10 "New" Movies That Just Ended Up Ripping Things Off

By Jack Pooley / November 16, 2017

10. The Emoji Movie Stole The Lego Movie's Formula (Badly)

It was clear from the marketing alone that The Emoji Movie was effectively trying to replicate the style, tone and success of The Lego Movie, which incredibly managed to not totally feel like a Lego commercial even though it effectively was.

While The Lego Movie was charming, visually stunning and hilarious, The Emoji Movie fell flat due to a virtually laughless script, an excess of aggressive product placement, indifferent vocal performances and workmanlike visuals.

With its meta approach to the commodity it's based on, The Lego Movie's influence is clear here, but ultimately trying to copy its template didn't pay off because The Emoji Movie was such a cynical, lazy dumpster fire of a film in every respect.