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It's been ages since I saw the original Tron movie, but I remember well all the date nights my husband and I once had when we went to the Reagan Years (an 80s arcade). I spent countless quarters on Centipede and Moon Patrol while he spent most of his time perfecting his game of Tron. When I ran out of money, I would just watch him play Tron. The idea of taking that simple game and making it into a giant effects movie sounded fun to me, although I didn't expect it to be the best movie of the year at all.

The movie stars Garret Hedlund as Sam, whose father Kevin (Jeff Bridges) once designed the world of Tron. He disappeared when Sam was young, and a mysterious page (yes, there's a pager in this movie) arrives that entices Sam to visit his father's old arcade. A secret office behind the Tron video game leads to an open portal that transports Sam to his father's virtual world and on a mission to find his father.

There isn't a ton of substance to the story, but it provides plenty of opportunities for impressive visual effects. The light cycle segments and the sets in the virtual world are all cool, especially Kevin's secluded house. The costumes are another fun part of the package; the only thing I didn't like about them was the weird segment where Sam receives his new clothes. Unfortunately, one thing doesn't quite work visually, and that's Clu, Kevin Flynn's virtual alter ego. Instead of having Jeff Bridges act the role and make him look younger with makeup and digital effects, this character was completely CGI. The CGI isn't good enough to make him look as real as the people he talks to, and as a result, some of the climactic confrontational scenes at the end of the movie lose their impact (because the audience is spending the entire time watching the lips that don't move in sync with the audio).

Another flaw is an odd scene with Michael Sheen, whose character is so ridiculous that he feels like he would fit better in a bizarre 80s movie like Labyrinth, but he doesn't fit with the overall tones of this movie.

Thankfully, the problems I had with the movie are few, and none detract enough from the spectacle it gives us. With a cool soundtrack from Daft Punk and a good performance from Olivia Wilde as Quorra, the movie has some fun touches I didn't expect, and those made it even better than just watching it for the action. Maybe I went in with low expectations, but I enjoyed it.