Enjoy the Book, and Enjoy the Movie

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2018)

I read the book a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed all the 80's references to movies, music, and video games. I was hesitant about seeing the movie, but Josh reassured me that it was worth seeing. It is worth seeing - it is different than the book. The quests for the keys follow different puzzles/mini-storylines, and there are other changes. The changes do not take away from fundamental enjoyment of the story - it is a fun trip down 80's memory lane. I had the sense that Ernest Cline and Steven Spielberg purposely made the changes to be able to reference even more 80's trivia that appealed to them and any movie fan. If Cline could have included every trivia reference that he had probably wanted to include, the book would have been twice as long. He was able to play with these other 80's memories by working with Spielberg. Finally, this movie is reminiscent of the original Spielberg movies we grew up with - fun times!!! Enjoy the book, and enjoy the movie as an inspired by but separate entity.