It’s been a rocky summer for the big, action-packed movie releases this year. Luckily, the arcade games nostalgia of Adam Sandler and Kevin James’ latest comedy, Pixels, does not disappoint. That’s not to say that it’s perfect, but then the trailer didn’t build things up for anything approaching perfection. However, it is a whole lot of silly fun that will be a big hit for any arcade games loving kids of the eighties. If that’s not you then this is definitely not a film you should see or review, but for it’s target audience it’s a bit of a blast from the past that should keep you smiling and laughing from start to end.
The story has got a cute setup back in the heyday of computer games in 1982 with a young group of gamers battling it out in a world championship of Wizard-like proportions, including a nice cameo from Dan Aykroyd as the presenter of the contest. Fast forward to the kids’ middle age and it turns out that the video from that contest, which had been blasted out into space by NASA, has been picked by an alien race that who use it as inspiration for their attack on earth.
Suddenly the group of washed-up, but well connected gaming legends find themselves the planet’s only hope and they begin to take the fight to the pixelated space invaders. The fact that one of them has grown up to become the president of the United States should tell you all you need to know about a film that doesn’t hold back on taking things to the extreme to make you laugh.
So far, so far-fetched and it’s this outrageous spirit that typifies the unabashedly ridiculous movie and to be honest we kind of love it a little bit for it. There are also lots of 80s references to look out for, so if it’s an era that grew up in you’ll spend a lot of it spotting things that take you back to the best decade in history.
The Pixels cast is a big part of the unadulterated and unchecked fun that runs through the film with Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania 2) leading the way as Pac-Man champion, Will Brenner, who’s child genius on the computer games circuit grows up to be a TV installation guy. Sandler gets a lot of reviews, and the majority of these are bang on the money, but in Pixels you might want to ignore the haters and give it a go, especially if you like either the 80s, arcade games or Weird Science.
Will is also the best friend of President Will Cooper, played with a certain amount of self deprecating humour by Kevin James (Hotel Transylvania 2). It forms the setup for a lot of the film’s comedy and while it’s route one it’s slightly infectious. Add in to the mix Michelle Monaghan (Due Date) as Lieutenant Colonel Violet van Patten, Will’s outlandish love interest, Josh Gadd (Frozen) as hilarious conspiracy theorist arcader Ludlow Lamonsoff and a loud mouth performance from Peter Dinklage (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as gaming world champion and you’ve got yourself a very daft, fun-filled movie.
While there’s a lot to keep you smiling, there are a number of scenes that either take things too far, feel over Amercanizzed or come across as being a bit cringe-worthy. They’re few and far between (depending on your outlook), but they could have been cut out entirely to improve the film no end with a bit more savage editing from director Chris Columbus. However, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth and overall we’d have to say the Goonies, Home Alone and Gremlins legend has got enough right to make it a positive review from us.
The special effects are very cool, so if you do see it on the big screen then you might want to plump for 3D. Seeing a twenty foot tall Pac-Man rampaging around New York City could have looked terrible, but they pull it off very well. Add to that the impressive attack from Donkey Kong, a ferocious melee with Centipedes in London’s Hyde Park, a very cute Q*bert and a lot of comedy gaming cameos all looking epic in the stunning 3D pixel styling.
Pixels is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, in fact we’d probably have to say that in excess of 50% of cinema goers should probably rule it out of the equation. However, for the arcade gaming kids of the eighties this is a nostalgia filled comedy that manages to get in enough good jokes to survive. Game Over!
Pixels review: 3/5
