Common Sense Media Review
By Charles Cassady Jr. , based on child development research. How do we rate?
age 10+
Dated and mediocre but kid-friendly sci-fi from Disney.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
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Violence & Scariness
a little
Violence is mainly of the stylized, low-resolution video game style, literally. When fatalities happen, characters dematerialize (though there is also an energy-draining torture sequences when skeletons become visible). Bloodless collisions of spaceship-thingies, motorcycle-thingies.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
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Products & Purchases
very little
Dated plugs for arcade video games -- no names of real ones mentioned, but classic gamers will recognize Pac-Man noises in the background. Tron tie-in games were peddled (and later successors came out, especially in anticipation of a Tron sequel).
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Language
very little
A few "damns."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
very little
Brief dialogue indicates both leading male characters had previous premarital bedroom romps with the heroine.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
none
Nothing to speak of, but main character Flynn runs what looks like a saloon-video arcade as a side business.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
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Positive Messages
a little
While the good guys stage an illegal break-in at their place of business, they are otherwise supposedly on the side of morality in trying to take down criminal software tycoon Dillinger. There is a qualifier that both Flynn and his cohort have slept with the same girl (no hard feelings, evidently). In the "virtual" computer world, lines between good and evil are simply drawn, literally, with a religious angle: the software beings who believe in their "users" (that is, their creators) are subject to persecution/torture/execution by the nonbelief-preaching cyber-villains.
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Positive Role Models
very little
Dillinger embodies a longstanding Hollywood stereotype of businessmen as corrupt and dangerous. Few female characters or ethnic diversity in computer-world; it's implicit that program-based beings take on the appearance of their real-world creators -- overwhelmingly white, male software engineers. The human heroine is a brainy scientist, however.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that in addition to its cutting-edge special effects, this Disney feature was also a pioneer as one of the Magic Kingdom's early PG-rated films. To seem more "mature" there's verbal acknowledgement of premarital sexual relations among the main characters (nothing shown) and very mild swearing. Violence and death are unrealistic (mostly dematerializations) but in one scene a software-based humanoid being tortured reveals a glowing skeleton; small children may be troubled by that and some of the menacing imagery associated with the villains. Religious households might note the spiritual undertone about religious persecution. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
TRON
- Parents say (6)
- Kids say (18)
age 8+
Based on 6 parent reviews
Katherine R. Parent of 12, 14, 18+, 18+, 18+ and 5-year-old
September 14, 2024
age 8+
doctora Parent of 7-year-old
February 22, 2024
age 10+
Feels like the future
Difficult to imagine how much this little film that centers computers felt like it was changing the world and bringing us the future. As a kid, it felt like Tron was everywhere and where the future was headed. I did not watch it until 2009, but it was so ubiquitous in early 1980s culture that it didn't feel like I had to see it, I already was touched by its imaginings of the future.
What's the Story?
Unscrupulous computer magnate Dillinger (David Warner) financed his technology empire with a hit video game he shamelessly stole from fired programmer Flynn (Jeff Bridges), with the aid of a "virtual" partner in crime, an intelligent software called the MCP, or Master Control Program. The ambitious MCP, growing ever more powerful, now seeks to dominate the outside world as well. With the help of some friends left at the company, Flynn tries to break into the company mainframe for evidence of Dillinger's guilt. The MCP, however, uses an experimental laser to "digitize" Flynn, zapping the nuisance human right into the computer circuitry itself. Flynn finds himself in a fantastic electronic world, where glowing humanoids like himself -- the literal embodiments of computer software -- are forced to fight and die in video game-style tournaments as the ruthless MCP maintains its control.
Is It Any Good?
TRON offers mediocre sci-fi, but is agreeably kid-friendly, for the most part. It boasted revolutionary CGI special effects in the early 80s, although it probably will not impress modern kids. The basic premise is something out of The Flintstones: inside computers dwell little guys, who do tasks assigned to them as programs. For audiences of 1982, many of whom had never touched a keyboard or mouse, that seemed easier to accept than it might for later, PC-savvy generations.
As in many f/x spectacles, characters aren't too interesting. Flynn, as a mighty "user" incarnated as a fragile program (the unexpected Christian angle is one of the more inventive things about the predictable plot) wields ill-defined, demi-godlike powers. In other words, he's a cheat code. Though it failed to captivate viewers of all ages the way Star Wars or even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea did, Tron maintained enough interest to generate a sequel a quarter-century later.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the advancements in computerized special effects since this film. Does Tron still impress kids visually?
On a deeper level, discuss the script's metaphor of computer-generated beings who are victimized for proclaiming their belief in `higher powers,' their own creators. That would tend to make the human Flynn -- a real, live programmer downloaded into the mainframe -- very much a Christ figure.
Note the very naive, unrealistic depiction of pre-Windows computer technology, and talk about other movies of the era (such as Superman III) that saw computers of the time as miraculous and almost magical (sci-fi movies of the 1930s held the same awe for radio and TV).
Movie Details
- In theaters: July 9, 1982
- On DVD or streaming: December 12, 2000
- Cast: Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Jeff Bridges
- Director: Steven Lisberger
- Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
- Genre: Science Fiction
- Topics: Adventures
- Run time: 96 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG
- Last updated: August 17, 2024
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