The Emoji Movie is Worse Than You Remember...

Overview

Darzii finally watches The Emoji Movie and argues that its reputation as one of animation’s biggest misfires is well deserved. He recaps the plot while outlining five reasons audiences hate it:

1. Its shallow attempt to appeal to casual viewers.
2. Its lack of originality.
3. Its reliance on celebrity voice casting.
4. Its overwhelming product placement.
5. Its commercial success, which rewarded a safe, corporate formula.

Plot Recap

Inside a smartphone, emojis live in Textopolis, where each is expected to display one assigned expression whenever phone-owner Alex uses them. Gene, a “meh” emoji who can’t keep his face to one emotion, malfunctions during Alex’s attempt to text his crush.

Smiler, the relentlessly cheerful boss, declares Gene a threat and sends bots after him. Gene escapes with High Five and teams up with Jailbreak, a hacker, hoping she can reprogram him.

Their journey takes them through apps including Candy Crush, Just Dance, and the cloud. These settings give Darzii plenty of opportunities to mock the film’s conspicuous brand showcases and its loose understanding of how phones and technology work. He also pokes fun at the movie’s shifting rules: emojis are sometimes independent people with complicated feelings, and sometimes little programs whose only purpose is to perform their assigned function.

Along the way, Jailbreak reveals that she’s a princess emoji who ran away from her expected role. Gene discovers that his ability to feel more than “meh” is part of what makes him special, though his confession of affection for Jailbreak is rejected.

In the finale, Gene uses the scanning machine to send Alex an expressive, animated emoji. Alex likes it enough to stop resetting his phone, saving Textopolis—while Smiler’s fate is barely addressed.

Standout Jokes and Conclusion

Darzii’s standout jokes include questioning why the emojis don’t simply save a scan of each face, pointing out that an emoji society with a “Loser Lounge” may have its popularity rankings backwards, and wondering why Alex has Candy Crush on his phone. The film’s most infamous cameo also gets a mention: Patrick Stewart briefly voices the poop emoji.

Darzii concludes that the movie is not only a cynical collection of ads and familiar plot beats, but also simply boring. He compares its remains to a taco shell that’s been punched into dust.

Personalities and Characters Featured

• Darzii, the video’s narrator and commentator
• Gene
• High Five
• Jailbreak
• Smiler
• Alex
• Gene’s parents
• Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji