There is an innocent fun about Pixels that is irresistible. Josh Gad, who plays the conspiracy theorist Ludlow Lamonsoff, told this writer he likes to look at Pixels as the Amblin movie Chris Columbus never made. This movie looks at the Eighties through the happy lens of nostalgia. So it is 1982 and there is this video game competition on, where Sam Brenner is winning all the games till Eddie Plant distracts him to claim the championship. Cut to 2015 and Brenner is installing flat-screen TVs, Eddie is in jail, Brenner’s childhood buddy Will is the president of the United States and Ludlow is still a conspiracy theorist.
The world is under attack from aliens who misinterpret the games as a challenge to war. So evil versions of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Centipede are laying the world to waste and it is up to Sam, Ludlow and Eddie to save the world.
The visual effects are cool — it is fun the way things get decimated to their individual-coloured pixels. Adam Sandler plays the loser Brenner who saves the world. Peter Dinklage takes time off from playing Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones to play the brash Eddie Plant. Michelle Monaghan is Lieutenant Colonel Violet van Patten, single mom and weapons specialist. Josh Gad as Ludlow gets to sing ‘Everybody wants to rule the world’.
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For the Indian angle, the Taj Mahal gets pixellated just as Raj is proposing to his girl (they don’t tell us if her name was Simran). Kevin James as the President has all the funny lines and gags. After a point the attacks by the games get slightly repetitive but the bright colours and the tinny music take us back to a time when life was simpler.
Pixels (English)
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Director: Chris Columbus
Cast: Adam Sandler, Josh Gad, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage