My son had been bombarded by commercials for Tron literally everyday on the Disney Channel. He’s 5 years old. All he talked about was Tron and Cora and finding the boy’s dad, Tron this and Tron that, and he hadn’t even seen the movie.
So he was super excited to actually see Tron yesterday at the movie theater. The whole family went, and the theater was packed. Yet, my biggest concern was the run time of the film.
Yes, that was a big problem. My son started to get antsy from the beginning with the whole board meeting scene. Boring. I can’t even remember how long it was before Sam actually entered the arcade. (My son of course doesn’t even know what an arcade is..) Finally, when Sam entered the Tron universe, my son was engaged. He loved the light cycles and disc battles and fighting and the glowy world of Tron. The entire rest of the film was a complete bore. I could tell because my son was so fidgety throughout this movie.
Overall, my son liked the movie, but I could tell that there was way too much talking and not enough action to keep him interested in the film. Disney should know better. If the movie is not built for children, don’t promote it to children. TANGLED was great: perfect run time, no heavy back story scenes. Tron was so invested in relating the history of the “franchise” that it ruined the film for kids and probably some adults.
Personally, I liked it even though it was too long. I loved the music and the feel. I’d give it a solid “B.”