Ready Player One: A Marvel of Pure Imagination.

As he did with Micheal Crichton's book Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg's take on Ernest Cline's best-selling novel, heavily deviate's from its source material but the spirit and themes are wonderfully intact.

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In the dystopian year of 2045, humanity isn't a desolate wasteland à la Hunger Games or Mad Max, but it isn't saying much when mobile homes are piled on each other in a junkyard suburb. What keeps the world from crumbling any further is a virtual reality program called the Oasis.

A taste of the of the virtual world of the Oasis

"A whole virtual universe. You can do anything, be anyone, without going anywhere at all." says Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a young Oasis enthusiast. "A world where the limits of reality are your own imagination." Wade spends most of his life in cyberspace than in cruddy reality and worshiping his hero James Halliday (Mark Rylance) creator of the Oasis who recently passed away.

Wade and Art3mis viewing a recording of Halliday (Mark Rylance)
and his friend Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) hoping to find a clue. 

On the day of his death, Halliday left a a final message of a scavenger hunt he left behind. Three keys are hidden in the Oasis, they unlock the location of a golden egg. The first one to find it not only inherits his entire fortune but total control of the Oasis itself. Under the name of his avatar Parzival, the search is on for young Wade aided by his crush Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), best friend Aech (Lena Waithe), and new allies brothers Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Phillip Zhao) before the egg falls into the corporate hands of Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn).

 Nolan Sorrento (Ben Medelsohn) head of IOI (Innovative Online Industries).

Ready Player One is Spielberg filmmaking at its best. From the storytelling and characters you feel like a little kid watching a Disney movie.

Wade and the gang deciding on what movie to watch

With nostalgia being the biggest trend this couldn’t have come at better time and boy are the pop cultural references off the charts! This movie could have a cheap ploy of style over substance but Spielberg is able to balance the nerdy material with a congruent plot. This is the same man who had a hand in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Animaniacs. Is it any surprise why Spielberg was chosen for the job?

Right to Left: Sorrento's avatar planning with  i-R0k (T.J. Miller) a bounty hunter. 

Admittedly the first half  is slow with mountains of exposition dumped on the audience. Show don't tell. What may work in a book doesn't always translate well onscreen. Thankfully, when Wade stops narrating and the rest of the cast is established, things finally kick in gear.

Spielberg prohibited any of his work from appearing in the film
but a couple including the T-Rex from Jurassic Park made it through. 

It goes without saying that this movie is jam packed with million of familiar characters from movies, television and video games. Of the few I spotted were Hello Kitty, Marvin the Martian, Ninja Turtles, Beetlejuice, Jason Voorhees, and Batman. Of the ones from the trailer were Freddy Kruger, Battletoads, Street Fighter, Overwatch, Chucky, Speed Racer, the Joker, Harley Quinn, the DeLorean from Back to the Future and the Iron Giant. There are tons more but I've said enough.

From Left to Right descending:
Gundam, Freddy Krueger, Tracer and Chun-Li, Joker and Harley, Chucky, Iron Giant

How many will you recognize? A dozen more viewings will be required to spot them all. Besides, to say what goes on in the Oasis wouldn't do it justice. Not to mention I would borderline into spoiler territory. This is movie you do not want to miss.

Like the Oasis, Ready Player One shows that there is nothing wrong with escapist fun and nostalgia but never forget that reality, rough as it, brings more satisfaction and meaning to life.

Final Verdict: (B)

Theatrical Poster