The Emoji Movie squanders the talents of its capable voice cast on an animated film that is as cynical in its outlook as it was in its conception.”
New York Post:
“Hear that? It’s the end of the world.”
Village Voice:
“The film is boldly bad, yes, but also boldly boring.”
Time Out:
Recommended
“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.”
Directed and written by Tony Leondis, known for Igor (2008) and Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (2011), the film has several celebrities voicing for the emoji characters, including James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, Christina Aguilera, Sofia Vergara, and Patrick Stewart. The film has collected $10 million worldwide, and is reportedly competing with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk at the US box-office.