Directed by Tony Leondis, The Emoji Movie seems rather far-fetched and unreal because it is a way out there world that does not truly exist.
Following the story unlocks the never-before-seen secret world inside your smartphone. I never thought of my smartphone having a hidden world within the messaging app is Textopolis, a bustling city where all your favorite emojis live, hoping to be selected by the phone’s user.
This story is definitely for kids because, in this world, each emoji has only one facial expression – except for Gene, voiced by T.J. Miller, an exuberant emoji who was born without a filter and is bursting with multiple expressions. Determined to become “normal” like the other emojis, Gene enlists the help of his handy best friend Hi-5, voiced by James Corden, and the notorious code breaker emoji Jailbreak, voiced by Anna Faris.
The Emoji pals embark on an epic “app-venture” through the apps on the phone, each its own wild and fun world, to find the Code that will fix Gene. But when a greater danger threatens the phone, the fate of all emojis depends on these three unlikely friends who must save their world before it’s deleted forever.
Seems like The Wizard of Oz with a twist in a smartphone. I ask, “Why can Gene just be himself?”