--- title: "The Emoji Movie: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-emoji-movie/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-emoji-movie" critics_score: 22 critics_reviews: 21 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Emoji Movie (2017): what the critics said Critics' score 22 from 21 reviews: 0 positive, 0 mixed, 21 negative. ## Radio Times — Dave Aldridge Rating 2/5. The critic says the film isn't quite as awful as its negative publicity suggests, though its shabby plot and unexceptional design will probably annoy adults more than the target young audience. Blatant product plugs for apps like Candy Crush are noted. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-xdx6fa/the-emoji-movie/) ## The AV Club — Vadim Rizov Rating D. 27 July 2017. The critic describes it as a severely debased Inside Out set inside a smartphone, using app-hopping as an excuse for heavy product placement and corporate synergy. It singles out the clichéd self-acceptance plot and pervasive cynicism for complaint. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-emoji-movie-is-inside-out-crossed-with-a-sony-comme-1798191832) ## Los Angeles Times — Katie Walsh Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The movie is exactly what one expects and can be summed up as 'meh,' a perfect reflection of its main character with no surprises or greatness. It is not terrible but offers little reason to choose it over reading a book or talking to another person. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-emoji-movie-review-20170727-story.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter — THR Staff Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The critic finds the film a very dumb project that fails to match the cleverness of The Lego Movie, offering fast colorful visuals for kids but nearly nothing for parents. It singles out the incoherent plot, product placement, and lame dialogue for complaint while noting some effective slapstick adventure and eye candy. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/emoji-movie-1024758/) ## The Independent Rating ★★☆☆☆. 2 August 2017. The critic finds it lacklustre and cookie-cutter compared to better animated films, with a premise that feels cumbersome and irritating in practice despite the bright colours and noise. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/film-reviews-roundup-the-emoji-movie-england-is-mine-maudie-williams-a7872646.html) ## Vulture — Emily Yoshida Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The critic calls it one of the darkest and most dismaying films ostensibly made for children, cynically selling smartphone wonder through branding and product placement. It singles out the rubber-faced emoji redesign and the bland self-empowerment message drowned in corporate obligations for complaint. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2017/07/the-emoji-movie-will-send-you-into-a-spiral-emoji-of-despair.html) ## Empire — Helen O'Hara Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 30 July 2017. The critic calls out the film's lack of internal logic, fundamental miscasting and tiresome over-familiarity, noting it wastes a talented cast and fails to land for its intended audience. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/emoji-movie-review/) ## Little White Lies — David Jenkins Rating 1/1/1. 31 July 2017. The critic finds the film a hard-to-love, awful animated movie that fails to engage or deliver original storytelling and humour. One highlight is singled out in a disco dancing app scene with a memorable scream. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-emoji-movie) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The critic describes the film as a calamitous, mindless and disposable comedy that never finds the comedic potential in its smartphone premise and plays down to its audience with glib bromides and pandering references. It inadvertently highlights how difficult it is to match Pixar-style world-building. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-emoji-movie-review/5120358.article) ## The Telegraph — Robbie Collin Rating 1/5. 3 August 2017. The film is monstrously soulless and spiritually rancid, a horrifying exercise in product placement. It singles out the story's embrace of trademarked apps as the measure of its abysmal cynicism. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/emoji-movie-review-arent-enough-poops-world-express-bad/) ## Time Out — Tomris Laffly Rating 1/5. 31 July 2017. The critic calls the film vile kiddie trash that is stupid, offensive and dangerously dumbing down, waving the flag for the decay of attention spans. It is singled out as an insidious philosophy hazardous to impressionable minds with simplistic adventures and pandering references. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-emoji-movie) ## Variety — Owen Gleiberman Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The film is a mostly witless 'Inside Out' knockoff that fails to bring the emoji concept to surprising life despite the novel setting inside a smartphone. Execution falls short, making the emojis say more before they open their mouths. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-emoji-movie-review-1202506835/) ## Evening Standard — Matthew Norman Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 16 November 2017. The review condemns the film as soulless, unfunny and monumentally idiotic, stuffed with product placement and undermined by a lazy script and annoying characters. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-emoji-movie-review-monumental-idiocy-a3682211.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 28 July 2017. The film is a cynical corporate product-placement exercise masquerading as a children's movie. It singles out the intrusive brand plugs for apps like Spotify and Dropbox as draining any possible joy or imagination from the premise. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/28/the-emoji-movie-review-a-big-thumb-down) ## The New York Times — Glenn Kenny Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The critic finds the film nakedly idiotic and a self-own for Sony, with its pandering premise and execution failing to rise above its posters' promise despite a capable voice cast and writer. The 'believe in yourself' message is perversely undercut by the movie's very existence. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/27/movies/the-emoji-movie-review.html) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating 0/5. 4 August 2017. The Emoji Movie is shallow, crass and the most hideous example of product placement in cinema history. It singles out the film's hatred of its own subject matter and brazen Inside Out rip-off as particularly execrable. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/history/article/film-review-the-emoji-movie-3mj93cppr) ## Den of Geek — Don Kaye Rating 2/5. 27 July 2017. The critic finds the world-building inside the phone appealing but the main characters and plot derivative and unengaging, with excessive product placement; it may entertain young children but parents will be bored. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-emoji-movie-review/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 2 August 2017. The film has a baffling plot and unadventurous animation; while the concept of emojis in a phone world might appeal to tech-savvy millennials, it exhausts comprehension for others and isn't as good as The Lego Movie. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-emoji-movie-2017-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## HeyUGuys — Hannah Woodhead Rating 1/5. 1 August 2017. The critic finds the film bad, a cynical money-grab lacking heart, charm, or any redeeming qualities, with poor writing and design despite big-name voice talent. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-emoji-movie-review/) ## NME — Olly Richards Rating 1/5. 3 August 2017. The review dismisses the film as a cynical cash-grab with no creative ambition, featuring a nonsensical story, unfunny adventure, and blatant product placement for apps. [Read the review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/the-emoji-movie-film-review-2120169-2120169) ## The Wrap — Alonso Duralde Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 27 July 2017. The critic calls the film a soul-crushing disaster that lacks humor, wit, ideas, visual style, compelling performances or a point of view, making it a complete waste of time. The story is faulted for cobbling together familiar kid-movie tropes and shameless product placement while being shrill and stupid. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/the-emoji-movie-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-emoji-movie.md