Disney's 1982 flick Tron is unique in that it walks the line between "forgotten" and "beloved." It's remembered, but not for all the reasons that it should be. More on that in a moment. Tron's story revolves around Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), a computer programmer who's trying to hack into the computer system of ENCOM, the company he used to work for. Flynn's searching for proof that Ed Dillinger (David Warner), the head of ENCOM, has stolen the ideas for the video games that put ENCOM on the map. Flynn's efforts are thwarted, however, by the Master Control Program that Dillinger has created. Eventually, the Master Control Program becomes tired of Flynn and beams Flynn into the computer. Master Control sends Flynn to the "Game Grid" and forces Flynn to compete in gladiatorial-style games against programs that Master Control has deemed obsolete. Flynn is at an advantage, however, having written the code for the games that Master Control uses. Flynn uses this advantage to escape the Game Grid. Flynn then teams up with Tron (Bruce Boxleitner), a security program, to bring down Master Control. Steven Lisberger, the director of Tron, had been fiddling with the idea of making a computer-animated film for a long time. In the mid-1970s, he and his animation company had put together a 30-second test reel of a backlit, computer-animated superhero. Lisberger states that he and his fellow animators felt that the character looked like he was made of electricity, so they named him Tron. Lisberger Studios eventually sold the test reel to several rock radio stations (for use as a TV commercial), but Lisberger and his animators continued to make plans to make a full-length feature film revolving around Tron. Finally, in 1980, Lisberger pitched the idea of a Tron film to Walt Disney Pictures, who accepted the project. Two years later, the finished film graced movie theater screens. As I said earlier, the film is remembered, but more as a technical achievement than anything else. Tron is acknowledged as being a (to quote the DVD case) "milestone in the history of computer animation," and it certainly is. However, it's also an entertaining film. Tron has a well-constructed plot and it's populated with characters that we care about. Tron has more merit than we tend to give it credit for.
Alan Howell is a native of Southern California. He loves movies of any and all kinds, Hollywood, indie, and everywhere in between. He loves pizza, sitcoms, rock and pop music, surfing, baseball, reading, and girls (not necessarily in that order).
