Pixel Perfect
Pixel Perfect | |
---|---|
Promotional advertisement | |
Screenplay by | Neal Shusterman |
Story by |
Alan Sacks Neal Shusterman |
Directed by | Mark A.Z. Dippé |
Starring |
Ricky Ullman Leah Pipes Spencer Redford |
Theme music composer | Phil Marshall (musician) |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Don Schain |
Running time | 85 minutes |
Production company(s) | Gaumont Film Company |
Distributor | Disney-ABC Domestic Television |
Budget | $4 Million |
Release | |
Original network | Disney Channel |
Original release | January 16, 2004 (USA) January 21, 2004 (UK) |
Pixel Perfect is a 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie. It aired in the United States on January 16, 2004 and in the United Kingdom on January 21, 2004.
Plot
Pixel Perfect begins with teenager Roscoe trying to help his best friend, Samantha. Sam's band, the Zetta Bytes, is struggling. Despite her vocal talents and guitar skills, Sam is told that she needs to dance in order for their band to succeed. Roscoe uses his father's computerized holographic equipment to create a sentient, autonomous humanoid hologram called Loretta to dance for the band.
At their first gig, a school dance, Loretta is a big hit with the audience. The entire band loves her, except for Sam, who is jealous of Loretta's "perfection" and suspects that Roscoe likes Loretta more than her. Despite her feelings, Sam agrees to take care of Loretta to keep Roscoe's father from finding and deleting her. With Loretta in the band, the Zetta Bytes manage to land a gig at a club that had previously turned them away. Their second performance goes well - until the very end when Loretta starts to lose her pattern and the crowd realizes she is a hologram. After a moment of silence, the crowd erupts in applause. The novelty of a holographic rockstar catapults the Zetta Bytes to fame. Sam becomes jealous of the attention Loretta is receiving while Loretta struggles with her identity as a mere software computer program and hologram. She wants to experience life as a real human being in an actual physical body of living flesh and blood. After a major argument with Roscoe, Loretta escapes into the internet, and emails herself to Sam's computer. Roscoe becomes frantic and rushes to Sam's place for help.
During which, Sam confronts him on his real feelings for Loretta. She believes he may have romantic feelings for her and probably so, because she's "perfect". But Sam reminds him that Loretta's not real. When Roscoe rebuffs her statement asking "What is real, anyway?". It's then that Sam states that she's real and she's always been there. Sam tries to make it more obvious that she has romantic feelings for Roscoe by kissing him. But when he doesn't respond to her affection, Sam's left hurt. She gives him Loretta and leaves. Later on, Roscoe realizes that Sam was right and soon realizes he may return his feelings for Sam.
Roscoe and his father attend a meeting with Harshtone Records, the company that is recording The Zetta Bytes's first CD. Harshtone informs Roscoe that they have decided to team up with Skygraph, his father's company, and make more holographic rock stars. But when Roscoe realizes that they are planning to rob the holograms of their individuality, he argues that Loretta is not just a computer program, but a sentient, autonomous person with a mind and will of her own, sensations, thoughts, personality, feelings and emotions. Despite Roscoe's father siding with him, Loretta is taken from them. At the last moment Daryl Fibbs, an employee at Harshtone, has a change of heart and decides that every performer, including holograms like Loretta, should have a choice. He gives her the option to stay at Harshtone or escape into the internet. Loretta goes into the internet a second time, and Fibbs quits Harshtone.
Unfortunately, the Zetta Bytes cannot find Loretta before their next concert. Sam tries to replace Loretta on stage, but falls, slipping into a coma. When Loretta comes back out of the web and sees that Sam is unconscious, she enters Sam's brain through an EEG machine in an effort to help her. She arrives in Sam's mind, finding Sam caught in her own depression. Loretta shows Sam that she hates that everyone thinks she is perfect and that she envies Sam's ability to learn. They discover that there is only enough room for one of them in Sam's brain at a time. Sam wakes from her coma, with Loretta inside of her mind. In a real body for the first time, Loretta goes outside into the rain. A lightning strike hits Sam and when she wakes up, it appears that Loretta is gone forever.
At the Zetta Bytes' final performance, Sam sings about Loretta's death. She and Roscoe are finally together. After Sam finishes singing, the band realizes there was an extra voice singing the harmony. Roscoe sees Loretta's ghostly figure in the spotlight, and he comments that The Zetta Bytes have a guardian angel.
Cast
- Ricky Ullman as Roscoe, an intelligent sixteen-year-old whose father owns SkyGraphs.
- Leah Pipes as Samantha, Roscoe's best friend. Sam is a skilled vocalist and plays guitar for her band The Zettabytes. She feels her inability to dance is holding back the band, which ultimately leads to Loretta's creation. Sam is initially jealous of Loretta, but the two grow to understand and appreciate each other.
- Spencer Redford as Loretta Modern - As a humanoid artificial holographic intelligence, Loretta is incredibly skilled and intelligent. She is an excellent dancer and is often perceived as a perfect Holographic Rockstar. Despite this, she frustrated by her inability to interact with the physical world and her own limitations as a programmed entity. Loretta is capable of traveling along the internet and interacting with electronic devices. When she is present in the physical world, passing through doors or glass distort her pattern, revealing her holographic nature. Loretta's name may have been taken from a lyric from The Beatles' number one single "Get Back".
- Porscha Coleman as Rachel
- Tania Gunadi as Cindy
- Nate Stevens as Max McAllister
- Joyce Cohen as Dr. McAllister
- Anthony DiMaria as Weldon Giles
- Chris Williams as Daryl Fibbs
- Max Robinson as Moxley
- Mike Peterson as Steele
- Michael Patrick as Mom
Soundtrack
On January 16, 2004, the soundtrack to Pixel Perfect was released on CD by Disney Records. The CD contains 8 tracks as follows:
- Perfectly - performed by Huckapoo
- Nothing's Wrong With Me - performed by Loretta Modern and the Zetta Bytes
- Notice Me - performed by Loretta Modern and the Zetta Bytes
- Get Real - performed by Loretta Modern and the Zetta Bytes
- When the Rain Falls - performed by Loretta Modern and the Zetta Bytes
- If You Wanna Rock - written by Jay Lazaroff and Erik Isaacs, performed by Lalaine
- Don't Even Try It - written by Andrew Lane and Douglas Shawe, performed by Jai-Da
- Tru Blu - Performed by Lil' J Featuring Chase
The following music from Pixel Perfect does not appear on the soundtrack album:
- Polka Dots - written by R. Durrant, N. Pynn and S. Holland
- Long Boards, Short Summer - written by William Pearson, performed by William Pearson
- Driving With the Top Down - written by William Pearson, performed by William Pearson
- Arabian Romance - written by Crispin Merrell