It is perhaps unsurprising that The Emoji Movie, in which anthropomorphized Emoji do stuff and say stuff, is not of a high quality. But plenty of low quality films are made that are also beloved by at least some people. The Emoji Movie, which stars T.J. Miller, thus far, is not one of those cases.
The movie currently has a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the website which collates all the reviews of a given movie and then averages them. So approximately no one likes this movie, and it joins the August ranks populated by other “zero percenters” such as Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser, Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt?, and I Spit on Your Grave 2.
Here is just a small sampling of what some critics have had to say about The Emoji Movie:
“If only this smartphone-centric dud, so happy to hawk real-world apps to its audience, could have done the same in its release strategy — coming out via Snapchat, where it would vanish shortly after arrival. But even that wouldn't be fast enough.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“The only thing worse than the dialogue is the absurd product placement. In addition to ‘riding the Spotify streams’ to make it all the way across the phones, there are a few glimpses hawking Crackle, a streaming service no one uses but just so happens to be owned by the same corporate entity that is distributing the film.” - New York Daily News
“For a long time, Hollywood has been propagating the idea that the panderingly, trendily idiotic can be made to seem less so, by polishing it up with bright shiny gloss and enlisting engaging talented performers and writers. I can’t be entirely certain of this, but I would say “The Emoji Movie” takes this notion to the outer limits of credibility.” - The New York Times
“Using The Handmaid’s Tale — a serious work of fiction and a recent, highly regarded Hulu TV show about a dystopian society in which women are ritually raped — as a lighthearted marketing peg was a pretty good indication that The Emoji Movie wasn’t going to be self-aware and clever and thoughtful.” - Vox
“The dialogue invites viewers to marvel at all the wonderful things they can buy or subscribe to… Anyone can be bought for the right price, but not for too long.” - A.V. Club
“It’s attempting to sell a sense of childlike wonder and fascination with an ordinary, everyday object: your smartphone. And in doing so, it is one of the darkest, most dismaying films I have ever seen, much less one ostensibly made for children.” - Vulture
“The Emoji Movie is almost as bad and brutally depressing as everything else in 2017.” - IndieWire
