Pixels

Pixels – In 1982, NASA sent out information into the depths of space which included examples of several video games with the intention of teaching alien life forms about Earth and its cultures. Many years later, an alien force arrives on Earth and, having misunderstood the messages of the information, attack with the ‘weapons’ of Earth (video games). The fate of the world hangs in the balance and only a small group of nerds, nicknamed the ‘Arcaders’, all of whom were once expert players of the video games in question can save humanity. Can these unlikely heroes use their outdated skills to fulfill their destinies or will the enemy prove to be one big boss too many?

Pixels (2015) – Director: Chris Columbus

“PixelsOfficialPoster” by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PixelsOfficialPoster.jpg#/media/File:PixelsOfficialPoster.jpg

Rating: 12

Running Length: 106 mins

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan

Genre: Science Fiction, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘PIXELS’

Whilst many of the old stereotypes of ‘gamers’ may remain, the rise of reclaiming the ‘geeks’ and ‘nerds’ tags as positive affirmations is something that has been increasingly recognised in mainstream circles. The atypical assumption being that people who played Dungeons & Dragons, watched Star Trek and played video games etc, were loners, mostly male and unable to find a girlfriend/boyfriend, but with the dawn (and world domination) of the internet, popular depictions of these same people has become increasingly warm and nostalgic, and ‘Pixels’ is a movie which fully embraces this shift in social perception. However movie makes still can’t seem to escape the ‘nerd vs jock’ dynamic as while movies like Pixels seem to shift some social recognition into the ‘nerd’ corner, this just plays out by making the self identified nerd more jock-like. Hardly the leap forward it thinks it is.

In the same way most video games play out, ‘Pixels’ very much resembles a platform game, each ‘boss’ being more difficult to defeat and more dangerous than the last until the final boss who represents the hardest villain to beat. With some likeable characters (although two of the protagonists, Ludlow and Eddie, played respectively by Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage, are very difficult to warm to due to the arrogance and/or creepiness of their characters) the audience can mostly engage with the cast and, with most of them being very down to Earth (which makes it all the more jarring for those that aren’t), they are carry the plot fine. With its central characters taking wildly different paths in adulthood, they come back together when faced with Earth’s imminent destruction.

Having a similar concept to the much more child-friendly ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ (which we review here), ‘Pixels’ is definitely more adult in tone. Slightly less offensive content than other comedies featuring the actors involved (although not much) the movie still shoots for lowest common denominator jokes. Some laughs but not as many as it thinks, but fun references that older viewers will get a lot of joy from, ‘Pixels’ is a one watch only movie.

CONTENT: IS ‘PIXELS’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

An army base is attacked by the aliens and the wall of a room suddenly explodes, throwing several soldiers into the air and landing seemingly unconscious. One soldier isn’t badly effected and, while standing outside, a large beam of light surrounds him and his body begins to turn into millions of pixellated blocks. He screams in pain until his head also turns into blocks, halving and falling away. This character is later seen alive as a hostage of the aliens, he appears terrified but otherwise unhurt. Throughout the film, another two people are taken hostage, each one screams in pain and fear as their bodies are pixellated.

A character is discovered to be hiding in the back of another’s van and, when confronted, it appears that he was planning to use chloroform to drug the person if necessary. The potential victim is angry about this and asks ‘why did you try to roofy me?’. Later, this character tells a friend that he ‘is the first guest (I’ve) had here voluntarily’. Throughout the movie, this character is shown to act like a stalker and parents may not like that his creepiness is treated by the others as simply a minor eccentricity which doesn’t have much impact on the other characters.

A teenage boy says that he is ‘in love’ with a female video game character who wears a very revealing dress. The dialogue isn’t too sleazy but it is obvious that this character lusts over this woman.

A young boy tells another character that the reason his parents have separated is due to his father having an affair with a 19-year-old pilates instructor. He speaks of this in a very matter of fact way and it doesn’t seem to bother him but the jokey attitude could be a little upsetting for children who may be going through a similar family situation.

A male character says that he wants a ‘romantic liaison’ with two female celebrities at the same time. This is then mentioned regularly throughout the film and, as he is able to meet one of them he attempts to seduce her, although she is disgusted by him. Later in the movie, two women stand at a window and their flirtatious looks show that they are clearly interested in fulfilling the character’s fantasy.

The scene involving a battle with Pac-Man has been heavily trailered, one of the main moments of this scene is when Pac-Man bites the hand of a man who has been pleading with him to find the ‘good’ part of him and stop hurting people. His forearm and hand become pixellated and he screams in pain. When those fighting Pac-Man realise that at certain points he is able to attack them, the scene suddenly becomes very intense. Pac-Man catches up to one of the cars and begins to ‘bite’ it, the man inside is terrified of being killed and cries out in fear.

Whenever the humans win a battle, the aliens give them a ‘trophy’ which takes the form of a life-sized, non-aggressive video game character. They are very sweet and innocent; when one is first revealed it appears to be very fearful but despite seeing this, one of the characters asks ‘can I kill it?’ which distresses it even more. Later, a young boy plays a video game which the dialogue suggests is very violent, the trophy is watching in shock and says ‘so much blood!’.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘PIXELS’ FOR KIDS?

‘Pixels’ is a fast-action, comedy movie that knows its audience and how to appeal to both the older and younger generations. With some adult themes and plenty of cursing, we feel this movie is most appropriate for kids aged 10 and over.

• Violence: 3/5 (During an attack, a soldier is killed by a game character. It crushes him and he screams in pain, this is very brief and the character is incidental so this should not be too distressing)
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (a character falls in love with one of the video game characters but she is taken back by the aliens, he screams in anguish but because this romance was very short-lived, this is not particularly sad although this character later laments his bad luck saying that she was all he ever wanted)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (the Pac-Man scene is very intense but most of the action is fun rather than frightening)
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (During an intense scene a character says ‘I’m gonna die a virgin!’. Some of the dialogue is sexual in nature, threesomes are mentioned, the word ‘slut’ is said several times, a female character is called ‘sugarbuns’)     
• Bad Language: 4/5 (frequent moderate cursing and blasphemy. A British character is very dismissive of the Americans and repeatedly insults them, spitting out the word ‘Yank’ and calling them names such as ‘nipple twisters’. There is a video of some school children repeating a rhyme, the video cuts out as they say motherfu…’ A character is called ‘fugly’ which is short for ‘f***ing ugly’)
• Dialogue: 3/5 (cursing and sexual dialogue)
• Other notes: Deals with themes of friendship, embracing the skills from your past, not forgetting your humble beginnings, bravery in the face of extreme danger and accepting people for who they are.

Words by Laura Record

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