If there's one thing about computer technology that we've learned from the movies, it's that it's almost impossible to make a good, exciting story about computer technology. Remember Sandra Bullock's "The Net"? You probably don't, but that was the one that tried to make sitting at a keyboard the stuff of high-tension nightmares. Same with more recent attempts like the A.I.-gone-evil caper "Eagle Eye"... it's no accident that the filmmakers try to shoehorn as many extraneous explosions and car chases as possible into these things. There's no way around it: computers by themselves are cinematically boring. They don't do anything other than shuffle information around.

In fact, there's only one trick that moviemakers have that seems to consistently work: put the main characters inside the computer. Like, literally. Stories like "Tron", the "Matrix" films, "Wild Palms", Satoshi Kon's "Paprika", and even crapfests like "Johnny Mnemonic" succeed in making computers cinematic by turning their neon-and-blinky-lights inner worlds into "real" places you can actually step into and explore. After all, why would you want to watch a guy just tap-tap-tapping away at a monitor when you can see him blast through glowing blue walls in his flying laser-powered ASCII hovercopter?

That's still only half of the equation, of course... you’ve got to dish up solid storylines and interesting characters to go with all that high-concept techno razzle-dazzle - at least if you want your movie to be any good. Bearing that in mind, Mamoru Hosoda's extraordinary 2009 anime feature "Summer Wars" is better than good. In point of fact, it's great. I know that word gets tossed around a lot, but I don’t use it lightly: “Summer Wars” is a great film, seamlessly melding rousing sci-fi adventure, ingenious satire, poignant humor and warm character-based drama in equally satisfying proportions. It’s also stunningly directed by Hosoda, who brought a similar smartly-controlled visual panache to 2006’s “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”.

“Summer Wars” tells the story of Kenji Koiso (Ryūnosuke Kamiki), a shy 17-year-old math prodigy who spends most of his time in OZ, a dazzling computer-generated world where over a billion people live virtual lives through their personalized avatars. Kenji is preparing to spend another summer online when he is startled out of his shell by a sudden job offer from the popular and pretty Natsuki Shinohara (Nanami Sakuraba)... she claims she just needs someone to accompany her to her ancestral family home in the countryside. When they arrive at what turns out to be a huge, sprawling estate (her once-wealthy family used to own a silk empire), Natsuki’s true motives are revealed: she’s promised her 90-year-old grandmother Sakae (Sumiko Fuji) that she’s engaged to be married, and not wanting to disappoint, she hastily presses a stunned Kenji into playing the part for grandmother Sakae and the rest of her boisterously approving family.

As if this wasn’t complicated enough for Kenji, that night he receives a mysterious email containing a complicated numerical cypher and, thinking it’s a puzzle, he solves it and mails the solution back to the sender. The next morning he wakes up to find that all of OZ is in chaos due to a seemingly impossible security breach, and what’s more, his face is being broadcast on the news as the prime suspect in the attack. Worse, since thousands of companies and government offices worldwide have OZ accounts, the confusion quickly spreads to the real world. Modern conveniences like GPS, traffic lights, and even emergency response teams are hopelessly compromised, leaving everything in a state of bedlam. But who, or what, is behind it all... and what can a shy math whiz, an iron-willed grandmother, her lovably temperamental family and a 6-foot-tall anthropomorphic rabbit do to stop it?

There are many pleasures to be had in “Summer Wars”, not least being the vivid realization of OZ itself. Depicted as a sky of white filled to bursting with brightly colored galaxies of floating buildings orbited by rings of data and swirling clouds of millions of avatars, OZ is both a candy-coated fantasyland and a plausible concept for where our technological future may lie. Fortunately, though, director Hosoda and scripter Satoko Okudera devote just as much energy and enthusiasm to building the real-world lives of Kenji, Natsuki, Sakae and the rest of her clan. Like any family would, they struggle with not only the troubles in OZ, but also with more seemingly mundane dramas like how the local baseball team is doing, and whether or not the computer glitches mean the birthday dumplings will make it to the party on time. As gorgeous a place as OZ is, at the end of the day it’s the human characters that you’ll fall in love with (well, them and the giant bunny). By the time it's over, you (like Kenji) will have grown so fond of spending time with Natsuki’s family that you’ll be sorry to see the credits roll. “Summer Wars” is a beautifully crafted treat in every sense... here’s hoping for a bona-fide U.S. release (preferably on Blu-ray).