Nintendo Fans Aren't Happy About Adam Sandler's Pixels

Gamers find Adam Sandler’s new film positively abhorrent, but really—who didn’t see that coming?

avl-letter-upper-case-v-stretched-wall-art-black-lg ideo games and cinema have notoriously bad chemistry. Gamers have to put up with directors who either don’t understand their subculture or pander to the lowest common denominator of movie-goer. The most recent example of geekrage has been aimed toward Adam Sandler’s nightmarishly bad video game spoof, Pixels.

It’s so bad, Nintendo can’t even promote the movie without provoking some harsh backlash. On Thursday, their official Twitter account tweeted a simple promotion of the film’s trailer.

Could you defeat Donkey Kong? Grab a hammer and watch the final trailer for #PixelsMovie, now in theaters. https://t.co/lTLtvDYoHp

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 23, 2015

It didn’t go over well.

@NintendoAmerica how can you sleep at night

— balrog (@BalrogGameRoom) July 23, 2015

https://twitter.com/mementomorrigan/status/624378118514601984

Just how bad is Pixels? If you’ve seen a Sandler flick in recent years, that isn’t really a question that needs answering. But of all duds in Sandler’s cinematic schlep, Pixels actually looked kind of promising. By that, we mean it has Peter Dinklage in it, which is about all the promise the trailers have to offer.

Peter Dinklage in Pixels. (Photograph: © PacificCoastNews)

For fans of classic video games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, however, not even Mr. Dinklage’s presence could stop the burning pain in their hearts, watching cringe-worthy clips of later-in-life comedians like Sandler and Kevin James desperately trying to remain relevant. Even a cameo by Pac-Man’s real life creator, Toru Iwatani, couldn’t save it.

https://twitter.com/RichardDDragon/status/624430145173082112

The film, which hit theaters today, currently holds a 19% “rotten” rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus: “Much like the worst arcade games from the era that inspired it, Pixels has little replay value and is hardly worth a quarter.” Neil Genzlinger, writing for The New York Times, opined: “Pixels is a special-effects eyeful burdened by the fact that it is also yet another film in which Adam Sandler plays a man-child who somehow turns the head of an attractive woman.”

@NintendoAmerica it makes me very sad that somebody at Nintendo OK'd this.

— StrikerObi (@StrikerObi) July 24, 2015

Echoing the sentiments of many Nintendo fans, Chris Stuckmann writes: “This movie is aimed squarely at my nostalgia, and thus many things I hold sacred have been desecrated by this unholy mess of a film.”