Arcadia

Computer games started as other fun interactive pastimes and the most popular originally were perhaps arcade games.

Children and adults alike throughout time have enjoyed competing for high scores and have anticipated the elation which comes with winning these games.

What makes these pastimes so alluring is both the interaction with the characters inside the games and the journey to get to the end result. Be we winners or losers, these playtime 'gadgets' allow the spirit a form of release.

The latest 'Pixel' film, although super simplistic in terms of the idea: humans versus game characters, and in terms of its plot or script, is surprisingly funny and entertaining.

The entertainment is due to the make believe factor of the game characters coming to life larger than light and the fight scenes with the humans trying to annihilate them. 

It takes the idea of playing the game to another level making these characters enter into our reality.

There are however a few messages at play here too: games should remain games and remembered as such, otherwise they can take over our realm. Life is to be enjoyed and not wasted away completely in front of a screen. 

The other inherent message is that when we play that much and live these games so fully we allow them to take over our existence. This is portrayed in how the attacking pixels manage to change the humans into blocks of energy, light and graphic images when they touch them.

The idea is that we can play but we must remember that these are only games no matter how interactive they are and they should only be a small part of our daily lives. When we create them and allow them too much life in our minds, they can take over and that is not healthy.

The graphics and music are very generic, ie; bright coloured Lego like blocks of graphics with the escalating thriller type music in the background whenever there is a scary fight scene or approaching danger.

The best part of the film is obviously the cast including Adam Sandler who is a king of comedy and the dialogue holds enough humour to carry the film through. 

The humour is a blend of crazy erratic emotional pitches and of surreal characters reminiscent of the mad hatter who change their emotional pitch and their approach at every turn and at the drop of a hat.

It also combines ego with realism and this makes it comic as well. 

Sandler is the usual blend of humble, layed back, confident, 'say it like it is' kind a guy and the others are a combo of status characters who fumble and fall and are OK with making fools of themselves whilst taking themselves seriously in their positions of power at the same time. 

One of my favourite characters is the young 'glasses wearing' nerd who goes from wacky confident drill sergeant type to nerdy frightened collapsing type within minutes. 

This erratic behaviour in a few characters is a good formula for comic effect. (Glasses nerd guy with the army guys is a very funny scene).

PAC man and his dad are quite hilarious for a moment or two with one piece of dialogue summing up how life and its relationships can take so many different turns at a moment's notice.

New York is a good setting for one of the final scenes because it has the kind of street structure which is very similar to the computer generated twisting and turning paths in most of these games.

Pixels isn't a surprise as a film, as the idea essentially isn't new and it is a natural evolution to have games move from small TV screens or PCs to the big screen. One screen is much like another in this day and age but for the size and the experience which differ depending on the setting and the game itself.

There is at present a trend of Cinema sliding back as an industry, unless it keeps generating new technology and special effects -which Hollywood tries very hard to achieve. 

Not only has television and computer or phone streaming and downloading become more popular, more accessible and faster, but the content of film has reached a saturation and thus Film constantly needs to compete with these other mediums. 

One way to do so is technology and a 3D or 4D or even 5D effect to heighten the sensory experience, otherwise Cinema can easily become obsolete in an age where everything and everyone move so fast. 

Having a closer to home or easier medium to reach/access is preferable for fast paced city slickers, busy families and travelling workers or holiday makers.

Like video games and video tapes or even CDs, the big screen is giving way to portable streaming downloading screens and to less time consuming play times.