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[On TV during the ball. Reciting] “New York was in trouble. / Pac Man caused a ruckus / But the Arcaders saved us / ‘Cause they’re bad mother – [TV broadcast is interrupted]” – Choir Kids
Number of Times Seen – 1 (14 Jun 2020)
Brief Synopsis – Aliens mistake a message from Earth as being a call for war and use Video Arcade characters to attack the Earth.
My Take on it – This is a film that I have avoided ever since it came out because I’ve never really been the biggest fan of Adam Sandler films.
In the end, I chose to watch this movie or this series because it fit in so perfectly to my schedule and I went in to watching this with very low expectations.
As a child of the 80’s I was entranced by this film because it features so many of the video arcade games that I grew up with and still have fond memories for.
This enhanced the film for me so much and I’m sure that others who also are of my generation and who were fans of video games at the time will equally enjoy the way that this film brings forth such nostalgic themes so well.
The film utilizes modern special effects really well and that helps make these animated creatures come to life; Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Qbert, Galaga and Centipede and more all look fantastic with modern CGI graphics.
The film’s overall story is extremely weak and silly and even at certain points things hit rock bottom, but the scenes that do work (which are mostly action scenes) helps make this so enjoyable to watch.
The film has a spectacular cast that almost all fit so well into the geek/nerd ideas of the 80’s.
Sandler has Kevin James, Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad all join him on this quest and they are all perfectly cast in these roles.
The odd (wo)man out here tho is Michelle Monaghan, who is a great actress but fails to integrate herself well enough into this geek crowd for us to believe her character.
They do an amazing job integrating lots of TV and Movie nostalgia from the 70’s and 80’s and that also helps make this feel so retro in order to bring back feeling of my own youth 40 years ago.
Bottom Line – Really fun film especially for those of us who grew up on arcade games of the 70’s and 80’s. The special effects are done quite well and help make these animated creatures come to life. The story itself is a bit too crazy for its own good and at certain points, really hits rock bottom. The cast is spectacular and really fit into this kind of story with Sandler, James, Dinklage and Gad all doing great jobs with these characters to help make them so much fun to watch. I love Monaghan as an actress, but she is the one casting decision that really doesn’t work at all. Loved the way that they integrate nostalgic 70’s and 80’s film and TV into the story in some very clever ways. Recommended!
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The movie’s video game high scores are based on real scores. Sam Brenner’s Pac-Man score of 3,333,360 is the highest attainable score for the game, first achieved by Billy Mitchell. A higher score is possible on the Namco Pac-Man Anniversary edition machines. Ludlow Lamonsoff’s Centipede score of 16,389,548 is one point higher than the real-life marathon world record set by Jim Schneider. Eddie Plant’s Donkey Kong score of 1,068,100 is 100 points higher than Hank Chien’s former world record. (From IMDB)
Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)
