I loved Tron as a kid.It was bright and shiny and there was a cool line of toys.Then I tried to watch Tron again as an adult and cringed.How could it be that bad?Well I also loved Knight Rider as a kid,so obviously there is no accounting for the tastes of a 7 year old.The basic idea of Tron is that Kevin Flynn,genius computer programmer gets beamed into the grid,basically a computer operating system.In the grid,programs have identities and compete in frisbee fights and race motorcycles to the death.The sequel takes place many years after the first,and now Garrett Hedlund(Four Brothers,Friday Night Lights)plays Sam Flynn,Kevin's estranged son.Sam ends up in the grid and finds his long time missing dad,trapped by his own creation,CLU,a program based on Kevin, gone bad.I enjoyed this more than expected,and once again mostly on it's visual merits.All FX save one in particular are top notch,and the use of neon lights against a dark landscape work well.Hell even the soundtrack was damn cool,by techno robot group Daft Punk.Now the one FX botch was that CLU is a CGI version of a younger Jeff Bridges,and man is it bad.Several times it took me right out of the film because I could'nt help look at how fake it was.It is distractingly bad,especially when he talks.In something like The Polar Express it would have worked becasue all the characters are digital,but when put in scenes against real actors it is rough.Overall I have to step beside my own preconceived notions on this and give it a 3 star review.
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