I have a confession to make—the idea of actually entering the world of a video game sounds like a nightmare. Fortunately for Disney, most of the rest of my contemporaries know how to operate every video game controller under the sun, understand the difference between an Xbox, a PS3, and a Wii, and would consider jumping into the grid of their favorite video or arcade game a dream come true. And with the release of TRON: Legacy over 25 years after its 1982 predecessor and after over a year of heightening buzz, that dream has arrived.

As for how that dream adds up, let's just say it that it's a fun ride but nowhere near the breathtaking experience of a real dream, the groundbreaking visual achievement of last year's 3-D pioneer Avatar, or the Wachowski brothers' mind-bending representation of a technologically based alternate reality in 1999s revolutionary The Matrix. That said, TRON: Legacy certainly looks better than its predecessor. While its entire futuristic grid isn't stunning, Flynn's residence (within the game's grid) presents striking architectural lines and details that make a memorable impact. Its flying and racing scenes deliver well-choreographed thrills. And while its world and story ultimately present slightly confused and overly simplistic messages, it still manages to touch on themes and questions that all of us know well.

If you're not familiar with it, the original TRON is the story of video game creator Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who gets sucked inside his own creation. It pits corrupt authority versus benevolent authority and deals with notions of freedom, control, and relationship between creation, its creator(s), and its "users." Picking up some twenty years later with Flynn still stuck in the grid of his creation, TRON: Legacy is the story of his son Sam's (Garrett Hedlund) accidental journey into the same world, his and Flynn's attempt to get out together, and their concurrent task of preventing Flynn's evil digital alter-ego Clu (also Bridges) from getting out. The battle between authorities continues and freedom versus control remains a main point of contention. However, central to the story in TRON: Legacy is the notion of imperfection, what it looks like to live in an imperfect world, and what, if anything, might deliver hope and salvation to that reality.

In many ways, both Flynn and Clu each portray different characteristics we often associate with the idea of a god/creator and that creator's involvement in our world. In Flynn, we see a creator whose visits to the grid used to always signal excitement and anticipation of a heightened sense of life and energy for the duration of his presence. However, as Clu sees it, to look to a man who visits their world for what seems like no more than his own amusement, who keeps them locked up and deprived of all that lies just outside, and who has done no more than hide away in solitude for the past twenty years is plain ridiculous. What he offers instead—the freedom and empowerment to experience all reality. However, considering Clu rules through fear and intimidation and kills off anyone and everything he see as imperfect or an obstacle to his plan to attain ultimate perfection and power, I wouldn't exactly pick him as my god of choice either.

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