The Emoji Movie

Theatrical release poster

***The Emoji Movie*** is a 2017 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was directed by Tony Leondis from a screenplay he co-wrote with Eric Siegel and Mike White, based on a story by Leondis and Siegel. It stars the voices of T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, Jennifer Coolidge, Jake T. Austin, Christina Aguilera, Sofía Vergara, Sean Hayes, and Sir Patrick Stewart. Based on emojis, the film centers on a multi-expressional emoji Gene (Miller), who exists in a digital city called Textopolis, for a smartphone owned by Alex (Austin), embarking on a journey to become a normal emoji capable of only a single expression, accompanied by his friends, Hi-5 (Corden) and Jailbreak (Faris). During their travels through the other apps, the trio must save their world from total destruction before it is reset for functionality.

Inspired by Leondis' love of *Toy Story* (1995), the film was fast tracked into production in July 2015 after the bidding war and the project was officially announced in April 2016, originally titled *EmojiMovie: Express Yourself*. Most of the lead cast members were hired throughout the rest of the year. *The Emoji Movie* had a production time of two years, shorter than most other animated films. The marketing of the film drew a negative response from the public and an internet backlash, before the film's release.

*The Emoji Movie* premiered on July 23, 2017, at the Regency Village Theatre and was theatrically released in the United States five days later. It was a commercial success after grossing $217 million worldwide against a $50 million production budget. However, the film received overwhelmingly negative reviews by critics, who criticized its script, humor, use of product placement, tone, voice performances, lack of originality, and plot, with negative comparisons and similarities to other animated films, especially *Wreck-It Ralph* (2012), *The Lego Movie* (2014), and *Inside Out* (2015). *The Emoji Movie* was nominated for five awards at the 38th Golden Raspberry Awards, a mock award show honoring the worst of cinema, winning four. It is the first animated film to win in any of those categories. It is frequently ranked as the worst film of 2017, as well as one of the worst animated movies ever made.

## Plot

Gene is an emoji that lives in Textopolis, a digital city inside the phone of his user, a teenager named Alex. He is the son of two meh emojis named Mel and Mary and is able to make multiple expressions despite his parents' upbringing. His parents are hesitant about him going to work, but Gene insists so that he can feel useful. Upon receiving a text from his love interest Addie McCallister, Alex decides to send her an emoji. When Gene is selected, he panics, makes a panicked expression, and wrecks the text center. Gene is called in by Smiler, a smiley emoji and leader of the text center, who concludes that Gene is a "malfunction" and therefore must be deleted. Gene is chased by bots but is rescued by Hi-5, a once-popular emoji who has since lost his fame due to lack of use. He tells Gene that he can be fixed if they find a hacker, and Hi-5 accompanies him so that he can reclaim his fame.

Smiler sends more bots to look for Gene when she finds out that he has left Textopolis, as his actions have caused Alex to think that his phone needs to be fixed. Gene and Hi-5 come to a piracy app where they meet a hacker emoji named Jailbreak, who wants to reach Dropbox so that she can live in the cloud. The trio is attacked by Smiler's bots, but manage to escape into the game *Candy Crush*. Jailbreak reveals that Gene can be fixed in the cloud, and the group goes off into the *Just Dance* app. While there, Jailbreak is revealed to be a princess emoji who fled home after tiring of being stereotyped. They are once again attacked by bots, and their actions cause Alex to delete the *Just Dance* app. Gene and Jailbreak escape, but Hi-5 is taken along with the app and ends up in the trash.

Mel and Mary go searching for Gene and have a very lethargic argument. They make up in the Instagram app when Mel reveals that he, too, is a malfunction, explaining Gene's behavior. While traveling through Spotify, Jailbreak admits that she likes Gene just the way he is and that he should not be ashamed of his malfunction. The two start to fall in love and Gene silently debates his choice to change himself. They make it to the trash and rescue Hi-5, but are soon attacked by a bot upgraded with illegal malware. They evade it by entangling its arms and enter Dropbox, where they encounter a firewall. After many tries, the gang gets past it with a password being Addie's name and make it to the cloud, where Jailbreak prepares to reprogram Gene. Gene admits his feelings for Jailbreak, but she wishes to stick to her plan of venturing into the cloud, unintentionally causing Gene to revert to his apathetic programming out of heartbreak. Suddenly, the upgraded bot sneaks into the cloud and captures Gene, prompting Hi-5 and Jailbreak to go after him with a Twitter bird summoned by Jailbreak in her princess form.

As Smiler prepares to delete Gene, Mel and Mary arrive. Mel reveals to everyone that he is also a malfunction, prompting Smiler to threaten to delete him as well. Jailbreak and Hi-5 arrive and disable the bot, which falls on top of Smiler. Alex has since taken his phone to a store in hopes that a factory reset performed by technical support would restore his phone's functionality, which would entail total destruction of Gene's world should such operation complete. Out of desperation, Gene prepares to have himself texted to Addie, making numerous faces to express himself. Realizing that Addie received a text from him, Alex cancels the factory reset just as it nearly finishes, saving the emoji and finally getting to speak with Addie, who likes the emoji Alex sent. Gene accepts himself for who he is and is celebrated by all of the emojis.

In a mid-credits scene, Smiler has been relegated to the "loser lounge" with the other unused and forgotten emojis for her crimes, wearing numerous braces due to her teeth being chipped by the bot, and playing and losing a game of Go Fish.

## Voice cast

* T.J. Miller as Gene Meh, an outsider "meh" emoji who can show multiple expressions
* James Corden as Hi-5, a hand emoji representing a high five signal
* Anna Faris as Jailbreak, a hacker emoji who is later revealed to be a princess emoji named Linda.
* Maya Rudolph as Smiler, a smiley emoji. As the original emoji, she is the systems supervisor of the text center.
* Steven Wright as Mel Meh, Gene's emoji father who is later revealed to have the same multi-expressionist condition as his son
* Jennifer Coolidge as Mary Meh, Gene's emoji mother
* Sir Patrick Stewart as Poop, a well-mannered poop emoji
* Christina Aguilera as Akiko Glitter, a "super cool" dancer that lives inside the *Just Dance* app
* Sofía Vergara as Flamenca, a flamenco dancer emoji
* Sean Hayes as Steven, a devil emoji
* Rachael Ray as Spam, a spam message
* Jeff Ross as an Internet troll
* Jake T. Austin as Alex, a human teenager who owns the phone where Gene and his emoji friends live
* Tati Gabrielle as Addie McCallister, Alex's love interest
* Rob Riggle (uncredited) as an ice cream emoji
* Conrad Vernon as a Trojan Horse
* Tony Leondis as Laughter, Broom, and Pizza
* Liam Aiken as Ronnie Ramtech, one of the two programmers that select which Emoji to display on a phone.