Pixels - Donkey Kong

The Pixels movie certainly has a creative plot. 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. This leaves the President of the United States no option but to recruit a team of old-school arcade players to save the planet. Yep, this sounds totally plausible.

Of course, this movie is just a thinly veiled excuse to pay homage to arcade classics and drag nostalgic gamers into the cinema to relive their glory days. However, what would the movie have been without Nintendo's Donkey Kong? Speaking to WIRED, Pixels director Chris Columbus explains the challenges of getting Nintendo to agree to feature DK in the movie:

I was excited because the script had a Centipede sequence and a Pac-Man sequence, but what the first draft of the script did not have was Donkey Kong. After months and months of meeting with the board of Nintendo they agreed that we were going to treat Donkey Kong with respect and the proper gameplay, which was very important, and bringing Donkey Kong into the film was a slam-dunk for us.

Given that the movie is currently nursing a lowly Metacritic score of 27, Nintendo might live to regret that decision. We'll leave you with this excerpt from the amusing Portland Oregonian review of the movie.

There are legitimate excuses for going to see Pixels. Losing a bet, perhaps. Having a loved one held for ransom. Maybe a serious blow to the head. But none of those (except maybe the last) would allow you watch and actually enjoy the latest cinematic leavings of Adam Sandler.

Are you going to ignore the critics and go to see Pixels anyway? As always, let us know your thoughts with a comment below.

[source wired.com]