Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Pixels 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

8-bits of death...and depth.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 16, 2015

Does the old 80s argument of "but the game will improve my hand-eye coordination!" still hold any water? Do today's parents -- those who grew up on the NES and Genesis consoles -- still buy that line from their own kids who, instead of jumping with Mario and sprinting as Sonic, are scaling impossible obstacles in Uncharted on the PlayStation 4 or blasting aliens in Xbox One's Halo 5? Heres hoping the answer is "yes," even if today's games are a bit more, uh, "mature" than stomping on cute little Goombas or making a mad-dash to the next set of rings. Besides, who knows if there will ever come a day when Greek Gods need slaying or the Locust pop up from out of the ground. It'll be gamers on the front line (and, in truth, they already are) with all that hand-eye coordination leading the charge to victory. Director Chris Columbus' (Home Alone) Pixels plays on that idea and takes it to its most literal yet illogical extreme when gamers must play the game in real life in order to defeat an invading alien force in what is sort of like a real-world take on The Last Starfighter and Tron. The movie is cute and fun. It works well enough and looks amazing -- really, the pixelated destruction and massive scale are spectacular -- but it always feels like greatness is within arm's reach rather than firmly grasped from the get-go.

He ain't afraid of no ghost.

Young Sam Brenner (Anthony Ippolito) is a natural in the arcade. He's able to see patterns in the games and instinctively understand the mechanics, allowing him to dominate everything from Pac-Man to Galaga. He enters a national championship tournament but finishes behind Eddie Plant (Andrew Bambridge), a feisty, self-centered player who brings more than skill to the controls. Years later, Sam's (Adam Sandler) talents haven't taken him very far. He's doing home theater install work, but his chubby childhood friend William Cooper (Kevin James) has grown up to be President of the United States. When a U.S. military installation in Guam is destroyed by an alien armada, Cooper calls in Brenner for help. He recognizes the aliens' attack patterns as resembling those of the classic arcade games he used to play. Now, he must team up with an adult Plant (Peter Dinklage), a lonely conspiracy theorist (Josh Gad), and a troubled single mother (Michelle Monaghan) to save the world from oversized real-life versions of classic video game characters.

Pixels tries a bit too hard to toe that fine line between pure fan service and wide appeal. It succeeds in a general sense but winds up favoring the latter more than the former. The result is a film that, rather than stand at the top of the heap in geektopia, plays as just another big special effects Comedy that's good for little more than mindless entertainment, this time with some familiar digital faces thrown in for good measure. Adam Sandler and Kevin James largely follow suit, portraying their characters with just a touch of over-the-top enthusiasm without diving too deeply into potentially audience-alienating geekdom. Sandler is far more believable as a grown-up game nerd than is James as President of the United States, but every "Alien Invasion" movie needs a Bill Pullman type and James fits the part agreeably enough, playing a goofball Commander-in-Chief whose status as the most powerful man of the world seems more a commentary on the voters than it does the office or the character himself. They make for a fun pair (and it's not their first, or even second, go in the same movie) that thrives on the movie's inherent silliness and their ability to work the parts to the movie's general advantage. Peter Dinklage is a real treat as the pint-sized gaming champion, but the movie seemed to miss a great opportunity with his character. Wouldn't it have been great to see him taken out at the end by a Fallen Captain and replaced with a suddenly appearing Nolan North? Oh well, maybe in Pixels 2: The Next Generation (Of Gaming Hardware).

Here's hoping that sequel happens, because there's so much juicy material this movie misses and that would be perfect for a followup. The reliance on classic characters only makes contextual sense given the nature of this movie's plot, but one would think that some greater pool of material might have attracted more viewers and given the movie a more diversely entertaining arrangement. Here's an idea for the sequel: the characters must traverse through various video game worlds, a mashup, of sorts, that's the kind of thing Nintendo should be doing with its Amiibo figures (playing as Pikachu in a Zelda level, running through a Mario level with Little Mac, that kind of thing). But since this is a Sony production after all, have the characters blasting through the worlds of Killzone, rubbing elbows with Ratchet & Clank, racing in Gran Turismo, and doing the things Kratos and Nathan Drake do in the aforementioned God of War and Uncharted games. Heck, one of the main characters could even go all Evil Cole on the group. There's practically an endless string of possibilities, even just taking Sony's own PlayStation exclusives into account. Not only would that be pretty great (if done right), but it could build on the cross-generational theme that runs through Pixels in which Sam Brenner tries to understand the "randomness" of modern gaming rather than the patterns and numbers that made the classics, for him, easy to master.

Pixels 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Pixels is a mixed back 3D experience. On the one hand, the 3D effect is pretty cool. On the other, the image basics lag behind the stellar quality of the 2D-only release, which is included in this set. As for the 3D experience, basic depth is generally strong, less so during static dialogue scenes, with some notable exceptions such as the expansive backdrop appearing behind Peter Dinklage's character the first time the audience meets his adult version. The 3D effects excite in action, though, where there's a tremendous sense of general space but, more important, volume and scale. The pixel enemies look remarkably full, with every little bit fully formed in 3D. There's no shortage of flinch-worthy effects as bad guys and debris hurtle towards the viewer, seemingly out of the screen. A few effects even appear to extend beyond the confines of the "black bars" for an added jolt and sense of pop. The review equipment did reveal a fairly regular barrage of crosstalk.

Unfortunately, the image suffers elsewhere. Viewers will note two main differences between this and the 2D version, namely significantly warmer colors -- which are most readily obvious on orange-pushing flesh tones -- and darker blacks that delve into crush. Darker backdrops are often devoured, but the good news is that brightly colored alien invaders nicely stand apart during nighttime and low-light battles. But even bright daytime shots suffer from a slight drop in vibrancy and color nuance. Natural greens aren't quite as precise and Brenner's orange work shirt isn't quite as vivid as seen in 2D. The plus side is that there's not a noticeable drop-off in detailing. Faces remain complex, clothes sharp, and the graphics stunning. The film is worth watching in 3D, but those looking for the purest picture quality won't find it with the added dimension in play.

Note that screenshots in this review have been sourced from the 2D-only disc and are not reflective of the 3D picture quality experience.

Pixels 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Pixels' 2D presentation features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, but the 3D version contains only a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. While there's a minor difference in terms of fullness (compared to the core Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack) both are fairly evenly matched. Clarity is excellent here, unsurprisingly, with rich and room filling music in play throughout. Action scenes are dynamic, with big, sweeping movements enveloping the stage and thunderous heft supporting the film's most prominent sound effects. Light ambience in several key areas remains impressively immersive. Dialogue is rich and center focused with perhaps a hair more in the way natural reverberation where the other track lacked it.

Pixels 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Pixels contains a handful of featurettes, a music video, and a photo gallery, all in 2D and appearing on the included 2D-only disc. The 3D disc does contain 3D previews for The Walk, Hotel Transylvania 2, and Goosebumps but no additional bonus content. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Making of/Special Effects/Scene Recap Featurettes (1080p): Most of the disc's extras simply take a look at various video game characters (including the original Dojo Quest character "Lady Lisa" played by Ashley Benson), their place in the movie, and making their scenes both practically and digitally, all intertwined with clips from the movie. Included are Pac-Man (4:32), Donkey Kong (4:07), Centipede (3:36), Galaga (3:33), Dojo Quest (4:20), and QBert (2:32).
• God of the Machine (1080p, 1:36): An all-too-short look at Toru Iwatani's personal history and role in the film.
• Music Video (1080p, 3:59): Game On by Flocka Flame ft. Good Charlotte.
• The Space Invader (1080p, 1:40): A short look at a Space Invaders high score player who won a part in the movie.
• Photo Gallery (1080p).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Pixels 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pixels is a movie that should be goofy fun, and it is, for the most part, but one -- gamers, particularly -- cannot watch and think of all the missed opportunities to make it something special. Even with the limited pool of classic video game characters, the film feels a little limited and, frankly, aimed more at the thirty something crowd that grew up on them rather than the younger crowd that grew up in the open worlds of Grand Theft Auto and the like. Still, Pixels offers up healthy fun. It errs on the side of mass appeal goofy, and it's so vapid that anyone who's seen the trailer has practically seen the entire movie. There are no real secrets or surprises, just a run-of-the-mill Comedy-Disaster-Alien Invasion movie that replaces generic bad guys with the arcade favorites of the actors' youths. For mindless fun, Pixels satisfies, but there's a lot of room for improvement and growth if the franchise continues, and here's hoping it does, because the core idea is terrific and there are plenty more video game characters to employ. Sony's Blu-ray 3D release is enjoyable, though with some caveats. The 3D effect works well, but color pushes darker. Sound has been downgraded from Dolby Atmos to DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for the 3D presentation. No bonus content beyond 3D trailers is added from the 2D-only release. 3D-equipped fans should ensure this finds its way into the collection, and since it comes with the visually and aurally superior 2D release, a purchase is a win-win.