I’ve been dubious of a sequel to TRON — one of the touchstone films of my childhood and a minor classic in my book — ever since I first started to hear whispers about the project a few years ago. I don’t quite understand what’s motivating it after nearly three decades, and the emphasis in the early promotional materials on the awesome new effects and the 3D presentation did little to ease my mind. TRON: Legacy has always smelled more like a unnecessary remake than a proper sequel, and y’all ought to know by now how I feel about remakes to movies that still work for the sake of flashy new FX. However, my resistance to T:L has been weakening with each new trailer, and with today’s release of the third and final one before the film opens next month, I am feeling cautiously optimistic:

Maybe it’s just my sentimentality for beloved characters getting the better of me, as it likely did when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was coming out, but this looks like it might be all right after all. I got a big old grin when I glimpsed Flynn’s Arcade, and the ENCOM touch-screen control panel, and the familiar silhouette of the dematerializing laser rising into position behind Flynn’s son Sam. And of course seeing Bruce Boxleitner and Jeff Bridges in this universe again delivered an exquisite little zap of pleasure… I’m really hoping Boxleitner gets more to do than just the expository scene we see in the trailer. Perhaps Alan Bradley’s alter ego, the movie’s namesake character, puts in an appearance somewhere in the computer world? And if Cindy Morgan cameos as Lori and/or Yori as well… but that’s probably too much to hope for.

To be honest, the movie does appear to be aping the major plot points of the original, but I’m willing to overlook that if it’s otherwise done well. (Referring to Indiana Jones again, Last Crusade was in many ways a remake of Raiders, but I enjoyed it just about as much as the original.) My biggest concern right now is that TRON: Legacy looks like it takes itself very seriously, maybe too much so. The original was pretty light in tone, for the most part, but I’m not seeing a lot of wonder or humor in this trailer… and this is the most fun-looking of the three! Filmmakers these days seem to mistake thoughtfulness for grim broodiness, but like the title character in Sullivan’s Travels, I’ve come to see the value of escapism in difficult times, and I’d really rather just revisit the Game Grid without some big heavy (but ultimately superficial and unsatisfying) theme being ladled over my lightcycle races. At least the Apocalypse Now angle that would’ve had Flynn playing an around-the-bend villain along the lines of Brando’s Colonel Kurtz seems to have been nothing more than a rumor. I hate it when characters who were heroic in an earlier film turn bad in a sequel; it’s not dramatic, it’s lazy sensationalism, and it’s a slap in the face to fans who grew up admiring the original vision of the character.

Anyhow, TRON: Legacy is set to open December 17, if it looks like your sort of thing…