A little bit goes a long way

Rating: 5/10 (28 March 2020)

Gamers in the future virtually battle for what are, in reality, the 'keys to the (virtual) kingdom'. Based on a book of the same name (that I have not read) the movie is a vast CGI extravaganza supporting a simple 'treasure hunt' plot and endless allusions to 1980's pop culture. As a nostalgic boomer I usually like that sort of thing, but after an interesting first third, the film's incessant bombardment of pop-imagery became tiresome, then almost embarrassing. Typical of director Steven Spielberg's youth-targeted films, the film is full of 2D characters, superficial situations, artificial sounding-dialogue, and saccharine sentiments. I stopped caring about the story during the endless 'Where's Waldo?'-style battle and just waited for the film to wrap up in the inevitable smarmy group-hug ending. Technically, the film is amazing but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being co-opted into someone's cloying, self-indulgent second-childhood dressed up as 'hip' (please substitute current slang equivalent).