Adam Sandler has made some very good movies, but lately his films have been pretty bad. His latest is something called “Pixels.”
Former championship gamers from the 80s, led by Sandler, are the Earth's only hope to do battle against several arcade game villains who are bent on destroying us.
In a triumph of miscasting, Kevin James plays the President of the United States who is best friends with Sandler's character.
Together, they take on such classic games as Pac Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders and many more. It is a weird movie in the sense that it is geared toward ten year olds, but I don't know if those kids are even familiar with any of those video game characters. Therefore, if that is the case, the thrill of seeing Centipede come to life will be probably be lost on youngsters.
As far as the people that do know these games, namely adults, they'll be mainly bored with the on screen antics.
The setup is also too long. The first half of the movie is predominately action-free and instead concerns itself with a dopey, flirtatious, romantic subplot with Sandler and Michelle Monaghan.
When the video game characters finally do start their invasion of our planet, like Pac Man attacking New York for example, the special effects look fake and unimpressive. It is a “Ghostbusters” wannabe, just nowhere near as good, with Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter DInklage and even Monaghan, in matching jumpsuits, firing on space aliens instead of ghosts.
It's not director Chris Columbus' finest moment and the entire cast seems to be just going through the motions for a paycheck. But that said, it's also not the worst Sandler film I've seen, as he does have a few funny moments. In addition, Dinklage managed to make me occasionally laugh.
Overall, it is not a total misfire, as some kids may like it. However, Sandler, who is talented, needs to start making some better movies.
Neil Rosen’s Big Apple Rating:
Two Apples