After the (commercial and/or critical) failures that were John Carter and The Lone Ranger, Disney's latest venture into original storytelling territory shows the involvement of impressive talent, including esteemed director Brad Bird, bonafide movie star George Clooney, and possibly the most divisive screenwriter in Damon Lindelof. This film shifts between two different dimensions throughout its runtime–that of our world and the one of the magical Tomorrowland, which features a population predominantly of kids. This is one of those transparently sci-fi cities that has been built to escape the ills of Earth and its consumptive, selfish inhabitants. When Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) receives the ultimate tease of an invite to this wondrous place through an unremarkably-branded pin, her elated scientific spirit naturally sends her on a Disney-caliber journey to find the entrance to this mysterious land.
As you can expect, the absolutely alluring visuals effectively convey the sheer spectacle of this adventure in classic family storytelling; the contrast between the two different worlds is especially noticeable as the characters navigate from a very much modern and darkly-hued aesthetic to a totally glamorous, fairytale-like one. Newcomer actress Robertson successfully translates to the big screen, reminding audiences of that teenage naivete and defiant behavior we have identified with throughout Steven Spielberg's filmography. The most notable performance of all though comes from a little girl (Athena–played by Raffey Cassidy) who's sent from the future to help Casey out on this mission. Cassidy is just infused with so much surprising maturity and deadpan expression, ultimately unyielding in her purpose.
Now, the picture itself seems to be quite optimistic about a society that clearly isn't doing anything to improve environmental conditions. It also certainly doesn't help when those people pan a movie with any environmental messages as "heavy-handed" or "preachy." So, you won't do anything to improve Earth's health and when someone reminds you that something must really be done about it, you write them off as annoying and preachy. It all sounds logical, doesn't it? Anyways, I found those thematic ideas substantially more compelling than the actual plot, which felt like it was only slightly progressing narratively from Point A to B to C to D and so on without any real necessity to the overall story. The characters reach one creatively-designed destination only for it to lead them to a further creatively-designed destination.
The first time you see the city of Tomorrowland, of course you're astonished by its visual and architectural splendor, but the pleasure of the beautiful image wears off rather quickly. The pattern of this film largely comprises sequences that run on for far too long. For instance, the opening sequence that takes us back to Frank Walker's (Clooney) childhood–meant as an introduction to the miraculous setting– drags on and on, forcing you to continue waiting for the inexperienced, confused true protagonist (Britt Robertson) to finally show up. In addition, the premise is definitely not as original and memorable as Disney and Brad Bird promises it to be.
The film is obviously wrapped up with so much optimism, kiddy delight , and overall lightness that it occasionally feels like nothing more than an expensive commercial for Disneyland and, more specifically, one of its attractions with the same name: Tomorrowland. Even when contemplating its environmental themes that are never afraid to discuss the frailty of the future and the frequent ignorance of humanity, it's never pushed to that final honest conclusion because the real hard truth-tellers in the movie, who unwind a whole rant on how pathetic apocalyptic fiction and the human acceptance of the planet's imminent collapse is, blatantly turn out to be exaggerated villains that need to be defeated for "real hope" to win the day.
Some of these elements can be forgiven because it is a very family- friendly feature at the end of the day, but many other parts of it end up being deeply frustrating because of how terribly trustful the movie is in humanity after vividly displaying plenty of footage that underlines their severe mistakes. Last year's original science-fiction exhibition of brilliance, Interstellar, stunningly managed to balance the cynicism with more convincing optimism–it will take a lot of loss to eventually continue the human race because Earth is frankly hopeless at this point, but the species of scientists and engineers have always discovered an answer in the darkest of times. Tomorrowland's one suggestion for a solution to all these daunting predicaments seems to be "just believe!" Classic Disney mottos.
As you can expect, the absolutely alluring visuals effectively convey the sheer spectacle of this adventure in classic family storytelling; the contrast between the two different worlds is especially noticeable as the characters navigate from a very much modern and darkly-hued aesthetic to a totally glamorous, fairytale-like one. Newcomer actress Robertson successfully translates to the big screen, reminding audiences of that teenage naivete and defiant behavior we have identified with throughout Steven Spielberg's filmography. The most notable performance of all though comes from a little girl (Athena–played by Raffey Cassidy) who's sent from the future to help Casey out on this mission. Cassidy is just infused with so much surprising maturity and deadpan expression, ultimately unyielding in her purpose.
Now, the picture itself seems to be quite optimistic about a society that clearly isn't doing anything to improve environmental conditions. It also certainly doesn't help when those people pan a movie with any environmental messages as "heavy-handed" or "preachy." So, you won't do anything to improve Earth's health and when someone reminds you that something must really be done about it, you write them off as annoying and preachy. It all sounds logical, doesn't it? Anyways, I found those thematic ideas substantially more compelling than the actual plot, which felt like it was only slightly progressing narratively from Point A to B to C to D and so on without any real necessity to the overall story. The characters reach one creatively-designed destination only for it to lead them to a further creatively-designed destination.
The first time you see the city of Tomorrowland, of course you're astonished by its visual and architectural splendor, but the pleasure of the beautiful image wears off rather quickly. The pattern of this film largely comprises sequences that run on for far too long. For instance, the opening sequence that takes us back to Frank Walker's (Clooney) childhood–meant as an introduction to the miraculous setting– drags on and on, forcing you to continue waiting for the inexperienced, confused true protagonist (Britt Robertson) to finally show up. In addition, the premise is definitely not as original and memorable as Disney and Brad Bird promises it to be.
The film is obviously wrapped up with so much optimism, kiddy delight , and overall lightness that it occasionally feels like nothing more than an expensive commercial for Disneyland and, more specifically, one of its attractions with the same name: Tomorrowland. Even when contemplating its environmental themes that are never afraid to discuss the frailty of the future and the frequent ignorance of humanity, it's never pushed to that final honest conclusion because the real hard truth-tellers in the movie, who unwind a whole rant on how pathetic apocalyptic fiction and the human acceptance of the planet's imminent collapse is, blatantly turn out to be exaggerated villains that need to be defeated for "real hope" to win the day.
Some of these elements can be forgiven because it is a very family- friendly feature at the end of the day, but many other parts of it end up being deeply frustrating because of how terribly trustful the movie is in humanity after vividly displaying plenty of footage that underlines their severe mistakes. Last year's original science-fiction exhibition of brilliance, Interstellar, stunningly managed to balance the cynicism with more convincing optimism–it will take a lot of loss to eventually continue the human race because Earth is frankly hopeless at this point, but the species of scientists and engineers have always discovered an answer in the darkest of times. Tomorrowland's one suggestion for a solution to all these daunting predicaments seems to be "just believe!" Classic Disney mottos.