tiagojbastos

Before the original comic was adapted into this movie, it was also adapted into a two-part animated mini-series. That lacked some of the details of the source material, and rushed things a bit, but the minimalism was not only understandable, but somewhat lovable. This movie is the opposite of that, it tries to expand and add more, but in the end does not stand on it's own.

Almost from the start, the movie tries to create a love story that feels less convincing than a "my dog ate the homework" excuse, and this exposes the first big problem: the characters have no personality, and serve no real function other than making the story move along. By the end of the movie, one would be lucky to remember two or three character names apart from Alita. All one remembers is a CGI girl with unsettling big eyes, a scientist doctor that always feels out of the action, and the love interest on the "good guys" team, and generic bad man, generic bad girl and generic bad monster on the bad guys team. These flimsy two dimensional characters are backed up by bad dialog worthy of fan fiction written by a 10-year old.

So it comes down to how good it looks. The design is a mixed bag. Some of the android look superb, others look rushed and unfinished. The main character falls on the latter one. Some design choices are also quite questionable, like most characters looking clean and well groomed, when they are supposed to live in slums. The special effects (CGI) are as dull and uninspired as the rest of the movie, so it fits right in.

It's never easy to make an adaptation of a Japanese manga or anime. The 2017 Ghost in the Shell movie is proof of that, but Alita didn't have the same huge shoes to fill, it could have been an interesting movie, even with the design flaws. All it needed was a proper script.

I'm not going to explain much about this movie story/premise, because I assume most viewers were fans of the original Tron.

When I first heard about this movie, I couldn't be more excited: an old movie with brand new technology? Even if the story turned out bad, it was a new Tron, and that alone made it perfect.

I watched the movie last night, in 3D, and it was a very pleasant experience for the most part, but don't think this is a great movie, because it's not.

Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is back, and in two shapes. An older Flynn, and a computer generated younger Flynn. The computer model looks good (for the most part), and it was necessary, otherwise we would have ended up with an old man with a ton of make-up on it's face, just to shave off a couple of years.

The movie starts with Flynn disappearing, and his son entering the Grid world in search of him. It's textbook script, but then again, what could we expect from Tron? It was never about the story, and this movie proves it. The plot is weak, and weakened by poor/unnecessary dialog and very shallow characters.

Luckily, none of that matters once the Grid world is shown to us. Visually it's great, and the action scenes are fun and fast-paced. I even dare saying it's the best 3D movie I saw so far, which also poses a problem: this movie looks great and feels great only in 3D, and in the theaters. I can't imagine myself in a few months buying the movie to watch in my sofa.

Another problem with the movie is that half-way through, it becomes repetitive. Maybe if they kept the action flowing, with little dialog, this movie would have been better, but trying to add depth to such a poor script ends up boring the audience.

The bottom-line is: Tron Legacy if fan-service. It a re-rendered universe with very little story, but very good looking.

7/10 if you watch it in the theaters, in 3D 4/10 anywhere else