Forty years on, and Spielberg hasn’t lost a step. The 80s gave us Amblin Entertainment, and while it’s had its up and downs, it’s always circled back around to suck us into the big screen, and send us back to our childhood in the blink of an eye. E.T., Gremlins, Back To The Future, Jurassic Park; and the other icons and legends of their days. Spielberg wasn’t always at the hem, but his curiosity and wonder could always be felt in every frame of these films. Now, the best storyteller in Hollywood delivers once again, with an adaptation most fans thought “unfilmable.” Ready Player One is a 140 minute love letter to a bygone era. The years when these larger than life legends brought us dreams of something greater than ourselves. When pop culture WAS culture. At the same time, it speaks to a new generation of lost children, teens, and young adults. “Kids” who use escapism probably more than any generation before them, with access to digital worlds always at their fingertips.

“People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay for all the things they can be.”

Ready Player One takes place in the “not too distant future,” after the corn syrup drought, in the midst of economic stagnation and overpopulation. Columbus, Ohio is the fastest growing city in the world, and so many citizens are forced to live in the “stacks,” shanty towns made out of piles of trailers. The world’s only escape? The Oasis, a virtual reality wonderland, with no limits on where you can go or what you can do. A few years ago, the creator of the Oasis died, and left a challenge to the Oasis players: complete 3 challenges, find 3 keys, and inherit his fortune, and control of the Oasis itself. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and his friends dedicate every waking hour to solving the riddles of the Oasis, in the hopes of saving themselves from their awful existence in the real world.

Now, the concept of a film taking place mostly in a virtual world is not new by any means. Movies like The Matrix and eXistenZ have explored the idea at both ends of the spectrum, from an addictive escape, to a horrific prison. While the purpose and execution of the Oasis are simplified in Ready Player One, from the universally used virtual world of the book, to more of a worldwide game in the film, it doesn’t lose any of its lustre or wonder in the process. The CGI does an amazing job of making the Oasis feel alive and dynamic, and it’s never distracting, considering the effects are constant. Juxtaposing the broken city of Columbus and its stacks with the endless amusement and imagination of the Oasis makes it quite clear and understandable why the false reality would be chosen by the masses.

“Ninjas don’t hug!”

The audience is meant to view the Oasis through the same lens as the player characters themselves. And this is where the central appeal of the film comes from. Outside of Spielberg’s superb storytelling, Ready Player One is jam-packed with pop culture references and nostalgia. It’s essentially two plus hours of gamer geeks, film fanatics, and TV nerds pointing at every inch of the screen and going “Hey, look! Hey, look! Hey, look!” Now, while that may sound childish to some, it’s quite an experience for members of the generations that can share in the nostalgia being presented. 80s kids, and 90s kids who’ve had their icons and heroes passed down to them get to see all their favourite classics up on screen at the same time. Everything from Battletoads, to the DeLorean, Freddy Krueger, Mecha-Godzilla, and the Iron Giant make an appearance. Yes, it’s self-indulgent. But we get to take part in the indulgence as well, without irony or guilt. It’s just pure, unadulterated fun.

Now, that’s not to say the film is without flaws. Ready Player One was an imperfect book, and it’s an imperfect film. The opening scenes try their best to fill you in on the necessary history of the world, but still rush along at a breakneck pace. The central romance is sudden, and doesn’t quite work. A couple seemingly necessary emotional beats are  glazed over at the midway mark. And the closing moments suffer the same issues as the beginning. But oddly enough, the catharsis of Ready Player One doesn’t lie in the final scene; it’s in the journey itself. This Guy can be honest and say he had the dumbest grin on his face the entire time, and just when he thought he knew exactly what to expect, a tear was almost shed. It’s that impactful at times. You’ve seen E.T. You’ve seen Jurassic Park. It’s a Spielberg film. Expect it.

“Thanks. Thanks for playing my game.”

Ready Player One might not go down in the same annals as Spielberg’s other classics, but for sheer enjoyment and ability to connect with its intended audience, it deserves to. The classic hero’s journey at the film’s centre is by the book, and predictable, but you don’t go into this movie for something brand new. You go in for something old and familiar, polished and put on a pedestal for you to look up to like you did when you were a kid. To jump back into your own little world of escape for just a couple hours, and remember that you’re not alone. This movie is for all of us.

This Guy Scores It: 8/10