First Take: The Emoji Movie- it’s bad.

SYPNOSIS:

Gene, a multi-expressional emoji, sets out on a journey to become a normal emoji.

I was expecting to be writing one of the most brutal rants on this blog for this film. I will be doing that, but I somehow found some good things about this 6% rated masterpiece on Rotten Tomatoes. Yes, it’s bad. But not Nine Lives bad. What this film is, is something devoid of any narrative, but a good snapshot of what society has come to.

Tony Leondis is the man tasked with directing the most shameless cash-in of a social craze, and sure, while it is just shy of 1 hour 29 minutes, it somehow didn’t drag, and for the record, I went in with an open mind (and a very big cup of Earl Grey). There are some major pacing issues, but that’s not the big issue here. The script, well, it’s awful. None of the jokes landed, and the overall plot makes zero sense. There’s reference after reference that the target audience will not understand, and yes, the aubergine joke is made to appease the more adult audiences in the same way that DreamWorks used the character of Lord Farquaad in Shrek (possibly the greatest innuendo in a kids film ever). But, there is some redeeming factors- it’s animated really well, and Patrick Doyle’s score is decent enough to do the job.

The voice cast includes TJ Miller, Anna Faris, James Corden, and the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart as Poop. Yes. The man who gave us Professor Charles Xavier and Jean-Luc Picard amongst his most well known characters, voicing a Poop emoji. WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO? All of the cast do put in some good work, but once again, this feels like a film where the only motivating factor is getting a good payment for their work. This film will do well, it’s a big summer family release, but I simply cannot recommend this film if you want a great day at the cinema- there are much better animated films to see (some of which I reviewed earlier this week).

THE VERDICT

It may be a damning indictment on the lack of originality in the film industry nowadays, but did it really have to take a shameless cash-in on the emoji to reach a new low for cinema? It’s so bad that I’m actually not going to even give this film a star rating. It’s cinematic vitriol of the highest level, and everyone involved should take a long look at their phones and be thoroughly ashamed.

RATING: 0/5 Avoid this film.