Director: Brad Bird
Cast: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Bauer, Thomas Robinson, Pierce Gagnon, Matthew MacCaull, Judy Greer, Hugh Laurie
Rating: C+
Tomorrowland , a high budget Disney family movie directed by Brad Bird, is filed with impressive visual effects that will leave audiences in awe while they scratch their heads trying to figure out what the heck the story was really about. The world of this story is filled with beautiful glittering skyscrapers, citizens using jetpacks to fly around the city, Hover Rails for public transportation, and rockets propelling travelers into the clear blue sky. The futuristic metropolis looks like a sparkling paradise. So how did this advanced utopia come to be? Well, we are not exactly sure, but apparently residency is by invitation only.
The film opens with a young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) attending the world’s fair in 1964. Frank, a rather smart boy, is a scientific pioneer that wants to present his ingenious jetpack as a contender in a competition for inventors. The youngster gets turned away but not before catching the eye of Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a pretty little girl who gifts him with a pin that permits him to enter into the magical city of Tomorrowland. Before we get to understand what Frank is doing in Tomorrowland we are abruptly thrown into present day where we meet Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), a spunky young lady whose thought process and ability to figure things out can match that of Einstein.
Casey lives with her Dad (Tim McGraw) and her little brother Nate (Pierce Gagnon). She is a rebellious teenager on a mission to answer the questions of why the world in such a mess and how everything going wrong can be fixed. Her inquisitive nature and adventurous spirit also earns Casey an admission badge into Tomorrowland. Only instead of getting directly into the city, Casey gets a two minute holographic experience into the wonderland each time she touches the pin. Once exposed to this amazing place, Casey is on a mission to find a way in when she comes in contact with Athena.
Now we discover that Athena is actually a wise old robot in the form of a little girl. The cute yet highly capable cyborg warns of impending doom and danger around every corner and tells Casey that she is taking her to someone who can get her into Tomorrowland. Of course that someone is Frank Walker, who is now a grumpy middle-aged inventor living as a hermit. Turns out Frank got exiled from Tomorrowland because of something he created that could lead to the destruction of the world. Athena is convinced that Casey and Frank together can alter the situation and fix things so that the world will not end and become a better place.
The storyline of Tomorrowland is a jumbled mess of messages about hope, saving the world, and how the young are our future. There is a lot of bouncing back and forth between scenes pertaining to Frank’s childhood and back to the present, making the film feel very long. The clunky storyline trying to give explanations on what is really going on only succeeds at creating more drawn out confusion for the audience. There is never an explanation of how Tomorrowland came to be and if this is a world that exists in the future or in some parallel dimension. There are villainous androids on assassination missions and it isn’t clear who created the metal beings. Nor is it very clear on how and why Frank created a doomsday gadget.
There are some pretty interesting special effects in Tomorrowland that will distract from the messy script. A booby-trapped house, a rocket ship disguised as a bathtub, and a large golden sphere (that will make google earth look pretty primitive) that allows our characters to travel over time – these are just a few of the more interesting moments the film has to offer. The city that looks like a modern day Land of Oz is also something to behold because it is really beautiful.
The cast is another small saving grace for the movie. Raffey Cassidy playing the wise butt-kicking girl robot is actually a lot of fun to watch. Cassidy brings just the right bit of humor and heart to possibly save this movie from being a complete disaster. Britt Robertson is charming as the female hero with brainpower to surpass the best scientific minds. George Clooney adds a bit of star power to draw audiences in and convincingly plays the grumpy irritable father figure. Many will get a kick out of seeing Keegan-Michael Key and Kathryn Hahn in the roles of two sci-fi geeks running a memorabilia shop.
The movie has good intentions about creating a better world by using the brilliant minds of the young, but falls off the tracks as it muddles its way through trying to explain its underlying message. Tomorrowland starts to feel more like a lecture rather than a story. The film zips around in all sorts of directions just like the new age contraptions flying around in the fantasy city. With summer blockbusters about to hit the big screen, it might be worthwhile to hold out and use box office dollars for fantasy films that have the right combinations of special effects, acting, and a great story for that perfect adventurous movie experience.
