Does anyone remember that movie made almost a decade ago that all the old guys in their thirties could relate to and thought was funny? Well, that movie was Pixels, and I believe people should give it a second chance.
The movie begins in 1984, where they introduce Sam Brenner and Will Cooper, the protagonists, with a classic bike-riding scene straight from the ’80s. They end up hanging out at an arcade where Brenner shows off his pattern recognition skills and beats the games. Since Brenner was so good, Will convinced him to participate in the Arcade Game Championship. At that competition, NASA and the Guinness World Records were present. The final game was Donkey Kong and the two challengers were Brenner and Eddie Plant. Eddie won but cheated, unbeknownst to the crowd and other competitors. After the games, a recording of all the games that were played in the championship was put into a capsule and sent to space by NASA in hopes of alien life learning from it. About thirty years later, the aliens found the recording but took it as an act of war. Brenner, Eddie, Ludlow Lamonsoff, and Will have to band together and win games against the aliens in order to save the world. Basically, Adam Sandler tries to win the girl while saving the world. It’s awesome.
When the movie first came out, it wasn’t a big hit and received some criticism. Although they did profit a little off of the movie, a lot of the negative reviews were about how cliché or common the movie plot was. I personally think that the movie had its own spin on the whole “bring back retro” plot that viewers seem to relate to. It felt more like a remembrance of the ’80s, with the main characters having already moved on with their lives from those times. Because of that, it feels more realistic and becomes more enjoyable to watch. It also had a trashy mid-2010s movie that you would watch that one time, appreciate it, forget about it, and then a few years later watch it again and appreciate it once more vibe.
I would overall rate the film a 10/10 (heavily biased). The movie is a 10 because it is a classic comedy with action and adventure. I mean come on, an Adam Sandler comedy film with action is hard to dislike. Surprisingly the CGI is not that bad for the type of movie it was. The fighting scenes were epic mostly because of the nostalgia, but nonetheless were presented phenomenally. Portraying smooth motion with the CGI but also keeping the “retro” feel by making it pixelated is simply genius. There’s the nostalgic things such as Galaga, “totally tubular”, and the many other references added in the movie, too. Also, seeing four dudes in their thirties try and fight in a video game is so amusing and ups the comedy. The comedy factor is superb, too. It’s so much fun to catch the quick small jokes that pass in the movie. Of course there is romance because what is an Adam Sandler movie without a side of romance? The romance doesn’t take away from the plot and goes pretty smoothly with an enemies to lovers trope. Overall, the movie is just that good, from the late pop culture references to the awesome gaming montage with “We Will Rock You” by Queen playing in the back.
For those of you reading this, you may think this is a whole lot of yapping but just hear me out; the movie is heavily underrated and I had to bring it to light. Every little tidbit with their riff raff automatically makes the film all the better.
