Review - Pixels (2015)

       Hey guys, Chuck here. In 2010, a French writer and director named Patrick Jean created a critically acclaimed short film titled Pixels, which depicted 1980's arcade game characters attacking the island of Manhattan in a manner similar to one depicted in the Futurama episode "Anthology of Interest II." Upon the release of the short film, a bidding war started in Hollywood to adapt the short film to feature length. Unfortunately, for all of us, the studio that won the rights to bring Pixels to the big screen was Happy Madison Productions. 

       Released in 2015, the feature film version of Pixels was released by Sony Pictures, directed by Chris Columbus, and stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Sean Bean, Brian Cox, and Dan Aykroyd. 

       The movie opens in 1982, where we meet best friends Sam Brenner and Will Cooper, who head to their hometown arcade for an Arcade Championship, which will see recorded footage of the games, along with recorded footage of news and pop culture of the era, be sealed in a capsule to be launched into space. Unfortunately, Sam loses the arcade championship to Eddie "The Fireblaster" Plant, who outscores Sam in Donkey Kong. 

       Cut to thirty-three years later, and Sam is now working as an electronics installer, and Will is now the President of the United States. Okay, let's address the elephant in the room, as Will is portrayed in this movie by Kevin James, and is supposed to be the President of the United States. And, even in 2015, we were ALL calling bullshit in the idea of Kevin James as the President in this movie. On the other hand, Adam Sandler playing Sam Brenner, who is an electronics installer? That seemingly tracks. 

       Anyway, after seeing the two catch up after a fiasco involving Will reading a children's book to a group of school kids, and failing mind you, Sam heads to meet a client named Violet van Patten, who needs a television installed, and both are  summoned to the White House, where Will shows Sam footage of a U.S. Air Force Base in Guam getting attacked by what appears to be Galaga. But, in a meeting with the National Security committee, Sam points out that it's SPECIFICALLY a recalled 1982 edition of Galaga as opposed to the more commonplace edition of Galaga that was released in 1986. U.S. Navy leader James Porter warns Will of the possibility of impeachment, and Sam leaves to return home. 

       On the ride from the White House, Sam reunites with an old friend and fellow '80s arcade player Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamonsoff, who has a recorded tape of a recent episode of One Tree Hill, only for the UHF signal to have been hijacked by aliens that pose as key figures from the '80s such as President Ronald Reagan and pop idol Madonna. Ludlow theorizes that the capsule sent into space back in '82, which featured recorded footage from the Arcade Championship, was picked up by an advanced alien race, who mistook the contents of the capsule as a declaration of war as opposed to an exchange of culture. So, the aliens have recreated the arcade games from the tape recording in the capsule and are attacking Earth in a best-of-three challenge (as one quarter was worth three lives in those old arcade games). Sam and Ludlow take their findings to Will, and warn that the next attack will be in Northern India, but Will dismisses the idea. But, that proves to be a mistake, as the aliens, using Arkanoid, attack the Taj Mahal, and Earth loses its second match. 

        So, Will has Sam and Ludlow work to train troops of the American military to recognize patterns and anticipate movements by playing these classic arcade games, as a means of preparing for the next round. And, according to a transmission from the aliens, the next match is in Hyde Park in London, England. The game of choice? Centipede. Unfortunately, the soldiers panic, and are unable to follow the patterns, so Will orders the soldiers to get out of the way and let both Sam and Ludlow take over. And, because of this switch in tactics, the Earth wins their first round, bringing the score 2-1 in favor of the aliens. Also, Earth is given the dog from Duck Hunt as a trophy. 

       However, Sam, Will, and Ludlow determine they need Eddie, who is currently in prison, to help. Eddie's demands for joining the team? A full pardon, no more having to pay taxes, his own stealth copter, a private island, and a night in the Lincoln bedroom along with Serena Williams and Martha Stewart. Will, however, can only pull strings for a pardon, the tax thing, and a date with Serena Williams. And, Violet gets word that the next match is in New York City. The game this time? Pac Man. To combat Pac Man, Violet used the technology from the light cannons used in the Centipede challenge to build mini generators that are strapped to a quartet of Mini Coopers, which are color coded to the four ghosts from Pac Man: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Also, a fictitious version of Pac Man creator Tōru Iwatani joins Sam, Ludlow, and Eddie for the battle against Pac Man. 

     Unfortunately, Iwatani's attempt to reason with Pac Man fail, leaving it up to Sam, Ludlow, and Eddie to take Pac Man down. The three are able to box him in, and Eddie makes the kill. But, in the next round, Pac Man consumes a "power pellet," giving Pac Man a ten-second window where the ghosts can be devoured, which happens to Ludlow, who is saved by Eddie. Unfortunately, Eddie accidentally drives into a river, leaving Sam by himself. Pac Man consumes a second "power pellet," and Sam counts the seconds until his vehicle returns to normal, and Pac Man is defeated, tying the score between Earth and the aliens to two matches each, and the Earth is given Q*Bert as a trophy. 

      In recognition for their success, Will holds a party for Sam, Ludlow, and Eddie. And, of course, Sam asks Violet to be his date because, as if it wasn't absolutely effing obvious, Sam and Violet have a mutual attraction to each other. However, in the midst of the party, a transmission comes from the aliens. Apparently, someone cheated in the Pac Man challenge, which leads to an automatic forfeit and immediate invasion of Earth. And, Violet's son Matty, who spotted the Pac Man "superspeed" cheat codes in Eddie's glasses, is taken by the aliens as a final trophy. 

       The trio of Sam, Ludlow, and Violet, with help from Q*Bert, make a plan to try and reach the alien Mothership, which is unleashing THOUSANDS of videos game icons like Frogger, Lady Lisa from the fictitious game Dojo Quest, and even a Smurf, and they are joined by Will, who decided not to go to a secure bunker. And, upon reaching the bottom of the Mothership, Sam, Will, Violet, and Q*Bert are greeted by Max Headroom, who informs them that "the boss" want to see them inside for a final match. If the humans win, the invasion is called off, but Earth is forfeit if the humans lose. While Sam, Will, and Violet head into the Mothership, Ludlow confesses his love to Lady Lisa, who joins him in the fight on the ground, and Eddie also joins the fight to prove he can succeed without cheating. 

       Inside of the Mothership, Sam, Will, and Violet are shocked when confronted by the boss: Donkey Kong. Sam, Will, Violet, and Q*Bert make their way up to the top, but Will gets stuck and is unable to find the pattern. But, when Marty reveals that Eddie was a cheater and Sam is the TRUE Donkey Kong champion, and doesn't need patterns. Sam, with his confidence renewed, makes it to the top, slams the mallet into Donkey Kong, and saves the world. And, all of the video game characters are destroyed at once, which sadly includes Lady Lisa. Oops. 

       Sam, Will, Violet, Matty, Q*Bert, and the two guys the aliens took as trophies earlier are returned to Earth, and the Mothership departs. And, when Eddie reveals what happened with Ludlow and Lady Lisa, Q*Bert suddenly transforms into Lady Lisa, and shares a passionate kiss with Ludlow. And, I suppose I should mention that it's pretty effing disturbing that Q*Bert turned into Lady Lisa to give Ludlow the woman of his dreams, but the movie itself points out how disturbing it is. And, of course, Sam and Violet start a relationship, Will hails, the two of them, along with Ludlow and Eddie, as heroes, and Eddie gets a text from Serena Williams, who is waiting for him in the Lincoln bedroom along with Martha Stewart. 

       While I don't think that Pixels is the worst film that Adam Sandler has been involved with, it's definitely not a good movie. While I think that time and distance have, mostly, been kinder towards this movie, it got utterly SLAMMED by critics and audiences at the time. Don't get me wrong, critics have almost NEVER liked any of Adam Sandler's work, but audiences seemed to enjoy his stuff okay. But, in 2015, we were all getting worn out by Sandler recycling the same plot points, the same jokes, and the same lazy use of pop culture references that had popped up in all of his movies. 

       That's not to say there weren't good things about the movie Pixels. Aside from Adam Sandler as Sam and Kevin James as Will, who pretty much turn in the same kind of performances those two turn in with every movie they make together, there were a few performances I liked, such as Michelle Monaghan as Violet and Peter Dinklage as Eddie. Josh Gad as Ludlow certainly had his moments, and I enjoyed the likes of Brian Cox and Sean Bean as two military leaders. And, it was neat seeing the likes of Jane Krakowski as the First Lady, Fiona Shaw as the U.K. Prime Minister, and Dan Aykroyd as the Arcade Championship M.C. in the prologue set in 1982.

        The video game, pop culture, and music references from the '80s were used in a way that was clever, and made sense as per the plot of the movie. Games like Galaga, Arkanoid, Centipede, Pac Man, Tetris, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong , and pop culture icons like Madonna, President Ronald Reagan, Hall and Oates, the duo of Ricardo Montalban and Hervé Villechaize from Fantasy Island, and Max Headroom all being used by aliens due to a time capsule sent into space in 1982 was kinda neat as a concept. And, I will say that while it was cool that Matt Frewer reprised the role of Max Headroom, I didn't like how the CGI made him look even more fake than the original Max Headroom. Also, the various songs used like "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy was fun, although I did roll my eyes when Josh Gad performed a rendition of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears. 

       But, as I mentioned before, everything that was good about this movie, the performances, the music, the concept, and the pixelated effects on the video game characters and icons, all of it was pretty thoroughly undercut by the fact that it's still an Adam Sandler project. Had director Chris Columbus, who I am a massive fan of thanks to films like Home Alone and Harry Potter, been able to make this film with another creative, it could have been a really fun sci-fi movie. But, because it's still a Happy Madison production, and it's still starring Adam Sandler, everything that works about it is undercut by the kind of humor that Adam Sandler movies has been using for years, and was genuinely starting to get old by the time of this movie's release. 

       Overall, while I don't fully hate Pixels, I can't call it a good movie either. It's certainly fun in moments, but you have to get through a lot of typical Happy Madison stupidity to enjoy the fun stuff in the movie. If you ask me what I would recommend for an overall better movie featuring video games and nostalgic callbacks, stick with Steven Spielberg's 2018 film Ready Player One. It's an overall better movie in my opinion. 

      Alright guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in the next review.