Review of The Emoji Movie (2017) by Xavier H — 23 Dec 2018

Back when this movie was first announced, all the way until after its release, all I heard about The Emoji Movie was how terrible is was going to be, how much of a corporate sellout it was, and the giant bomb it would end up as. Now, I won't say that it's not a corporate tool for cheap advertising, nor argue against its lack of success both critically and financially. But what I am here to do is play a bit of Devil's Advocate. Honestly, all things considered, The Emoji Movie isn't really THAT bad. Or, at least, I've seen much worse. As such, I don't think that it deserves ALL the hatred it gets. Hear me out on this one.

Let me be clear here. I am not saying that The Emoji Movie is a great film. It's probably not even a good film. But it is a passable film, or at least not cancer in film form as most critics would describe it. Some of it does work, especially for young children, and some jokes did legitimately make me laugh, and I believe that the movie should be acknowledged for that. It's by no means a great feat, but that is at least something. Plot wise, it is a color by the numbers story of being unique but wanting to fit in, and always be yourself and blah and all those standard virtues parroted by kids' films. Is it new or at least innovative? No. Does it do it exceptionally poorly? Also no. It's serviceable for its audience and subject matter.

All of the actors here do just fine, with no real terrible performances or deliveries to speak of. When they do fall short, it is mostly the fault of the script not having a lot to work with. T.J. Miller does okay as the main character Gene the Meh Emoji. His character arc of wanting to be more in life than the one note that is expected of his station is nothing new, but it's not done godawfully here. Steven Wright and Jennifer Coolidge are good choices for his parents, and they embody the tone that their characters invoke. James Corden as Hi-5 and Maya Rudolph as the Smiley emojis are somewhat underutilized in terms of comedic potential. The human characters are all but meaningless to the plot or at least the action, so they are pretty much of no consequence. One of the many criticisms of this movie that I have seen is that such juvenile humor is beneath the great Sir Patrick Stewart as the Poo Emoji. I strongly disagree. If you are at all familiar with his work in several of Seth MacFarlane's projects (Family Guy, American Dad!, Ted), this is by no means beneath his talents. If anything, he too is kind of underplayed here as he has done far raunchier stuff.

In terms of the pop culture that this movie references, I will admit it is a little bit late to the party. I don't know anyone who plays Candy Crush anymore, but there is a decent amount of other neat things that pop up. Spotify, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, it's all still relevant enough that it can resonate to the extent it needs. I will also say that this movie has a pretty good soundtrack, It is all modern pop, but it is upbeat and energetic, and doesn't delve too far into the annoying stuff.

Overall, this movie is not anywhere near the cinematic cancer everyone says it is. It's no better or worse than any of the other average animated films we've seen over the last several years. It's not good, and there is far better stuff to show to kids, but if they want to see it, it won't make their brains melt.

Final grade: C.