When Tron came out in 1982 – which it should be remembered, despite the film’s ultra-futuristic appearance, was still a time pre- the internet – nothing else looked like it. And even though it was released through Disney, it felt about as un-Disney as you could get.

Even by today’s CGI standards,Tron can still hold its own – visually at least. In this day and age of remakes, it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the world would see the Grid online once again. But have Disney put the re-boot in on this classic?

Although he’s the head of an extremely successful and wealthy company, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) still struggles to be a happy bunny. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist to work out that he misses his daddy - which isn’t great news for his mother, as he seems totally fine without her in his life.

Sam’s dad went missing when he was young; it’s like he just disappeared of the face of the earth. Out of the blue however, one of his father’s friends gets a message on his archaic pager; it’s from Kevin (Jeff Bridges) – Sam’s father. As the message was sent from his father’s long abandoned game arcade Flynn’s, Sam decides to check it out; it’s there that he finds one of his dad’s greatest achievements – the Tron game. Behind the cabinet he discovers a secret door, leading to an office with computer equipment.

It’s not long before he manages to re-boot the system and find himself transported to another world; he’s entered his father’s creation – the Grid. Although there’s a family connection, the Grid is no place for a human, known in this world as a user. Sam has to rage against the machine if he’s any chance of getting out alive. And although a world of chips and bytes are gunning for him, he soon learns that at he’s not the only user in the CPU village.

Hi, my name's KATT, you may have heard of my cousin KITT? He was a bit of a show-off in his time.

As you would expect, this sequel shares a lot of synergy with the original. There’s no mistaking the look of the Grid, and yet enough CGI processing power has been thrown at it to make it look visually stunning – in 3D or not. It also sees Jeff Bridges not only return to the role of Kevin, but also have a computer generated version of his young self in Clu running about the place.

One of the biggest surprises here has to be that Disney allowed a fledgling director in Joseph Kosonski to helm such a large project; before this all that he had on his CV were a couple of ads for Xbox 360 games. There’s a game link there sure, but it’s a tad tentative. There’s no doubt that he got the look of the film spot on; he’s less successful with the feel of it however.

Hedlund is completely miscast in the lead role of Sam; he may look the part, but he is so devoid of personality he may well have been CGI’d himself. With the film taking itself so very seriously, the part of Sam is supposed to offer some well needed light relief. Sadly the only light that Hedlund offers is by way of his shimmery suit. Thank god for Michael Sheen and his camp turn as Castor; without him Tron Legacy would have been as dry as a printed circuit board.

It doesn’t help either that many of the characters inside the grid wear helmets, making them Stig-like nobodies. Also, with the use of so many speedy vehicles, the film occasionally veers into a something similar to a Top Gear 2.0; the only thing missing is Clarkson in a neon jumpsuit doing a piece to camera, ranting about the pointlessness of Europe.

Even the fact that the iconic outfits have been tinkered with is disappointing. These updates simply look like kinky glowing biker wear.

It does manage to impress on two counts however. Firstly, Daft Punk have provided the perfect, oppressively bleak audio backdrop; it’s like the legendary Vangelis Blade Runner soundtrack on a pure sugar rush.

And then there are its visuals. Its CGI canvas is awash with iridescent neon, giving it not only a highly distinctive look, but also at times a breathtaking one. It may well go mostly unappreciated by the masses, but anyone harbouring a geek within will be nothing short of agog.

It does come at a cost however; the written word, both in terms of script and dialogue, is akin to a computer virus; it annoyingly slows proceedings down, popping up inconveniently with nothing much to offer.

If it’s purely a visual fix that you’re after however, Tron: Legacy will truly light up your life.