The Emoji Movie 2

The Emoji Movie 2 is a 2022 animated comedy adventure film that serves as a sequel to the infamous 2017 film The Emoji Movie. Corden, Faris, Wright, Coolidge, Stewart and Austin reprise their roles from the first movie, while Josh Radnor, James McAvoy, Craig Ferguson, Jason Ritter and Ed Helms voice new characters for the movie. T.J. Miller does not reprise his role as Gene in the movie, and is instead replaced by Jim Gaffigan.

The film was released to mixed-to-negative reviews, with many critics comparing it unfavorably to the 2018 film Ralph Breaks the Internet, while also saying the movie slightly improves on the original, praising the animation and the performances of Gaffigan and Radnor.

Plot
Set not long after the events of the first movie, the residents of Textopolis have learned to appreciate Gene's unique ability to make multiple expressions. However, when Alex downloads a mysterious app called TechVille, bringing along two elusive emojis named Eric and Down-Low, things quickly turn upside down. Gene and his best friends Jailbreak and Hi-5 discover that the apps downloaded from TechVille are overloaded with viruses, so in order to save everything and everyone they love, they have to go where no emoji has dared to voyage: the laptop. There, they meet up with a cursor named BINARD, who helps them navigate the strange landscape of the netscape in order to take down the viruses.

Cast

 * T. J. Miller as Gene
 * James Corden as Hi-5
 * Anna Faris as Jailbreak
 * Josh Radnor as BINARD
 * James McAvoy as Eric
 * Craig Ferguson as Down-Low
 * Steven Wright as Mel
 * Jennifer Coolidge as Mary
 * Jake T. Austin as Alex
 * Jason Ritter as Spectacles
 * Ed Helms as Cody
 * Patrick Stewart as Poop

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 31%, with a consensus reading "While not the same insufferable slog as the first movie, The Emoji Movie 2 is still an unfunny and unoriginal glitch in the system."

Trivia

 * T.J. Miller was set to reprise his role as Gene, but Miller declined and was subsequentially replaced by Gaffigan.
 * Shortly after the film's release, the filmmakers had to issue a flash warning for the scene in which the main trio enter the laptop through Cody's portal, which uses a good amount of strobe lights.
 * Much like the first film, the trailers were highly criticized for its lack of originality presented.
 * Rich Moore, who executive produced the movie, was also the director of Ralph Breaks the Internet.
 * To promote its use in the movie, TrackMania released an exclusive emoji skin to apply to a car during a race.
 * George Clooney was approached to voice Cody, but he declined.
 * The original script was originally going to have Jailbreak be the head emoji, but it was later changed to an original character named Spectacles.