Pixels Review

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox

Pixels is a departure from what I usually see. I'm a fan of dramas with great acting and great stories. But every once in awhile, I go see a "popcorn flick" just to see something different. What really drew me to Pixels was its high concept premise. Pixels is about a time capsule of 1982 video game footage sent into space, and how it is intercepted and misunderstood by aliens to be a threat. The aliens make life-sized video games and send them down to Earth in retaliation, and four of the world's best gamers have to assist the government to defend the planet. The rules of video games apply here, and a loss equals the loss of a life. 3 lives lost, and it's game over. One must also remember that this is an Adam Sandler film. So Pixels actually ends up being not as high-concept as it's marketed to be. While it is far from being a great movie, Pixels is a good movie if you're bored and want to shut your brain off, and I found myself actually enjoying it, even if I suffered through some horrible scenes.

The biggest reason I think I enjoyed Pixels was that my expectations were low. And by low, I mean rock bottom. If you think this movie is the next big thing, you will likely be disappointed. The first twenty minutes are painful. There are so many bad jokes and misfires I was rolling my eyes instead of laughing. When Peter Dinklage is introduced, the movie does a 180 and becomes pretty good. But that might just be because I'm a huge Game of Thrones fan. His character is easily the funniest in the movie, and he nails all of his lines. As much of a fan I am of Frozen, I though Josh Gad was horrible and I was waiting for him to get killed off. Pac-Man almost got him, but alas, he was spared and I had to endure an hour more of his painful comedy. Adam Sandler was surprisingly not terrible. He started out horrible, but I ended up enjoying his acting more than I have in other movies. It wasn't The Waterboy or Click level good, but I liked him. I really hated Michelle Monaghan's stuck up character in the beginning, but I liked what her character ended up being. She defended the world and kicked butt with the guys, and what started out as a quite sexist performance broke through and became pretty awesome. And hey, that's more than Jurassic World and its infamous high heels can say. As for Kevin James... he played the President and it was such a horrible joke I'm not even getting into it.

So while the acting was inconsistent, and the script pretty horrible, the video games were what really made the movie enjoyable. The effects aren't anything mind-blowing, but they really make the pixels and video games come to life. Having played a few arcade games, I was secretly hoping for my favorites to appear in the movie. Galaga, Pong, Pac-Man, and Centipede make center stage appearances, and there are numerous cameos at the end including a boss battle with Donkey Kong that was pretty epic. There is one thing I absolutely hated about the movie. The aliens send trophies when they beat a boss, and they send Q*Bert as one. I'm a fan of Q*Bert from Disney's Wreck-It Ralph (he's the orange ball with a trunk-like nose) but this was awful. Unlike with Disney, he talked, and his voice was so annoying. He was legitimately just frustratingly stupid, and his character in the end is still childish and dumb. I get that the movie is supposed to be aimed at kids, but it was obvious to me that the older kids and adults will enjoy this more, and that's just due to nostalgia. But even a bad script, a stupid character, and multiple plot holes didn't ruin the movie for me. If you're bored this summer and want a fun movie, go check out Pixels. Just don't expect much, and it will deliver.

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