The Emoji Movie
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 28, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
12
METASCORE
Overwhelming dislike based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
4
Negative:
22
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 3, 2017
Before the jacked-up antics get to be too much, director Tony Leondis and co-writers Erich Siegel and Mike White get in a few satiric licks at a technology we've all come to call home. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 29, 2017
The Emoji Movie proves unable to provide even a modicum of content capable of capturing or retaining the attention of an adult. Nap time. Read full review
45
IGNAlex WelchJul 27, 2017
Despite the talents and charisma of its voice cast, The Emoji Movie fails to deliver on any of its intended messages or themes, with a final act that goes back on everything it had originally been trying to say. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanJul 27, 2017
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. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 27, 2017
If not always imaginative or digestible, the look of the settings and characters should keep kids awake for 86 minutes; and if the trick that eventually saves the day makes very little sense to critical moviegoers, at least it's cutely frantic eye candy. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 27, 2017
But a cluster of screenwriters found barely a single laugh in this wayward tale of a “Meh” face emoji in search of reprogramming. Not a one. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJul 27, 2017
The Emoji Movie could not be more meh. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubVadim RizovJul 27, 2017
There was probably never going to be a version of this film that would prove even remotely plausible as a movie someone felt passionately about making for artistic reasons; as far as expanding on smartphone-related IP, this is an even weaker starting point than Sony Animation’s recent The Angry Birds Movie. Read full review
25
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJul 27, 2017
The most distressing aspect about The Emoji Movie is that a spectacle this self-evidently soulless no longer feels like a new low. It doesn’t even leave a dent. Read full review
20
The TelegraphRobbie CollinAug 3, 2017
As dismal to contemplate as it is persistently horrendous to even look at, there aren’t enough Patrick Stewart-voiced emojis in the world to express what an ugly, artless exercise this is. Read full review
20
EmpireHelen O'HaraJul 31, 2017
While it's tempting to sum up in thumbs down emoji, when they go low, we go high. So let's just say, abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Read full review
20
Time OutTomris LafflyJul 28, 2017
Stupid, offensive and as substantial as a text message, this toxic piece of kiddie trash isn't worth the pixels. Read full review
20
The GuardianCharles BramescoJul 28, 2017
The Emoji Movie is a force of insidious evil, a film that feels as if it was dashed off by an uninspired advertising executive. Read full review
12
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJul 28, 2017
A work so completely devoid of wit, style, intelligence or basic entertainment value that it makes that movie based on the Angry Birds app seem like a pure artistic statement by comparison. Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteAug 2, 2017
There is virtually nothing in which to emotionally invest. Read full review
10
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpAug 3, 2017
The Emoji Movie’s most insidious trait is its surface-level innocuousness. Read full review
10
Village VoiceBilge EbiriJul 31, 2017
The film is boldly bad, yes, but also boldly boring. Read full review
10
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJul 27, 2017
The Emoji Movie is a waste of time, resources, and a bunch of comedians’ voices, plus a premise that actually had the potential to do some small good in the world. It’s less of a movie and more of an insult. Read full review
10
Screen DailyTim GriersonJul 27, 2017
A film as mindless and disposable as most smartphone apps — and nowhere near as addictive — Sony’s animated The Emoji Movie is a calamitous comedy that inadvertently shows how difficult it is to pull off the witty, imaginative world-building that Pixar makes seem so breezy. Read full review
10
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJul 27, 2017
There are plenty of words that can describe The Emoji Movie. Here are a few of them: Unfunny. Saccharine. Nonsensical. Painful. And, of course, crappy. (If you prefer the poop emoji, that works too.) Read full review
0
The VergeKaitlyn Tiffany and Lizzie PlaugicJul 28, 2017
Any pretense of storytelling gets thrown out the window as our emoji crew stops to play some quick nonessential games of Candy Crush and Dance Now, which basically act as elaborate commercials for apps desperately trying to hold onto their waning relevance. Read full review
0
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJul 27, 2017
Please restore my eyes to factory settings. They have seen The Emoji Movie, a new exercise in soulless branding, aimed primarily at little kids. Read full review
0
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJul 27, 2017
To add to the pain and despair of the experience, The Emoji Movie is preceded by a short, “Puppy,” featuring the characters from the “Hotel Transylvania” animated movies. It is also idiotic. Read full review
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaJul 27, 2017
It is one of the darkest, most dismaying films I have ever seen, much less one ostensibly made for children. Read full review
0
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanJul 27, 2017
The only thing worse than the dialogue is the absurd product placement. Read full review
0
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJul 27, 2017
It is a soul-crushing disaster because it lacks humor, wit, ideas, visual style, compelling performances, a point of view or any other distinguishing characteristic that would make it anything but a complete waste of your time, not to mention that of the diligent animators who brought this catastrophe into being. Read full review
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