The plot falls short especially with the main group of protagonists, who remain underdeveloped and stale by the end of the story. Like it's quite obvious Daito and Sho exist purely for Chinese audiences to fawn over. Would it really have killed them to develop either of these two characters even a little? On another note, the villain is perfect for the world being built with this story. He's a gd cartoon character with insane yet understandable motivations. I love how they handled him in the movie.

But I must say, the visual effects are indeed stunning. It could have been used on better writing, but despite the runtime that can drag, this is an overall fun time especially if you ignore the way the video game world works, because the more one analyses it the more frustrating and in disbelief I was left. It's obvious they had to take some liberties in making characters act totally different from what nerds IRL would do if this story was real, like how the main character was the first to hit reverse at the start of the first big race. Yeah right, but I'll let it slide.

I find it hysterical how seamlessly Spielberg managed to craft a grand-scale video game epic that manages to be kick ass despite its many faults while simultaneously conveying to impressionable younger audiences that reality is more important than any digital fantasy, the caution one must take when engaging in online relationships, and the importance of touching grass. Truly, this is one of the video game movies of all time.