Pixels Movie Review

Pixels Movie Review: Like most of Sandlers films they go for the lowest joke available which is a shame. The kid which they cut to repeatedly is not funny and showcases the poor comedy script. I enjoyed the arcade games and interesting concept but without great jokes, I watched this due to my nostalgic love of all things 80s, all the arcade games are classics and this movie would be so much better if the Sandler comedy was dialled down. The team of Sandler and James was not required, it's the weakest link of the film and I think they missed a huge opportunity for something truly fun. I liked the film, didn't love it of course but the music and set pieces are interesting. Sandler was not the correct choice by the studio, the thought he might bring in the young crowd but they should have aimed for a higher audience. This is prime for a reboot in the future with a more serious tone and fun atmosphere.

(Kevin James) recruits his childhood friend Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), a former gaming champion, paranoid hacker Ludlow Lamonstuff (Josh Gad) and Donkey Kong expert Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) to help the government stop the attacks...

On paper, though done before in an episode of Futurama, the concept of classic 8-bit video game characters such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Mario and Q-Bert invading Earth does sound like an incredible idea for a family film. Although the sequences of the characters attacking cities such as London and New York are impressively staged in terms of the cinematography for a $90 million film, the decision hand this idea over to the notorious Happy Madison Productions was a terrible idea as these ideas are weighed down with the company's trademark in terrible humor, painful cliches and racist sterotypes is still on full display here.

Throw in a really disturbing ending involving Josh Gad and Q-Bert, Henry Jackman's bland score and some huge plotholes within the cheating subplot about games that didn't even have cheat codes back then, and you'll see why Pixels is one of the biggest missed opportunities of the last decade in terms of creative writing, no thanks to Sandler and his a-hole writers.

There is potential in Pixels. With the right people behind it, this could have been a fun, nostalgic film. Unfortunately, it ended up in the hands of Happy Madison Productions, and with that, it's fate was sealed. In fairness, this isn't as bad as most of Adam Sandler's films but it's still pretty awful.

There are some pretty good moments in the film. The fight against Pac Man is entertaining enough and there are a couple of amusing jokes but for the most part, Pixels is just dull and unfunny. I'm amazed that Sandler and James - possibly the two least funny "comedians" working in Hollywood - are still stealing a living in the film industry and it's sad to see an otherwise good cast working alongside these two talentless fools.