I love the Internet as much as anybody. How else can I immediately get in touch with friends in Shanghai and Kazakhstan?
But I also fear an Internet-launched apocalypse, like the one in “Summer Wars,” an animated feature from Japan directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
It starts innocently enough. A teenage math whiz, Kenji, reluctantly agrees to accompany his friend Natsuki to her family’s country home to pose as her fiancé at a blowout for her great-grandmother’s 90th birthday.
Natsuki doesn’t want the cantankerous old lady to think her great-granddaughter can’t find a boyfriend.
One sleepless night, Kenji solves a 2,056-digit riddle sent to his cellphone. In doing so, he inadvertently compromises Oz, a virtual world where millions of people and governments interact. International chaos ensues.
Can Natsuki and her family stop the mayhem? The answer is never in doubt as the story unfolds in unconvincing fashion, and the sci-fi elements seem silly rather than suspenseful.
“Summer Wars” — which looks great despite its structural problems — is being shown in two versions: a dubbed-into-English one during the day and the original Japanese edition in the evening. The former is OK for kids, but I recommend the latter. There’s nothing more disconcerting than hearing Japanese speak in perfect, non-accented English.