Plants vs Zombies GotY Steam Crash on Startup

Game: Plants vs Zombies Game of the Year Edition on Steam

OS: Windows 10

Problem: Game begins to open and load, goes through the initial loading screen until it gets to the button that says "Click to Start".  As soon as you click that button, the game crashes and I am greeted with a Fatal Error! message that is as follows:

An unexpected error has occured! Pressing 'Send Report will send us helpful debugging information that may help us resolve this issue in the future.

You can also contact us directly at [edit: email address removed].

Exception: Access Violation (code 0xc0000005) at address 00534AE8 in thread 3D2C
Module: popcapgame1.exe
Logical Address: 0001:00133AE8

0019F804 00534AE8 0001:00133AE8 popcapgame1.exe
Params: 444E4000 41C80000 3F800000 3F800000

EAX:5EB9D8E8 EBX:0019F804 ECX:025B636A EDX:0025B636 ESI:5EB9D8E8 EDI:16E285D4
EIP:00534AE8 ESP:0019F538 EBP:0019F804
CS:0023 SS:002B DS:002B ES:002B FS:0053 GS:002B
Flags:00210206

Windows Ver: NT 5.1 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
DDraw Ver: 10.0.19041.1
DSound Ver: 10.0.19041.1

Product: PlantsVsZombies
Version: 1.2.0.1096
Time Loaded: 00:00:09
Fullscreen: Yes
Primary ThreadId: 3D2C
Times Played: 0
Build Num: 0
Build Date:

It has two buttons - Send Report, and Close Now

Send Report does not work.

My son says that the game used to work fine, but hasn't worked for about 6-8 months (He can't recall exactly when it stopped working).

We have uninstalled it and reinstalled it many times.  

I've checked and there are no save files left anywhere.  It was set to use cloud save, and I've turned that off, in case the save file on the cloud is corrupted, but that hasn't made any difference either.

I found several posts from many years ago (most were 2016/2017) that described a similar problem and recommended a registry edit to force the game into windowed mode.

I did this, and it made no difference.  Even when windowed, hitting the Play button would immediately lead to the game crashing.

I saw another post that recommended making a batch file that would set the screen each time and a few other things and I tried this as well, but it also did not fix the problem.

I went through the Windows Compatibility troubleshooter.  I set it to 256 color mode (Someone suggested it - thought I'd at least try it), and that didn't help.  I set it to run in Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibility mode and that didn't help either.

Any help would be appreciated.