PIXELS is the latest Adam Sandler movie which preys upon people within a decade of Sandler’s age bracket and hoping that the lure of retro arcade classics will help this movie become the blockbuster that it promises to be. Up front and centre on both the poster and the trailer, is a gigantic Pac-Man that is terrorising the world. But before we go that way, where did this idea come from? Was it Sandler’s inspiration or some other source?
Well the truth is, is that it is based on a mini movie that had all the hallmarks of a fantastic idea. Check it out the clip, by clicking here. It was fantastic as an idea so it was to go without saying that someone somewhere would be wanting to take it further and sprinkle the “magic of Hollywood” ‘pon it. Sadly, it was Da Sandler who got his mitts on it. Part of the appeal of Adam Sandler films, original ones anyway, was the young goofball, wanting to be loved and trying to get the girl. Now he’s older, the template doesn’t fit quite so well, and this movie is a very similar premise, and sometimes it borders on creepy. In this movie the love interest is a really pretty girl who is visually a lot younger than the ageing Sandler and it looks more like a dad pursuing a daughter than two people who would fall in love.
However, besides that fact, Sandler’s character doesn’t really have any redeeming features (apart from really good at certain video games (read 80’s arcade machines)) so it’s difficult to see how those two would get together even in the constraints of this movie. There’s a sequence where the two of them are in a cupboard and it just doesn’t make any sense and feels rather strange to watch. You may have noticed that I have not even told you the names of these two characters, as the story is so weak I can't even recall them. But, IMDb promises me that Adam Sandler's character is called Brenner and Violet (Michelle Monaghan) is the love interest. Backing up those two characters, we have Kevin James (as the President of the United States?!), Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad and the creator of Pac Man himself, Professor Iwatani (even if he is played by an actor).
The movie goes like this (but if you have seen the trailer it basically explains the premise) but it’s this – in the 1980’s NASA send a message of greetings into space to show them what our lives are like in the 1980’s – complete with the arcade games of the day, speeches and music videos from the megastars of the day and more. However, instead of a message of hello to the universe, they took it as an act of war and therefore create arcade game characters to come to Earth to destroy us. It’s times like this when they should have just stuck with The Carpenter’s “Calling All Occupants…” song and left it at that. Anyway, this premise sounds damn good on paper – but as with a lot of movies these days it seems that it is not the inspiration but the execution of it that lets the movie down. As described, we have a talented cast with a mix of experience and the film does show sparks of brilliance on occasion, but this is few and far between. This is a copy and paste sci-fi action movie that doesn’t really take anything further forward in terms of story or character development.
The problem with this movie is that it’s a fantastic idea and has an epic selling point, and, like most movies of that ilk, it’s the execution of the idea that it falls prey to. Character development is mostly non-existent – and for the pixelated characters it relies solely on what we know in pop culture and that’s about it. Adam Sandler exclaims each video game character as if to tag it – the only thing missing is a hashtag graphic at the same time while he says it. In fact, as cheesy as it sounds, that wouldn’t look too much out of place in this movie. The movie then is heavily special effects laden and low on just about everything else. Even the low-fi HD pixelated characters are shallow.
Adam Sandler is getting older and the schtick that worked when he was younger just sparks of desperation and doesn’t seem to work in this instance. I think he needs to move on and try being a different type of character and move with both his audience and his career. The movie is below average and even the most die-hard fans of sci-fi and/or retro gaming (which demographic it is clearly gunning for) would struggle to say it’s a good movie (and yes, I’m one of them). The only film worse I have seen in 2015 is Fant4stic Four (see my review here) and this isn’t much better. If I had to sum it up – it’s all looks and no personality.
Pixels is out now on DVD and Blu Ray and digital download.
POPSCORE: 5/10
What am I talking about? Pixels movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/pixels/
If you liked this try: King Kong (latest Peter Jackson version), Night at the Museum (which is far superior), Independence Day (ID4), Wreck it Ralph (which does the licensed characters a lot better)
Anything else?
The closing credits re-run a synopsis of the movie in 8-bit style.
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