By Nadia Ranaputri
Director: Tony Leondis
Cast: T. J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Jake T. Austin, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Coolidge.
2017 has shown us plenty of great films, despite some downfalls. During its past few months, 2017's fleet of films are proven to be worth the time, from superhero films like Wonder Woman, to potential Oscar masterpieces such as Dunkirk. Rest assured, The Emoji Movie is not one of them.
The Emoji Movie centers around a 'Meh' emoji named Gene, who lives in a young boy's phone with other emojis. Their one and only rule? Never go beyond the emotion that each of the emojis are meant to express. Gene becomes an outcast when the other Emojis realize that he can express emotions beyond 'meh' and decides to run for his life to avoid being erased for good.
The Emoji Movie is exactly what everyone had expected it to be ever since it was first announced: bland, lackluster, and above all else, unecessary. The problem is, there's not much story to begin with, especially with Emojis. The Lego Movie at least had a tendency to care about the quality of their storytelling and put their creativity into good use. The Emoji Movie seems as if it just came up from one's daydream while he's dying of boredom. You're basically staring at somewhat a random daydream with aspects of "what if...?" Or in their case, "what if Emojis come to life?" without ever considering the outcome.
The Emoji Movie feels like an overly long smartphone commercial. Plot devices such as a roundabout on Just Dance and Candy Crush do nothing for the rest of the film. They mostly feel like fillers, for the sake of adding something that has become a trend in the social media world so that people would be awed at seeing their favorite apps on screen, like a comic fan seeing an Easter Egg in a superhero film.
Its jokes are light and occassionaly unfunny, and it seems that they're either trying too hard or not trying at all. That's not to say that they should take a risk on a couple of mature-level jokes, but it just lacks so much genuine humor that it splatters before it even hits the ground. Kids might have a laugh at it, but the older will probably elicit a 'meh' at some point.
The thing about animated films is that people of all ages are able to enjoy them. Films such as Big Hero 6, The Lego Movie, Zootopia, and even The Boss Baby, for all its decent aspects; have managed to bring out a spark of genuine joy and heart from the audience. The Emoji Movie has none of that. The Emojis might have some joy in the film, but the outside world isn't having any of it.
Stars: 1/5
 |
| Source: Fandango |
Director: Tony Leondis
Cast: T. J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Jake T. Austin, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Coolidge.
2017 has shown us plenty of great films, despite some downfalls. During its past few months, 2017's fleet of films are proven to be worth the time, from superhero films like Wonder Woman, to potential Oscar masterpieces such as Dunkirk. Rest assured, The Emoji Movie is not one of them.
The Emoji Movie centers around a 'Meh' emoji named Gene, who lives in a young boy's phone with other emojis. Their one and only rule? Never go beyond the emotion that each of the emojis are meant to express. Gene becomes an outcast when the other Emojis realize that he can express emotions beyond 'meh' and decides to run for his life to avoid being erased for good.
The Emoji Movie is exactly what everyone had expected it to be ever since it was first announced: bland, lackluster, and above all else, unecessary. The problem is, there's not much story to begin with, especially with Emojis. The Lego Movie at least had a tendency to care about the quality of their storytelling and put their creativity into good use. The Emoji Movie seems as if it just came up from one's daydream while he's dying of boredom. You're basically staring at somewhat a random daydream with aspects of "what if...?" Or in their case, "what if Emojis come to life?" without ever considering the outcome.
 |
| Source: Nothing But Geek |
The Emoji Movie feels like an overly long smartphone commercial. Plot devices such as a roundabout on Just Dance and Candy Crush do nothing for the rest of the film. They mostly feel like fillers, for the sake of adding something that has become a trend in the social media world so that people would be awed at seeing their favorite apps on screen, like a comic fan seeing an Easter Egg in a superhero film.
Its jokes are light and occassionaly unfunny, and it seems that they're either trying too hard or not trying at all. That's not to say that they should take a risk on a couple of mature-level jokes, but it just lacks so much genuine humor that it splatters before it even hits the ground. Kids might have a laugh at it, but the older will probably elicit a 'meh' at some point.
 |
| Source: Inverse |
The thing about animated films is that people of all ages are able to enjoy them. Films such as Big Hero 6, The Lego Movie, Zootopia, and even The Boss Baby, for all its decent aspects; have managed to bring out a spark of genuine joy and heart from the audience. The Emoji Movie has none of that. The Emojis might have some joy in the film, but the outside world isn't having any of it.
Stars: 1/5
