READY PLAYER ONE

Name: READY PLAYER ONE
Item: READY PLAYER ONE
Author: Steph Manthe

"Amazing Adventure"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

READY PLAYER ONE is the new science fiction movie by Steven Spielberg from the bestselling book by Earnest Cline. Wade Watts doesn’t have a perfect life in Columbus, Ohio and is very unhappy. So, he hides playing the virtual reality game Oasis, the game Wade and everyone else is obsessed with playing. The game’s creator has put a secret “easter egg” in the game. If someone finds it, they win the creator’s vast fortune and can control the game. Trying to find the secret egg, Wade meets Samantha, who’s also trying to win. Her father was killed by an evil man named Nolan, who also plays the game. If they work together, they can stop Nolan from taking over the world.

READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacular, entertaining adventure with a strong plotline and amazing special effects. It has a strong, redemptive moral worldview. To save the world, the hero must learn to love and support others rather than just help himself. READY PLAYER ONE does contain too much unnecessary foul language and some other objectionable elements, so extreme caution is advised.

Content:

(BB, CC, O, Pa, LLL, VV, S, N, A, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Strong moral worldview with strong Christian, redemptive metaphors set partly in a fantasy game world of helping others, people sacrifice themselves for others, and hero has a sword graphic on his back that looks like a Christian cross (his avatar is Parzifal, a reference to the Knight of the Round Table who found the Holy Grail used by Jesus), plus the villain uses magic and characters are infatuated with a person, like a pagan idol;

Violence:

Strong and light violence includes violence happens within a fantasy gaming world, but it’s like a cartoon, man blows up a group of homes, and it’s implied that two people are killed, woman comes after man with an ax, blood rushes out of an elevator, man pushes a woman, zombies are characters, and an animated “Chucky” appears with a knife;

Foul Language:

28 obscenities (including one “f” word) and four profanities;

Sex:

One character dances sexually with a teenage boy, and there’s a kiss;

Nudity:

A character is naked, but all the private parts are covered;

Alcohol Use:

Light alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking and no drug references; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Greed and lying but they’re rebuked.

More Detail:

READY PLAYER ONE is a science fiction adventure about a young man obsessed with a virtual reality game called Oasis, but who finds out there’s more at stake than winning a game, so he must learn to work with others to save the world.

Wade Watts lives in Columbus, Ohio with his Aunt and her down-and-out boyfriend. Every day, Wade goes to a secret hideout he’s made to play a game called Oasis. Oasis is a virtual reality game to which almost everyone is addicted. The game’s creator, James Halliday, has made a competition within the game. If someone finds a hidden “easter egg,” then they will receive lots of money and control the whole game. Players must find three keys that each give a hint to where the egg is. So far, no one has found even one key.

Wade has studied Halliday’s life and tried to learn the ins and outs of the game. In the game, he has an avatar named Parzival. One day, while trying to get the first key, he meets Samantha, a girl who calls herself Art3mis in the Oasis game world. Samantha is known for being a very good player. Wade instantly falls for her, but Samantha doesn’t instantly fall for him.

Soon, Wade figures out the puzzle leading to the first key. Samantha sees what Wade does to get the key and copies him, so she also gets the first key. Now, they are both closer to winning the game, but Samantha reveals that she’s trying to stop an evil villain, Nolan, from winning the game because he killed her father. Nolan has built an entire company, whose sole purpose is to find the easter egg so that Nolan can control all the people in the game. The two must work together to beat Nolan and save the world.

Directed by Steven Spielberg from a bestselling novel, READY PLAYER ONE is a fun, fast-paced science fiction movie made for the video game audience. Though this is the case, viewers don’t necessarily have to be a video game player to enjoy the movie. The movie is entertaining throughout and has explained the plotline well, even though it is taken from a complex book. Computerized special effects are a key part to making this movie work, and they’re incredibly well done. As a result, Spielberg has produced a spectacular, roller coaster ride of a movie.

READY PLAYER ONE has a strong moral worldview. The hero wants to help others and learns to love and support others rather than just help himself. Though this is the case, the hero idolizes the game maker and is a “fanboy.” Of course, the Bible teaches us not to worship false gods or false idols. No one is perfect, and all idols will promise rewards they can’t fulfill. The Bible also makes it clear that the Triune God is the Divine Source of all life and all goodness.

That said, READY PLAYER ONE also contains some Christian, redemptive allegories. For example, the game is called Oasis, which conjures up visions of Heaven. Also, the hero’s avatar in the game world is Parzival, a reference to the Knight of the Round Table who found the Holy Grail Jesus used at the Last Supper. The avatar has a sword on its back that looks like a Christian cross. Finally, multiple characters sacrifice themselves to save the world. Saving the world is also what Jesus Himself does.

Despite its positive elements, READY PLAYER ONE has too much unnecessary foul language. So, extreme caution is advised. There are also some scary elements and action violence.

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Quality:

- Content: -2