The black-and-white world of “Pleasantville” is a tempting place. There’s no crime, no weather, and most importantly no messy emotions.

“Pleasantville” is where contemporary teen David (played by Tobey Maguire) longs to be. Living with his divorced mother and slutty older sister, he appreciates the orderly existence of his favorite sitcom, “Pleasantville.”

But “Pleasantville” the movie is a cautionary tale that says, “Be careful what you wish for.”

On a Friday night, David is waiting for the start of the “Pleasantville” marathon, but his sister Jennifer (portrayed by Reese Witherspoon) wants to watch a concert on MTV with her monosyllabic boyfriend. The siblings wrestle over and break the remote control.

A knock at the door reveals a goofy but slightly sinister TV repairman (a welcome reappearance by Don Knotts). He offers the pair a special remote. “It’ll really put you in the picture,” he promises.

David and Jennifer start fighting over the remote again. She presses a button, and they find themselves transported into the black-and-white world of “Pleasantville,” starring as Bud and Mary Sue Parker.

David is overjoyed at this turn of events, while Jennifer is aghast. A master of “Pleasantville” trivia, he’s right at home in the fictional burg, but she’s a ’90s girl who just doesn’t get it.

Both soon realize that Pleasantville is a sterile world populated by one-dimensional people. The books have blank pages, there are only single beds, and firemen only know how to get cats out of trees, not how to fight fires.

Jennifer quickly grows impatient with her new lot in life, and soon deflowers the captain of the basketball team at Lovers’ Lane. This introduction of emotion into a passionless town begins to have an effect, as items, then people, start changing into color.

In fact the color, as envisioned by color effects designer Michael Southard and his team, becomes a character all its own, and helps to mark the transition to real life by the Pleasantville residents. Because it’s used so sparingly in the film’s first half, the color becomes breathtaking when it’s finally unleashed.

At first, these changes are welcomed, as the Pleasantvillagers learn there is a world beyond Elm Street and Main Street. Yet fear of the unknown seeps in as well, with the men of the town growing increasingly agitated by the changes in their lives.

The script by director Gary Ross (writer of “Big,” “Dave”) grows heavyhanded toward the film’s end, as the mayor, played by the late J.T. Walsh, leads the black-and-white people against “the coloreds.” Allusions to “Triumph of the Will,” Kristallnacht and segregation drive the point home, introducing an element of darkness into what had been a sweet coming-of-age story.

The cast is universally fine. Maguire and Witherspoon are winning as teens who evolve and grow as strangers in a pleasant land. As their father, George Parker (William H. Macy of “Fargo”), portrays a perplexed, confused man who can’t understand why his dinner isn’t on the table when he gets home one night.

Joan Allen (“Nixon,” “The Ice Storm”) plays the latest in a line of repressed housewives, and her Betty Parker is metamorphosed into a beautiful butterfly when released from her suburban cocoon. Jeff Daniels’ malt-shop owner, Mr. Johnson, is equally liberated when he taps into the artist in his soul.

While “Pleasantville” may run a little long, Ross largely succeeds in putting across the message that conformity and normality aren’t desirable ends, even when viewed through nostalgic eyes. The present may be challenging and often disheartening, but at least it’s alive.