Synopsis
Video game experts are recruited by the military to fight 1980s-era video game characters who've attacked New York.
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Cast
- Adam SandlerSam Brenner
- Kevin JamesPresident 'Chewie' Cooper
- Michelle MonaghanLTC Violet Van Patten
- Peter DinklageEddie 'The Fire Blaster' Planz
- Josh GadLudlow 'The Wonder Kid' Lamensoff
- Matt LintzMatty Van Patten
- Brian CoxAdmiral Porter
- Denis AkiyamaProfessor Iwatani
- Sean BeanCorporal Hill (SAS Officer)
- Jane KrakowskiFirst Lady Jane Cooper
Recommendations
- 50
Screen Daily
Sporting a flowing mullet and aviator shades, Dinklage perks things up considerably as the story’s comically arrogant bad-boy-turned-good-guy. - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
Pixels has a few inspired action sequences and a handful of laugh-out-loud moments, but overall the special effects are surprisingly average — and the lazy acting by Adam Sandler, the shameless mugging by Kevin James and the hammy performance by Brian Cox don’t help. Not even Peter Dinklage in a mullet can save the day. - 40
The Hollywood Reporter
At isolated moments a tolerably amusing send-up of alien invasion disaster movies in which the attackers are video arcade-era renegades arrived to gobble up as many famous landmarks as possible, this one-note comedy runs out of gas within an hour (it is based on a short film) and should have been trimmed to a neat 90 minutes. - 40
Time Out
The truly mystifying thing about the movie is how desperately it caters to Gen-X junk nostalgia without bothering to think that maybe those Reagan-era kids have grown up a bit. - 38
Movie Nation
The 3D adds little, and the hallmarks of the Chris Columbus directing style are unevenness and luck. With a little of the latter, this could be a huge hit. But with a better star, sharper script and more Dinklage, it could have been a champ. - 25
Slant Magazine
This is a Happy Madison production, and as such it's exhaustively lazy, outside of its righteous dedication to the valorization of the man-child. - 20
Variety
Where Sandler once exulted in our outrage (and frequently, our laughter), he now seems barely capable of mustering enough effort to carry a scene, let alone advance to level 255 of “Galaga.” There’s no joy left in his shtick. - 20
TheWrap
Pixels is ultimately a thoroughly numbing experience, not least because all the characters are doomed by a psychological flatness more two-dimensional than any arcade-game screen.
