Pixels

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Pixels

PG-13

Released Jul 24, 2015

1h 46m

Comedy

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Sci-Fi

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

18%

Tomatometer

205 Reviews

46%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

When aliens intercept video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack Earth, using the games as models. Knowing that he must employ a similar strategy, President Will Cooper (Kevin James) recruits his childhood pal, former video-game champ and home-theater installer Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), to lead a team of old-school arcade players and a military specialist (Michelle Monaghan) in an all-out battle to save the planet.

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Critics Consensus

Much like the worst arcade games from the era that inspired it, Pixels has little replay value and is hardly worth a quarter.

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

Livemint

The film catalogues the worst set of performances seen in a while, particularly Dinklage's accent and Gad's pubescent antics.

Aug 15, 2019

Full Review

Tara Brady

Irish Times

It's a neat idea for a parody disaster film but it's wholly lost in this melange of underwritten characters and awful dialogue.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 7, 2016

Full Review

Alison Willmore

BuzzFeed News

There are scenes in the surreally lazy, occasionally funny Pixels in which Sandler's face slips into the exact same weary, disgruntled expression he wears in Funny People.

Nov 10, 2015

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...a fun, innovative premise that is, for the most part, employed to underwhelming and frequently tedious effect...

Rated: 2/4

Aug 13, 2022

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

The humor is juvenile and inane, the characters are unbelievable and over-the-top, and the overall temperament is childish.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jun 9, 2022

Full Review

Nikki Baughan

AWFJ.org

Monahan is at least given the chance to get her teeth into the role of the army specialist drafted in to help kick some otherworldy ass.

Oct 4, 2021

Full Review

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Maxwell D

The only good thing about this movie is the concept.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

07/10/25

Full Review

Ryland C

Great premise, great execution, amazing CGI with the 8-Bit video game aliens, it’s great!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/10/25

Full Review

Alexander S

The premise was absolutely glorious, given that it was an adaptation of a short film by Patrick Jean. However, Adam Sandler’s Pixels unfortunately plummeted with the usual immature toilet humor that we’ve come to expect from Sandler. The A-list cast’s performances looked embarrassing, and the story was incredibly dumb. It was almost depressing to watch such a concept with high potential get squandered with such awkward potty humor. On the bright side, the CGI was an exceptional win. Grading: D

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

07/09/25

Full Review

John M.

Pixels Plot 5.0 not the dumbest movie idea ever and honestly like the idea of aliens coming in the form of nostalgic video games Characters 6.5 funny dumb characters Cast 7.8 some great one trick comedy actors gotta love Adam Sandler and the crew Pacing 4.0 god this movie just jumps right in Cinematography 5.6 for this being a comedy movie I was impressed Ending 6.8 pretty good ending Overall 5.9 Pretty good for a comedy action scfi movie definitely not anything great but also it’s uniqueness helps it out a lot though it was also hurt by the fact that for a Adam Sandler movie it wasn’t as funny as most for me

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

07/09/25

Full Review

Henry D

The criticisms of this movie are clearly absurd and anyone who watched it thinking it would be a cinematic masterpiece (as most critics appeared to have done) and not a silly movie targeted to kids with a few extra jokes for parents are ridiculous. Fun movie especially when you get the references and I thought that the cast was quite well put together.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/06/25

Full Review

Yavanplayz ,

Great movie from my childhood

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/15/25

Full Review

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Chris Columbus

Director

Adam Sandler

Sam Brenner

Kevin James

President Will Cooper

Michelle Monaghan

Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten

Peter Dinklage

Eddie Plant

Josh Gad

Ludlow Lamonsoff

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Synopsis

When aliens intercept video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack Earth, using the games as models. Knowing that he must employ a similar strategy, President Will Cooper (Kevin James) recruits his childhood pal, former video-game champ and home-theater installer Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), to lead a team of old-school arcade players and a military specialist (Michelle Monaghan) in an all-out battle to save the planet.

Director: Chris Columbus
Producer: Allen Covert, Mark Radcliffe, Chris Columbus, Adam Sandler
Screenwriter: Tim Herlihy, Timothy Dowling
Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Production Co: Columbia Pictures, LStar Capital
Rating: PG-13 (Suggestive Comments|Some Language)
Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 24, 2015, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $78.7M
Runtime: 1h 46m
Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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