Reviews Film / Pixels

More fun than I thought, but Wreck-It Ralph did it better

I know what you're thinking: "How the hell could I enjoy something made by Adam-fucking-Sandler?" I'm well aware of his reputation for bad movies and when this came on the Starz channel, I went in fully expecting this to be as bad as people say. But after watching it, I strangely didn't have that feeling. I guess I had such low expectations for this film that I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. My opinion of this film is split between So Bad, It's Good and So Okay, It's Average.

• Pros:
  • The special effects involving the video game characters are quite impressive and beautiful to look at. Anytime a character gets pixelated, it's equally impressive and horrifying.
  • The film has some genuinely funny moments at times and there were some jokes that got a laugh out of me. The part with Toru Iwatani was the funniest part of the film.
  • The action scenes were pretty awesome.
  • The songs that played in some scenes were fun to listen to and helped made the action scenes cool.

• Cons:
  • We don't get much information about the alien invaders and at no point do any of the characters try to tell the aliens that the space capsule wasn't a challenge to them.
  • The Reveal that Eddie used cheat codes to both win the contest and make the car teleport is bar none, the most headache-inducing Ass Pull I've ever seen in a movie. How the hell do you use cheat codes in a fucking arcade game?!
    • Likewise, Q-Bert turning into Lady Lisa and making out with Ludlow is another Ass Pull and is just flat out disgusting.
  • Speaking of Ludlow, he's the most annoying character in the whole film. The others are tolerable at best, but he's the only character I genuinely hate. His constant screaming is ear grating and he's nothing but a walking stereotype of how people who play video games are basement-dwelling losers. As a gamer myself, I despise that stereotype with a passion.
  • The film also comes off as unintentionally sexist with the message that women are nothing more than trophies for men to be rewarded with such as Eddie asking for Serena Williams like she's just a prize and Ludlow's sick obsession with Lady Lisa.

Overall, It's not the worst video game film I've seen, but hardly the best. Like I said, Wreck-It Ralph did it better.