Fun for the little ones, meh for the rest: Emoji Movie review

What happens when a pictogram turns out to have multiple expressions? Take the kids to Textopolis to find out.

Geared primarily towards a pre-teen audience, The Emoji Movie transports one deep inside the hidden world of Textopolis, where the focus is on a young Meh emoji (voiced by TJ Miller).

Unlike the rest of the popular pictograms, he is blessed — or should that be cursed? — with multiple expressions.

Declared a glitch and threatened with deletion, the malfunctioning emoji embarks on a colourfully designed journey through various smartphone apps (product placement alert) in an attempt to revert to his sole designated emotion of indifference.

The script for the animated adventure strives to impart an ‘express your feelings fearlessly’ message even as it expressly proclaims that ‘words aren’t cool’ (go figure).

On the upside, the world of Textopolis is cheery and colourful, and the voice cast is stellar — featuring Maya Rudolph and, incredibly, the thespian Patrick Stewart as the Poop emoji!

The voice cast is uniformly appealing, with Maya Rudolph a clear standout as the deceptively named systems supervisor, Smiler.

In a curious bit of stunt casting, the redoubtable Sir Patrick Stewart dubs for the — believe it or blanch — Poop emoji.

With its relatively brief running time of 85 minutes, The Emoji Movie provides passable entertainment for the children.