Book vs Movie : Ready Player One

By Murtaza Kuwarawala -
I remember sitting in a cinema hall and looking at the screen in awe when Steven Spielberg brought the dinosaurs to life in his movie Jurassic Park. Years later, when I finally got my hands on the book I was quite impressed by the way Spielberg had kept the spirit of the book alive while making changes to the book at quite a lot of places. Imagine my excitement when I finally came to know when he was directing yet another movie based on a book and I geared myself up for it.

So what was the book all about which garnered so much attention. 'Ready Player One' is a story set in dystopian future where the entire population is obsessed with a Virtual Reality game 'OASIS'. When the creator of the game dies announcing his heir to be the one who finds the easter egg hidden in the game, a mad rush engulfs the world. Wade Watts a.k.a Parzival is one such gunter (a person looking to find the easter egg) who incidentally becomes the first person to solve the first clue and thus starting a series of events that would change his life forever.

The book which was released in 2011 is filled with references from every 80s pop culture and became an instant best-seller. For someone who grew up in those ages, a wave of nostalgia hits us every time a certain reference comes up (though I must admit I'm a 90s kid, but I could connect with many of those references). As excited as a 5 year old kid, I enter the theatre and wait for the movie to start.

As the movie progressed, my reactions kept changing regularly. The movie had major differences from the book and this did kind of irked me up a bit. I was unhappy with some of the changes that the movie came up with which could have been avoided. Keeping aside those differences, if one looks at the movie as a standalone feature film, the movie is brilliantly made. From the way, the quests were made in such a way that it kept our adrenaline high to bringing back the memories of the movie 'The Shining', the movie does keep my geeky mind quite happy. 

A bit of research across internet did answer some of my queries on why there was so much limitations (license-rights), Spielberg does make do well with everything he has his hands on. Unlike the depressing adaptation of the Maze Runner Trilogy (I did skip the third part though), this one can still be quite a fun movie to watch. Go for it.


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