Pixels (2015) – Review

I had promised myself to skip this latest Adam Sandler film. I had a good reasons to do so: If you look at the last ten films he made there isn’t one of them that’s worth watching. In his younger years, I could still enjoy his movies, but I have developed an aversion towards Sandler because he keeps making disappointing movies.

But why did I end up still watching Pixels? Curiosity probably is the most important reason. And I wasn’t curious if he had made a good movie this time, but I wanted to know how the game element is incorporated into the film. As someone who grew up gaming that element excited me so I decided, against my better judgment, to give Pixels a chance

Sandler plays, as he always seems to do, a loser named Brenner, who hasn’t done anything with his life and lacks ambition. During his youth he was good at playing arcade games and finished second in a championship. Those days are long gone and he now works as an installer of entertainment systems. His best friend Cooper (Kevin James) is president of America and requests his help when the world seems to be attacked by aliens that resemble characters from classic arcade games. Together with Ludlow (Josh Gad) and his great rival Eddie (Peter Dinklage), they try to stop these aliens

 That’s all there is to the movie. Ok, it does have flashes of a love story, but that’s about it. There is not a moment during its 90-minute running time so it felt like a very long movie to sit through. The only thing which I might be able to be positive about is how the characters, in their pixelated glory, have been brought to life in 3D. They lack a background story though. Even Q-Bert, who simply seem to be there as the comedic character, doesn’t work. Pixels lacks tension, where you never get the feeling that the world is in danger and it doesn’t have any surprises. If you are looking for films that deal with “old school games” then it’s better to check out Wreck-It Ralph. If you want to see how good rivalry between two Donkey Kong players can be brought to the screen, then I’d recommend King of Kong. It’s better to just skip this film, like I’m planning to do for all future Sandler movies.