Parents' Guide to Video Games: The Movie

The movie may be interesting to some, though its length and one-sidedness make it come off as a long commercial for unrestricted video game use. Most diehard gamers probably already know everything in Video Games: The Movie, but even those familiar with he names of the early game creators may still get a kick out of the A-list gaming visionaries Snead interviews, like Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Pong designer Allan Alcorn, and British designer Peter Molyneaux. And those who aren't in the know will learn a good bit about how video games became essential household devices -- not just for kids, but also for adults who grew up playing them. Some of the many (and seemingly never-ending) interviews trace the industry's growth from an innovation and economic standpoint (several interviews are with corporate types, like Nintendo COO Reggie Fils-Aime), while others focus solely on the ways that games have influenced pop culture since the early '80s.

Unfortunately, it's pretty boring to see a bunch of somewhat famous actors wax poetic about how much Nintendo changed their lives. Does it really matter that a sitcom actor remembers the first time he played a particular game? Snead spends way too much time on these less-than-insightful musings and not enough time trying to portray a balanced view of the industry. Instead of just showing various game creators and entrepreneurs make fun of the media for claiming that video games are violent, the director missed an opportunity to provide an opposing perspective explaining why games are (or aren't) different than movies. It also feels a bit pedantic for interviewees to claim that video games are the ultimate art form -- just as or even more important than novels -- without addressing the more mainstream use of games by those who don't consider themselves serious gamers.