When Walt Disney Pictures released their futuristic sci-fi hit Tron in 1982, the entire world was on its feet, stewing with theories and overcome with curiosity due to this new visual style which gave moviegoers and inside look at hypothetical computer graphics in a world of virtual reality.

More than just the stunning visual effects at the time, Tron also made people wonder – will the machines we’re building eventually rise? Well, they didn’t rise up and hold us hostage, of course. But movies like Tron did inspire a generation to take computer technology to a new level.

We’re seeing the results today, and the upcoming release of Tron: Legacy is sure to be another Disney cult classic, but they hit the right spot - bingo and we got a great movie!

In the original movie, the hacker Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges, was lost in the virtual world after battling the self-sustaining consciousness that was the machine. In the sequel, Flynn’s son Sam, played by Garrett Helund, is a new-age, tech-savvy 27-year-old looking to get to the bottom of his father’s disappearance.

The movie presented some high sci-fi events that took place and changed the way we view our movies. The effects really came hard on the viewers, to a point where they hit the exact soft point - bingo! The impact was so strong on the viewers that even professional poker players started to loose focus, hands and money even on the best poker site online. So strong, they made another movie just describing the effect.

He’s eventually pulled into the same digital world his father was. Of course, with today’s movie technology, this 3D thriller is a much more current and accurate representation of what immersive virtual reality may be – while still staying true to Tron’s original roots, of course.

The most interesting aspect of Tron isn’t the movie itself but how we’ve evolved since. In 1982, the Internet was unheard of. We didn’t have instant messaging; you couldn’t log on to a casino online; mail arrived in your mailbox and not your inbox.

But the (now) cheesiness of the original graphics aside, we see a concept that was actually rooted in our three-dimensional reality and not so much a figment of one’s imagination. We have virtual technology today verging on what we see with a movie like Tron.

Tron: Legacy isn’t about the evolution of internet video poker or instant messaging with a Blackberry, of course. But seeing the evolution of movie graphics as they depict the still futuristic concept of immersive and interactive virtual reality will certainly be worth watching in itself.

For the computer and video game genre, as well as every original Tron fan, Legacy, the sequel, should be a great experience.