Review of 'Pixels'
Following on from the Pixels short from a few years ago (see here) this is the feature length version. Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) is a television system installer who is forever regretting his loss at the final of a video game competition as a child when playing Donkey Kong against Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant (Peter Dinklage). When aliens interpret video game footage sent into space in a time capsule as a declaration of war and so (literally) send digital video game baddies to destroy earth. Fortunately, Brenner's best friend Will Cooper (Kevin James) is president of the United States so recognizes that Brenner along with the help of Plant are ideally suited to saving the planet from destruction so they set out playing the aliens in the various video games that they have recreated, for example, using four coloured minis as ghosts in the game of Pac-Man in the streets of New York.
Yes, this is all extremely silly and other than some impressive looking effects it is not all that good. There is very little in terms of heart here - We really don't care too much for any of the characters and the expected comedy elements you would expect when Sandler is involved simply don't materialize. Fans of classic video games may just overlook this for the nostalgia element but I can't see it sustaining the attention of any others. Perhaps a lost opportunity after the promise of the original short…
Rating: “Not great, but not the worse”
Review Date: 2015-12-20
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Studio: 492 Pictures
Year: 2015
Length: 106 minutes
Genre: Action/Adventure
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2120120/