Tron (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

Tron (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition)
by Steven Lisberger, Robert Meyer Burnett

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DVD details

Actor: Billy Crystal, Bruce Boxleitner, Harrison Ellenshaw, Jeff Bridges, Roger Allers
Director: Robert Meyer Burnett, Steven Lisberger
Brand: BRIDGES,JEFF
Producer: Harrison Ellenshaw
Producer: Donald Kushner
Writer: Steven Lisberger
Producer: Jeff Kurtti
Producer: John Bernstein
Writer: Bonnie MacBird
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.20:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-01-15
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Video

DVD Reviews of Tron (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

DVD Review: Too old to be trendy
Summary: 3 Stars

That was maybe an interesting film when it came out but now it is obsolete and old-fashioned. The "plot" is too complex to be clear apart from the thief who steals the intellectual property, and copyright, of someone else and gets the profit and the fame for a computer game he never produced. Then the attempt to introduce a super controlling software to take over all games is slightly overdramatic and leads to a messy situation in which we hardly recognize the characters, apart from them being red or blue, because of their costumes or uniforms or whatever that hardly let their noses and eyes peep out of the dark grey plastic. The special effects are today very old and lack a lot of elaboration. They are simple and the whole film becomes humdrum after a short while.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID

DVD Review: A Good Job!
Summary: 5 Stars

This is another of my favorite movies. This DVD copy is great. I like the way they did the menu on this. Another great movie!

DVD Review: The birth of digital candy...and it's a classic
Summary: 4 Stars

I watched this DVD again last night, just to see if it was only my memory recalling some of the "good old days" or to see if this really is a classy and classic film. Well, it turns out that it was NOT just my selective memory thinking that this was an awesome show! It is a classic bit of sci-fi and movie-making history.

I recall the first time I saw TRON. I saw it at a matinee when I was in college. I told my friends about it...I went back again that night, and to the matinee again the next day.

This movie represents a great example of the genesis of computer animation for full-feature films. It was originally released in 1982, and now, 27 years later, it is still extremely watchable, though the special effects are extremely dated - even so, I still think that the disc games and the light cycles are the coolest! The light cycle game has even resurfaced in a game called "Light Bike" that came on my son's iPod touch. Take that detractors!

One of the things that made this film memorable was not only its computer graphics, but it was released in the hey day of video game arcades. The joint experience of this movie and the phenomenon of classic video arcades made for a memorable experience.

As for the movie itself, well, the acting is marginal, but the story line is intruiging, and, at the time the computer graphics were mesmerising. All in all this is a keeper, and I'm glad I have my own copy.

When I watched it last night was, however, the first time I'd watched this DVD on a big screen TV (50" 720pi plasma). I found that the image was at times a bit grainy, so that was a little distracting, but not significantly so.

So, all in all I award this DVD 4 stars. If you remember hanging out in video game arcades, the launch of MTV, and you are any kind of sci-fi fan at all, then this is a must-have product for you.

DVD Review: OK in the 1980's, deeply disappointing now...
Summary: 2 Stars

This film was considered really out there and revolutionary when it was released, and while the film has a great central concept, its execution is boring, stilted, clumsy, and disappointing. It wasn't a particularly good film back in 1982, and it's even worse today. The computer effects, while still interesting, seem antiquated and really are only for nostalgic people who miss Atari and Colecovision. The lead characters (except for Jeff Bridges, who is so good all he has to do is show up, and David Warner, an excellent British character actor) are boring, and the actors who play them (Bruce Boxleitner and Cindy Morgan) are tepid. Boxleitner, who plays Tron and Tron's "user", is especially limited, dull as paste. Many people think that Bridges played Tron, but he doesn't (he should have). Morgan is cute, but she's just cheesecake here (the only other film I remember her in was in Caddyshack). While the film was mounted handsomely (shot in 70mm), it's a simplistic film, with bad, wooden dialogue and choppy pacing. The score by the great Wendy Carlos is excellent though, and is available on CD.

Tron reminds me of The Black Hole, which came out a few years earlier and was a pretty ambitious movie for Disney. It also had (for the time) great special effects (which still look good), but had a lousy, simplistic story that undermined the film. The Black Hole had better performances and was the better of the two films.

If you have an inkling for 80's nostalgia and video games, rewatch this film. Otherwise, it's a really dated film that will probably produce chuckles and boredom rather than a sense of awe.

DVD Review: The Game of the Century
Summary: 5 Stars

The incredible influence the movie had on the use of computer graphics can never be understated; and through the "game" that drives the action is a thought-provoking exploration of the human soul in the age of an amazing technological revolution that seemingly makes the individual nothing more than a museum piece.

David Warner (Ed Dilliger, Sark, voice of Master Control Program) does an excellent job in personifying evil. And the battle between good and of evil is brilliantly illuminated by Jeff Bridges (Kevin Flynn, Clu), Bruce Boxleitner (Alan Bradley, Tron) and Cindy Morgan (Dr. Lora Baines, Lori).

The wealth of bonus material includes a look into the designing, storyboarding, digital imaging and marketing - which was extensive - of the film, along with a look at the deleted scenes.

Rarely can a film be definitively pointed out as one which truly helped revolutionize the entertainment industry. This is one of these very rare cases.

Description of Tron (20th Anniversary Collector's Edition)

A masterpiece of breakthrough CGI ingenuity, Disney celebrates the 20th anniversary of TRON, a dazzling film at the flashpoint of a continuing revolution in its genre. This special collector's edition showcases an epic adventure inside a brave new world where the action is measureed in microseconds. When Flynn (Jeff Bridges) hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer to prove his work was stolen by another executive, he finds himself on a much bigger adventure. Beamed inside by a power-hungry master control program, he joins computer gladiators on a deadly game grid, complete with high-velocity "light cycles" and Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), a specialized security program. Together, they fight the ultimate battle with the MCP to decide the fate of both the electronic world and the real world!

The surprising truth about Disney's 1982 computer-game fantasy is that it's still visually impressive (though technologically quaint by later high-definition standards) and a lot of fun. It's about a computer wizard named Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who is digitally broken down into a data stream by a villainous software pirate (David Warner) and reconstituted into the internal, 3-D graphical world of computers. It is there, in the blazingly colorful, geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace, that Flynn joins forces with Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) to outmaneuver the Master Control program that holds them captive in the equivalent of a gigantic, infinitely challenging computer game. Disney's wizards used a variety of cinematic techniques and early-'80s state-of-the-art computer-generated graphics to accomplish their dynamic visual goals, and the result was a milestone in cyberentertainment, catering to technogeeks while providing a dazzling adventure for hackers and nonhackers alike. Appearing just in time to celebrate the nascent cyberpunk movement in science fiction, Tron received a decidedly mixed reaction when originally released, but has since become a high-tech favorite and a landmark in special effects, with a loyal following of fans. DVD is a perfect format for the movie's neon-glow color scheme, and the musical score by synthesizer pioneer Wendy Carlos is faithfully preserved on the digitally remastered soundtrack. --Jeff Shannon

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