I give it a big MEH!

Rating: 5/10 (3 April 2018)

***SPOILER FREE***
Let me begin by saying, I'm at big 80's fanboy because I lived through them during my teenage/young adult years and loved (almost all of) it! I just read the book last week and I just saw the movie today, so they are both fresh in my mind.
As someone who is old enough to have geeked out to all of the references in the book, the movie feels like it dumbed things down for the general masses. Too many of the exciting things from the book never made it into the movie. The movie plot is thin and it relied too heavily on the visuals, trying to make it appear to be more than it is. The hunt for the keys is too quickly/easily resolved. I know that there are details that would be practically impossible to bring to the big screen, but they took a lot of liberties with the story line in the movie and it lost a lot of its appeal.
The cavalcade of easter egg characters and visual references in the film doesn't make up for what is taken from the main story. I know I missed a lot of these references having only seen the movie once, but I don't care. There isn't enough interest in the main movie to keep me coming back for those hidden gems along the way.
Also, there is a bit of "bait and switch" going on because several of the songs used in the trailer are non existent in the movie. I know this happens in other movies as well, so while I'm not surprised, I am very disappointed.
High potential and mediocre results. 5/10