Pixels & Adam Sandler

The central premise behind the new Adam Sandler comedy "Pixels" is so undeniably promising on its most basic level that as I walked into the screening, I felt a genuine anticipation that I cannot easily recall ever feeling in conjunction with one of his films, at least of those cranked out by his Happy Madison production company. Unfortunately, a good premise can only take a film so far if it has been accompanied by abysmal execution. Oh, "Pixels" does have a couple of laughs scattered here and there, and the film as a whole is certainly better than such recent Sandler disasters as "That's My Boy," "Blended" and the truly inexplicable "The Cobbler," but when one considers how good this material might have been if placed in the right hands, to see it squandered this way makes it almost more painful to view than the typical Sandler stinker.

The conceit here is that back in 1982, NASA launched into orbit a capsule that contained numerous examples of our then-contemporary popular culture as a way of reaching out to possible alien life forms that might be curious to know about that thing that we on Earth called "The Pirate Movie," including a cassette chronicling a video game championship featuring young arcade masters showing their skills at the top games of the era. Unfortunately, a hostile alien force intercepts the tape, determines its contents to be an act of war, and begins sending down large and malevolent versions of the characters from those games to attack Earth as a response to the alleged challenge with the fate of the planet hanging in the balance. The spaceships from "Galaga" rain pixilated horror in Peru, a "Centipede" games breaks out over London's Hyde Park and the grid-like layout of New York City sets the scene for what proves to be the world's largest Pac-Man game.

Adam Sandler has been on a downward spiral for quite some time. But when I saw the trailer for Pixels I was actually a bit excited. The idea of aliens as classic video games brought to life sounded at least entertaining from a visual standpoint. While “Pixels” did have its moments of fun, it still carried the weight of lackluster characters and story.

Adam Sandler teams up with his usual film buddies and then adds some newcomers. Kevin James awkwardly poses as the President of the United States but couldn’t make any less sense in the role. Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage both have their moments in the film as comic relief but are underutilized as actors. The ring leader Adam Sandler of course has to force himself on the audience as the top dog despite being outshined by the rest of the cast. His character Brenner has to be superior to everyone in every way and it’s apparent and perturbed me quite a bit throughout the film. Brenner (Sandler) made everyone seem inferior to him and the “Pixels” plot suffered due to this element.

Overall “Pixels” had the potential to allow us to reminisce and did at certain moments. The classic video games we all know terrorizing our world was visually pleasing and entertaining but they were too short-lived. The characters’ backstory should have been much shorter and the focus should have been on the action. There were a few laughs to be had but they weren’t from Adam Sandler. Unfortunately Adam Sandler seems to ruin most everything he’s attached to and “Pixels” doesn’t give me hope for his future.