The psychology of this movie is really weird to try and figure out. Its often billed as an anti-RPG movie, but its really not that simple. Here are come apparent contradictions that make me wonder just what (if anything) they're trying to say about gaming.

They laboriously introduce all the characters home lives by way of introduction, all of them having parents who are divorced, alcoholic, and totally out of touch with their lives except for the times they're harshly pressuring them to succeed. Tom Hanks is arguably the worst off, having just failed out of another school and still dealing with a brother who disappeared and may be dead.

Its mentioned a couple of times that they play the game to work through problems in their real lives. And sure enough, at the end, when they go to see Robbie (Hanks), they're all happy and well-adjusted, embarking on their adult careers, problems solved, games put away (Daniel doesn't even want to design computer games any more), and even Robbie's mother, who's been constantly drunk and dissatisfied, is suddenly the Happy Homemaker, looking fresh and bright and arranging flowers.

Sure, JJ suddenly (and quite cheerfully it seems) decides to commit suicide, but the reason seems to be entirely because he's a lonely boy genius who can't get a date, and not because his character dies, as in the famous Jack Chick tract (which happens afterward anyways, and it almost seems like he does it on purpose so he can end Daniels game and get everyone to come play his. In fact, the prospect of live-action role playing in the caverns seems to be the only thing that saves him from killing himself!) And in what may be the coolest tableau scene in the whole movie, Kate, looking very fetching in chain mail, looks right at the camera and says something like, "The scariest monsters are the ones in our own minds."

The biggest fantasy element in this movie is the two muggers passing up the rich couple so they can rob the dirty, homeless-looking guy of his magic beans. The recurring theme (a "The Way We Were" for the 80s)might have been poignant at the end, but as a way to kick off a movie is downright depressing and seems out of place. And for one final mystery, our hero, wearing full Pardu regalia, has a psychotic break, becomes his character completely and embarks on his quest, so of course the first thing he does is change into 20-century street clothes.

So maybe the movie's irrational, but I guess its dealing with an irrational topic. In those days a circle of kids with dice and pencils was regarded as tainted and possibly possessed, and you could go insane if they spoke their mumbo-jumbo at you. The anti-game paranoia is pretty much summed up in the first scene, where the reporter asks the cop whats going on, the cop says a kids lost in the tunnels and there's a chance Mazes and Monsters is somehow involved. The reporter admits to being vaguely familiar with the game (although he allows his own children to play it), then turns to the camera and reels off a polished spiel that blames the game for everything and admits no possibility of another explanation. In the end, its no masterpiece, but interesting as made-for-TV movies go.

Certainly not Tom Hanks' best film, but not his worst either. A Dungeons and Dragons gone wrong kinda movie, but it's really about the real world and growing up to meet our parents hopes. The film would be nowhere without the four likeable leads, especially Wendy Crewson, who portrays the love interest with aplomb. The ending is actually quite melancholic as the friends realise that Hanks' characters problems have not been resolved, but the gang go on one last quest.

Somehow I missed this movie when it came out, and didn't see it until about twelve years later. I bought it based on the cover copy, which seemed to indicate a fun fantasy movie: D&D player ends up in a fantasy world. It never occurred to me that they meant "fantasy" literally.

HOWEVER, a lot of people have been unfairly attacking this movie for years, claiming that it espouses the "dangers" of role-playing.

FACT: Tom Hanks' character is established to have psychological problems from the beginning of the movie, including an inability to separate fantasy and reality.

FACT: This psychologically unstable character is the only one to have this problem.

FACT: The rest of the players use problem-solving skills they developed from role-playing to save his life.

Far from showing the dangers of role-playing, I thought this movie did a good job of showing the kind of deductive and inductive reasoning that can be developed by using your imagination.

I think it did at least as good a job of defending role-playing as it did attacking it.