Pixels (2015)

Pixels (2015)

Pixels is a 2015 American science fiction action-comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures, 1492 Pictures and Happy Madison Productions. The film was directed by Chris Columbus. Its screenplay was written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling, with a screen story penned by Tim Herlihy and based on French director Patrick Jean's 2010 short film of the same name. The film features computer animated video games characters, special effects, and stars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson, and Jane Krakowski. The film's plot has extraterrestrials misinterpreting video-feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, and invading Earth using technology inspired by games such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders. To counter the alien assault, the United States hire former arcade champions to lead the planet's defense.

Storyline

Sam Brenner, Will Cooper, Ludlow Lamonsoff, and Eddie "The Fire Blaster" Plant all played classic arcade video games as teenagers. But now they have to use their skills to try to save the world from aliens. The aliens watched video feeds that they thought was a declaration of war. So they send down the classic arcade games to destroy earth. They also get help from a military specialist. They have three lives and if all three get used then earth will be destroyed, and every time they lose a live the aliens take someone's life. Who will win, us or the aliens? It's an all-out battle to save our planet and everyone on it.

Plot

In 1982, when Sam Brenner and Will Cooper are 13-year-old avid arcade-game players, a time capsule is launched into space containing a videocassette with video-game scenes from an arcade championship. Brenner and Cooper attend the event where they meet a fellow arcade gamer Ludlow "The Wonder Kid" Lamonsoff. The end results show that Brenner and arcade champion Eddie Plant have a tie. To settle it they have a go at Donkey Kong. But, in the end Eddie comes out victorious, where Brenner runs off stage close to tears.

In the present, Brenner works installing home-theater systems and Cooper is the President of the United States. In Guam, a U.S. military base is attacked by unknown objects that pixelated pieces of the base. Its soldiers are easily defeated and Sergeant Dylan Cohen is abducted.

Brenner, working at the home of divorcée Violet Van Patten and her son Matty, heads to the White House at Cooper's request. To his surprise, he finds Violet is a Lieutenant Colonel. Shown video of the attack, Brenner says it was carried out like in the old video game Galaga. Later, Ludlow takes Brenner to his home and tell him he's interpreted messages saying the aliens are attacking with creatures based on classic video-game designs, since they found the videocassette images a threat. If they win three rounds, they will claim the Earth. Though they and Cooper determine that the next attack will happen in India, they are too late. The Taj Mahal is attacked with Arkanoid paddles and another person is abducted as a trophy.

Brenner and Ludlow train soldiers to play these old games. Violet shows Brenner and Ludlow that the pixels are taken down by strong light beams. The next attack is in London, where the soldiers lack the skill to defeat the antagonist of Centipede. Brenner and Ludlow defeat it, however, and the aliens send a congratulatory message and the Duck Hunt dog as a trophy.

New York City is next, but the team needs help. Ludlow and Cooper retrieve an imprisoned Eddie, who is serving a sentence for fraud. Cooper agrees to let Eddie out of prison and relinquish his taxes in exchange for his help. The team discovers it must face the title character from Pac-Man and in order to succeed must defeat him three times. Violet presents them with four Mini Cooper cars based on the Pac-Man ghosts, with the other car driven by the game's creator, Toru Iwatani. Iwatani tries to appeal to Pac-Man as a son, but gets his hand bitten off. Eddie defeats Pac-Man twice but accidentally drives into the East River. Brenner eventually achieves the third defeat. The team celebrates but the aliens send message saying someone cheated and the contest for the planet has been forfeited. Matty discovers Eddie used a speed cheat. Eddie flees and Matty is abducted as a trophy.

The aliens cascade more video games on Washington, D.C. as they prepare to take over. Cooper joins the team, while Ludlow stays to fight. One alien takes the form of Lady Lisa, a character on whom Ludlow has had a crush since childhood. She fights Ludlow until he says he loves her and they share a kiss; and Eddie, wishing to make amends, returns to fight as well. Brenner, Violet, Cooper and Q*Bert, previously given as a trophy, are brought up to the space ship by Max Headroom. There they face the title character from Donkey Kong, who rolls barrels at the group to prevent them reaching the captives. Brenner throws a hammer at Donkey Kong, destroying him.

The team is hailed as heroes and a peace agreement is reached with the aliens. Ludlow says he's disappointed that Lady Lisa was taken back with the aliens, and, feeling sorry for him, Q*bert transforms into Lady Lisa. Brenner and Violet become a couple, while Eddie gets a text message from Serena Williams and Martha Stewart. A year later, Lady Lisa and Ludlow are married and have Q-Bert children.

Cast

• Adam Sandler as Sam Brenner, a former arcade world champion, William's childhood best friend, and the leader of the team.
• Anthony Ippolito as 13-year-old Sam.
• Kevin James as William Cooper, the President of the United States, Sam's childhood best friend, and a member of the team.
• Jared Riley as 13-year-old Will.
• Michelle Monaghan as Lieutenant Colonel Violet van Patten, a unique weapons developer and specialist for the military, a member of the team.
• Peter Dinklage as Eddie Plant, Sam's brash former video game-playing nemesis and a member of the team.The character's physical appearance and personality is styled after real-life Pac-Man and Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell.
• Andrew Bambridge as 13-year-old Eddie.
• Josh Gad as Ludlow Lamonsoff, a conspiracy-theory-obsessed, genius with poor social skills, and a member of the team. Unlike the rest of the group, he was an 8-year-old child in the 1980s.
• Jacob Shinder as 8-year-old Ludlow.
• Brian Cox as Admiral Porter, a military heavyweight.
• Matt Lintz as Matty, son of Violet.
• Ashley Benson as Lady Lisa, a beautiful warrior from the fictional 1982 video game Dojo Quest.
• Jane Krakowski as Jane Cooper, the First Lady of the United States and the wife of William.
• Denis Akiyama as Toru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man.
• Matt Frewer as Max Headroom.
• Sean Bean as Corporal Hill.
• Affion Crockett as Sergeant Dylan Cohan.
• Dan Aykroyd as 1982 Championship M.C.
• Fiona Shaw as the British Prime minister.
• Nick Swardson as Pac-Man victim.
• Lainie Kazan as Mickey Lamonsoff.
• David Ray Keyes as the voices of Q*bert and the Q*bies
• Jackie Sandler as Jennifer, President Cooper's assistant.
• Jared Sandler as Jared, President Cooper's junior aide.
• Tucker Smallwood as CIA Chief.
• Sadie Sandler as Lemonadie Sadie.
• Sunny Sandler as Sweet Scout Girl.
• Daryl Hall as Himself.
• John Oates as Himself.
• Serena Williams as Herself.
• Martha Stewart as Herself.

User Review

The idea and the storyline of this movie was very good. It was very creative and it brought back memories of older games such as PAC-MAN, Galaga, and Donkey Kong. The CGI for all the animated game characters was awesome. The cartoony animation was absolutely great and made the characters fit in well with the real world.

The comedy was hilarious! I found myself laughing very hard at times and it was just great, classic Happy Madison humor. Part of this was because of the acting which was great by the way. Everyone keeps saying that Adam Sandler is not funny anymore but I disagree. He still was funny at times to me and I thought he did good acting. Kevin James as the president was hysterical. Michelle Monaghan did great. But the two who were just hilarious and almost made you cry because they were so funny was Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad. They were so funny and the stuff they said and did was totally laugh out loud funny.

Surprisingly, the action in this movie was really good. The PAC-MAN car chase, the Donkey Kong battle, and the video games attacking the city was great action and there were some cool new stunts I have never seen before and that was nice to see in a comedy film.

If you love the old time video games, Happy Madison, good, laugh out loud comedy, and some cool and comical action then you will love this movie. Sit back, don't take it too seriously, and enjoy this fun film.