The worst possible film version of Ernest Cline's best selling novel "Ready Player One" would be a hurricane of pop culture references that would launch the moviegoer into a frothy spectacle that would be totally engaging for 140 minutes and totally forgotten once the lights in the movie theater come up. Steven Spielberg's version of Ready Player One, a Warner Brothers feature film that hits theaters nationwide March 29th, channels Cline's fanboy devotion to pop culture, generates breathless spectacle but it is definitely not throwaway entertainment. Spielberg's Ready Player One is escapism at it's very best, which makes it an extremely fun moviegoing experience. Even so, the hero's journey in this film also provides a deeply satisfying emotional experience, regardless of whether you can identify all the awesome easter eggs and post-modern pop culture references that sometimes flood the screen. Movie geeks can rejoice at the multiple pleasures of seeing the Delorean from Back to the Future to an Alan Silvestri music score, but they will be enthralled by the fact that Spielberg succeeds in going for something much more ambitious and sophisticated.

There is this notion that the story created by Cline in his novel, a fusion of science fiction and fantasy completely enamored with everything that was popular when the multiplexes were dominated by E.T., Indiana Jones, Marty McFly, Gremlins and the Goonies, is the type of material that Steven Spielberg could direct in automatic pilot. The good news is that this is not just the case. The GREAT news is that the director is completely engaged with every aspect of the protagonist's quest to rescue the Oasis, a virtual reality paradise where there are no limits to the imagination, from corporate greed that's willing to resort to violence to maintain the constant cash flow and the status quo. As a result of this, Spielberg has created his ultimate battle cry for movie magic, putting the audience under an irresistible spell that lingers long after the movie is over. The film is a love letter to all who delight in pushing the limits of their imagination through entertainment.

The movie centers around Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a young man who quickly puts the audience up to speed with what's happening in Columbus Ohio in 2045. The real world is a drag with innumerable amount of problems and no clear cut solutions. Which means that almost everyone is plugged in to the Oasis, an immersive virtual universe where a person can go anywhere, do anything and be anyone. Wade's escape to the Oasis becomes even more enticing when the death of it's creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) gives every user an opportunity to inherit his riches and total control of his virtual invention. Wade's destiny is forever changed when he conquers Halliday's first challenge, an event that puts him first on the virtual score board and sets him off on an adventure where he faces dangers that have real life consequences.

Like the majority of Steven Spielberg's films, Ready Player One is perfectly cast. Sheridan leads the way with one of many solid performances in a roster of actors that include Mark Rylance, Olivia Cooke, T.J Miller, Ben Mendelsohn and Simon Pegg. Even with all this abundance of talent the true star of the movie is the man sitting in the director's chair. Spielberg's efforts in this movie function as a special kind of bridge between the divide in his filmography that exists between the movies that offer fantasy and escape the ones that try to shine a mirror over the real life complexities of human beings. For the first time in his career, Spielberg is able to balance his showmanship and his elegant and subtle touch with themes that are close to his heart. Obviously this movie does not have the depth of films like Lincoln or Munich, but the filmmaker manages to ground the material with emotional honesty. This magical vortex of Spielberg's sensibilities creates a movie that dazzles with virtuoso filmmaking that presents our constant need to escape reality as a common thread that can bring us together when the fantasies flickering on the big screen come to an end.

See Ready Player One only in theaters March 29.