Story

The Emoji Movie is an animated movie about the emojis that live inside the phone belonging to Alex (voice of Jake T. Austin). They’re waiting to be selected each time he sends a text message, usually to Addie (Tati Gabrielle), a girl he likes.

Gene (T.J. Miller) is supposed to be a ‘meh’, but he has malfunctioned. On his first selection he appears as a multi-emotional emoji, which is seen as a failure in the emoji world. Smiler (Maya Rudolph) is determined to eliminate him, but his friend Hi-5 (James Corden), who has recently been sidelined, wants to help Gene get reprogrammed. Hi-5 enlists the help of Jailbreak (Anna Faris) to do this, but Smiler has sent bots to destroy Gene. Gene and his friends must escape from the bots. Their journey leads them through many applications, including Trash and Dropbox, from where they hope to reach the Cloud. But they must first get through the firewall, which is no easy task.

Themes

Mobile phones; emojis as characters

Violence

The Emoji Movie has some violence. For example:

  • One of the emojis is a devil who spears other emojis with his fork.
  • Gene jumps out of his cube and falls to the ground, crashing into everything.
  • The bots constantly chase Gene and his friends, often firing laser beams at them.
  • The bots destroy several characters with lasers.

Sexual references

The Emoji Movie has some sexual references. For example:

  • Gene’s mother Mary, a meh, says to her husband, Mel, that she is ‘so overwhelmed with passion for you’.
  • Mel replies that his love for her is ‘like a red-hot flame’.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

The Emoji Movie shows some use of substances. For example:

  • Characters drink at a party.
  • Hi-5 orders a ‘Hack’ Daniels.

Nudity and sexual activity

The Emoji Movie shows some mild sexual activity, including when Mel and Mary kiss.

Product placement

In addition to mobile phones, the following products are displayed or used in The Emoji Movie: Candy Crush, Dropbox, the Cloud, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram and Facebook.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language and toilet humour in The Emoji Movie.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Emoji Movie is an animated movie set inside a mobile phone, with some comic moments and some pathos as well.

The movie’s bright colours and theme are likely to appeal to young children, but there are dark aspects to the movie that could frighten some children. Older children who are familiar with mobile phones and apps are likely to better understand the movie’s humour. The movie is therefore not recommended for children under five. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged 5-8 years.

The main messages from this movie are that having real friends is more important than being popular, and that good friends will help out even when things are hard.

Supported By

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

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