A few saving graces would probably hamper its seemingly self-suicidal roll toward being a total junk, but new sci-fi comedy, “Pixels”, brow-raisingly gathers enough unwanted weight to make itself roll for more, on its way down to mediocrity.
That’s depressingly ironic, for there surely are some genuine efforts to draw chuckles and deliver some nostalgic moments, but lazy narrative development and incessant deployment of ineffective shticks, prevent it from happening. No, this maybe isn’t Adam Sandler’s worst, but could be one of the last five year’s least important comic big screen attempts.
The goofy idea is an Earth being invaded by extra-terrestrial forces after misinterpreting a NASA message as a declaration of war. This forces former game addict, Sam Brenner (Sandler), and his team of members equally obsessed with 80’s retro arcade games–this includes characters played by Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, and Peter Dinklage (basically a band of misfits)–, gear up for a war, to defend the planet.
Of these actors, only Dinklage has proven to have some decent take of his role, while Sandler and James resorting back to their old gimmicks, to provide what they seem to believe a massive entertainment.The attempt barely scores a hit, and if its an arcade game, it probably is down to its last life even before the Earth-saving mission begins.
But more laughably tragic, sadly, is that this film doesn’t even know how to make the best out of its few second-rate resources, and the result can never be better than vapid.
“Pixels” recreates some of the best things of the 80’s, turning those classic retro stars into the CGI monsters we probably have never imagined them to become. That surely is one hell of a witty idea, but you can’t seriously buy them at a price they seem to claim they deserve, when there’s much more defects in it, to keep us from giving the littlest of appreciation. There’s also a cameo that felt more like only inserted so they could add up some extra minutes to the film.
“Pixels” is the kind of game that even before you start pushing those game buttons, it’s already GAME OVER.
RATING: 5/10 (JE)
