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Parents' Guide to

Video Games: The Movie

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Homage to gaming pioneers is tween friendly but overlong.

Movie NR 2014 105 minutes
Video Games: The Movie Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 6+

Based on 2 parent reviews

age 6+

Useful message with fun

We all love video games and this movie shows that fun in an interesting manner. I love this movie a lot. I like the transitions and animations added in this movie. Being a video editing and animation aspirant, I wish I'll be able to create these types of effects myself too. https://www.admecindia.co.in/courses/video-editing-courses-delhi/

This title has:

Educational value
age 5+

Theminingblog

I love this and I totally recommend it."it's so cool becuse it's history but you can just say hey I have that video game. Bye

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (2 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

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.

Movie Details

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