A strange beast of a film, as it starts out as a very
middle-of-the-road documentary about the surge of videogames and the hit
pinball machines took in the arcades back in the early 1980's, told
through the eyes of both a pinball enthusiast and machine collector and a
diehard videogame player of the earliest generation, both showing some
contempt for one another ... though in all honesty, neither the early
video games nor the pinball machines come across as totally exciting
(which in part of course has to do with their representation and in the
case of video games with their lack of sophistication compared to today's
games) - and when nobody expects it, the unbelievable happens: The Space
Invaders (yup, the thingies from that very game) jump off the screen
and shoot and burn to cinder a pinball machine collector, upon which the
characters, proudly represented on the pinball machines, come to life, and
fight the Space Invaders to the death. Now this definitely is a
weird experience, especially since the transformation from documentary to
animated action movie comes out of nowhere and the two parts, though
relying on the same characters, seem to be weirdly disjointed, but in such
a fun way you most certainly will not turn off once the transition
happens. And the animated action is charming indeed. In all, first and
foremost a great short for 80's nostalgia nights!!!
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