****SPOILER ALERT***********
I went to the midnight showing Friday with my wife and 3 year old son, who was equipped with his Tron:Legacy Clu lightcycle in his little hand. We stood in line with anxious fans who, to my surprise, were mostly teens or college age adults. This gave me a good feeling that a new "legacy" has begun for a new generation. The smell of marijuana wafted into the queue from behind me, a little to my chagrin.

After getting our tickets and 3D glasses, we stood in line for some popcorn, and my son decided to race his lightcycle a bit on the floor. We paid our additional price gouge for the food and moved on to the theater, wherein an usher looked at our hobbit sized Tron fan and said "Hey, our youngest Tron fan! Or maybe just mom and dad?" My wife grinned and said "Oh no, he's already indoctrinated."

We picked our seats, a little toward the front, sat down and relaxed. I was certainly beside myself in anticipation of the film. Once the movie started, the rowdy bunch behind us were addressed with a firm "Shut up!" by another moviegoer. The screen went black, and the show has begun.

And now . . . you have been warned. If you don't want a spoiler, do not read on . . .

My thoughts.

I was immediately impressed by the age regression effects on Jeff Bridges. I've seen similar effects on Ian McKellen in X-men, and of course the CGI in Avatar, but this, like Roger Ebert said, was uncanny.

I personally felt like I was taken into Sam's adventure. I felt the lostness that Sam felt on losing his dad, not knowing why he didn't come back. I felt that same lostness as Sam was doing his little stunt on Encom. While he was the biggest shareholder of Encom, he had no vision, no sense of purpose. The same gifts as his father, but without the fanciful vision and entrepreneurial spirit. He had no purpose, and was squandering the legacy his father left behind.

I thought the miracle of the ISOs was one of the enigmas of the movie. Something that couldn't be entirely explained, but I did "get" it. I understood what Flynn saw in them, and being that it changed Flynn's original gameplan to create the perfect universe, Clu had a problem with it as it overrode his primary function. I think an encompassing theme could be stated in the line Flynn said (pardon me if I misquote): "I was trying to find the answers to life's problems, but the answer was right in front of me the whole time". He was referring to his son, and I think he saw this future through the union of Sam and Quorra. Not just the future of humanity, and not just the future of the ISOs. I think the vision is much broader. While I would have liked to see Sam show his "user powers" in the movie, I think it may have been inapropriate being he was a sort of "lost puppy" character, and the director wanted Flynn's hidden powers to really shine at the end of the film.

I don't know what the issue is with the critics of this movie. I understand they all say the plot is weak, but all of them fail to point out exactly how it is weak. I'm sorry, but saying something like that is like writing on a map's blank space "Here be monsters". Unless one provides solid examples of how the plot is weak, I don't really care about your opinion. I understand the plot, and frankly, I loved it. I also couldn't help noting how in many ways a sequel can develop from this, given Sam and Quorra's relationship, Flynn had absorbed Clue and given the grid a "blank slate", and Tron turned good in the end.

The movie surpassed my personal expectations. I couldn't help noting that some of the themes were ideas that were communicated once and a while in these very forums. We can congratulate ourselves for being committed fans. I think Disney has been listening to us, and Disney has answered. Who cares about the critics? Go stand in line, get the glasses, buy some overpriced, oil saturated puffed starch and a Coke, sit down and enjoy the ride.

On a personal note . . . I was saddened the character that inspired my username went bad.