Most critics find Pixels a promising arcade-game invasion comedy undone by a lazy script, sluggish pacing and jokes that seldom land. Praise clusters around the pixelated effects and a handful of action set-pieces, while Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad receive credit for supplying energy missing from Adam Sandler’s performance. The prevailing complaint is that the film relies on recognition of 1980s games without doing enough to make that nostalgia funny; several reviews also object to its juvenile treatment of women.
The disagreement centres on whether the visual spectacle and retro premise provide enough compensation. NME offers the clearest positive response, finding likeable fun and decent gags despite Sandler, while Deadline sees entertainment for children beneath the uneven writing and pacing. Even the effects divide opinion: Slant Magazine finds the digital game characters charmless. The spread runs from modest enjoyment to outright exasperation, but the negative consensus is firm.
S
Screen Daily
22 July 2015
55*
The film is a competent if unremarkable package of comedy, action and 80s nostalgia that should appeal to families but feels tame for adults and insufficiently fun for kids; Dinklage's lively turn and the 3D effects are highlighted positively.
The premise that Adam Sandler plays a self-identified nerd is implausible, and the film is not very good overall despite some energy from supporting actors like Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage. It plays like a slapdash Happy Madison production with leaden direction and unfunny banter.
The critic finds the film has potential in its video game concept and effects but ultimately consists of only a few fun set-pieces amid dull filler and unappealing characters.
Impressive effects fail to mask an inane plot and childish humour; Sandler coasts on autopilot while co-stars like Josh Gad provide the few laughs, but the muddled tone and juvenile references draw more groans than smiles.
The film offers isolated moments of amusement as a send-up of alien-invasion movies but runs out of gas quickly and overstays its welcome. It may appeal more to kids than to adults invested in 1980s video game nostalgia.
The film takes a spectacular premise and treats it flatly with no sense of wonder, squandering a solid idea with built-in charm. The scattered parts never come together in a coherent whole.
The film is a special-effects eyeful burdened by yet another Adam Sandler man-child role and unoriginal 1980s nostalgia that has already been mined elsewhere. Special effects are pretty cool despite the lack of originality.
The big-budget Adam Sandler blockbuster is deemed too dumb for actual 1980s gamers and too lame for kids, aimed strictly at Sandler completists in a loosely sketched world where the president is Kevin James.
Adam Sandler phones it in with this dim-witted '80s nostalgia trip, offering mild visual distraction but no joy in the shtick. An adorable Q*bert is the most engaging character in an otherwise slapdash, casually sexist fantasy.
As a Happy Madison production, the film is exhaustively lazy in its valorization of the man-child, with director Chris Columbus softening it into family-friendly fare lacking visual imagination. It renders 8-bit icons chunky and charmless in CGI while indulging in misguided, infantilizing humor.
The critic finds the film a cheerless calamity with outdated gender politics and poor execution, praising only the initial nostalgic moments before it falls apart.
The critic urges viewers to run from this sci-fi comedy about arcade-game addicts defending Earth from space invaders. The film is seen as another low point for Adam Sandler, relying on nostalgia and pop-culture references while indulging in poor sexual politics.
The film is slow, dumb, and filled with empty pauses, showcasing Adam Sandler at his weariest under somnolent direction from Chris Columbus. It approaches cult-film weirdness through sheer idiocy but remains a bad movie.
The film is dismissed as complete rubbish that relies on unearned Gen-X nostalgia and features an exhausted Sandler performance, with cheap graphics and a misguided Ghostbusters vibe singled out for complaint.
The film is better than most recent Adam Sandler comedies and offers stupid summer fun for kids thanks to its retro video game elements. The special effects are first-rate and enjoyable, though the pacing and script are uneven.
The critic finds the '80s arcade nostalgia concept promising but criticizes the lazy script and Adam Sandler's sophomoric comedy for undermining the fun. The video game set pieces provide some highlights.
The critic finds Pixels a lazy cash-in on '80s nostalgia that fails to grasp its source material and treats its geek comedy in a pandering, Big Bang Theory-style way. Some praise goes to the visual flair of the pixelated CG setpieces and the comedic contributions of Josh Gad and Peter Dinklage.
The review deems the film a failure due to a poor script that doesn't effectively use Sandler as hero and ineffective 3D, though Columbus directs the action sequences competently. It fails to capture nostalgia like Guardians of the Galaxy.
The movie is a thoroughly numbing experience with a lazy, entitled fantasy premise that fails to deliver. It singles out the thrilling special effects of matter evaporating into digitized blocks for limited praise amid overall criticism of the characters and humor.
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