Pixels

The Pixels, the full-length film based on the short film made by Patrick Jean. Starring Hollywoods latest picked on man Adam Sandler. I used to be a fan of Adam Sandler films, but he has been on a the biggest down slope for the longest time. The story of the film is the United States sent up a video into space showing the culture of the 80's. In this video, they showed off older arcade games. Now it's 2015 and they believe this to be a declaration of war. So they make the war into a game and the only people to stop them are Adam Sandler (Same Benner), Kevin James (Will Cooper), Josh Gad (Ludlow Lamsoff) and Peter Dinklage (Eddie Plant).

Sandler and the Happy Madison crew have been a rut. Not making any good films. Not making any huge amount of money. In general, sadly, just wasting a lot of peoples time. This film, I think, is the light at the end of the tunnel. This film is nothing short of Oscar worthy compared to his last few films. The film overall has this great 80's feel to it. It shot like an 80's film and has the story of an 80's film would have. Even has the classic 80's score. Which all makes sense given the what the film is about. It feels a ton like Ghostbusters or at least steals a lot of the story beats. The comedy is good, but more on that later. All the actors get the shine in their own way which I personally liked. No one really steals the show, but it doesn't feel phoned in. Also, the film has a few very funny and cool cameos that I will not spoil for you. They all worked really well together on screen. The film's director Chris Columbus made a very sharp looking film and did a good job of switching tones from being funny to more light-hearted to action packed. The film also never really felt slow and always keep the story moving. I also will mention the CGI  having a very cool look and pixel look. Just because of its source.

The comedy of the film was good like I mentioned, but it isn't "I was rolling on the ground funny". It does miss. It misses a few times, but not enough for the film to not be good. It needed just bit more of the stronger jokes in the some areas. Also, the world building wasn't done well enough. I first off can't believe I am saying that in an Adam Sandler film, but back to the review. They do some things that I am happy they do, but they don't explain how they are done or shown. They make sense in the context of the film but still should have been shown. It's like they did 3/4 of the work but forgot about that last 1/4.  Also, this film is a very recycled film from Sandler, which to me is not a bad thing, but it also isn't anything fresh. Overall, this film feels like older Sandler film going back to the days of Wedding Singer, but with a Ghostbusters skin over it. Having good jokes well still having a heart to the story.

RATING
2.25 out of 4 Ticket Stubs