Tomorrowland

In an age of dark, grim visions of the future Disney's Tomorrowland is a delightful throwback to upbeat adventures of the 60s and 80s, a retro sci-fi film for the whole family to enjoy.

Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is a bright and optimistic high school student who does not share the pessimistic views of elders. When Casey discovers a mysterious pin that shows her fantastic world and sets out to find the futuristic city with the help of a jaded inventor, Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Athena (Raffey Cassidy), an English-accented Audio-Animatronics.

Tomorrowland is a deliberately old-fashioned film both its tone and visuals: the film was loosely based on the Disney ride of the same name - considering that Disney were able to turn Pirates of the Caribbean into a billion dollar film series. Bird was a wise choice to direct and co-write, The Incredibles had a 60s style sci-fi look to it and he brought that look to Tomorrowland. It was bright and colourful with its showing of various technologies, from robots, jetpacks, lasers and a steampunk rocket.

Brad Bird has already shown himself to be a capable action director with Mission Impossible: Ghost Portrayal and with Tomorrowland he had much better CGI. There are some cool fight sequences, especially with Athena - it is awesome to see a little girl beating up fully grown men and giant robots. Tomorrowland is visually spectacular especially when we get to see the city in all its glory for the first time. Bird certainly brought out a sense of awe, whimsy and wonder.

Tomorrowland also has a great trio in the leads: Clooney, Robertson and Cassidy are terrific together, having many witty moments together when they are travelling and there is a zip in their interactions, like when they use a knock-out tool. Although Robertson's look too old to be a high schooler she pushes off the necessary enthusiasm. But it was Cassidy who stole the show: she was a revelation as Athena, playing a character who was older than she actually looked and at times acts a Terminator. She personally reminded me of Saoirse Ronan when she was younger, just with dark hair.

Although Tomorrowland had a talented director at the helm it also had a screenplay with Damon Lindelof's fingerprints, a man who has poor reputation as a screenwriter. As an adventure Tomorrowland is excellent but when it goes to the science fiction the film gets bogged down with mumbo-jumbo about time particles and destiny. This part needed to be expanded and more refined. When it's revealed that Tomorrowland was a place for exceptional people to come to where they would not disrupted by government or civil society. Essentially this is similar to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, a controversial sci-fi work that abdicates the philosophy of Objectivism, or if you prefer it's the ideology of Andrew Ryan in Bioshock. The prologue at the 1964 World's Fair could have been cut and it would have made the reveals more impactful.

Tomorrowland is a good of romp of a film, providing plenty of laughs, action and visual spectcle. It was rated a 12A in the UK but it is on lower scale of that rating and could easily be enjoyed by children younger than that age.

Given recent social media and news reports about the state of our nation, I found "Tomorrowland" not only timely but very positive.

Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is a brilliant, inquisitive young girl who wants to travel in space. She's discouraged by her dad, a NASA worker, because NASA is closing. When she climbs a few fences and makes her way into the Cape Canaveral Launch Center to sabotage equipment and keep it from closing, she's arrested.

Upon the return of her personal effects, Casey finds a pin that isn't hers. She touches it, and suddenly, she's in a city of the future. This leads her on quite an adventure, which includes meeting a robot, Athena (Raffey Cassidy), who thinks Casey can help save the future. She brings Casey to meet Frank Walker (George Clooney), who has given up his life's project. As a former child inventor, he had worked to learn the secrets of a place somewhere in time and space that exists in collective memory.

I hate to say it but I think this film was maybe too esoteric for the special effects audience. This is a version in a way of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" and also deals with quantum physics.

Wonderful, fascinating movie, with incredible special effects and yes, the theme of optimism versus pessimism, summed up in a speech by Nix (Hugh Laurie) that you could read anywhere today. And the message is clear: If you buy into a bad future, you can't change it.

Why on earth didn't it get good reviews?

A story if hope and consequences, we must sort ourselves out if the world is to survive.

Brilliant special effects, good story line, well written and acted and my two favourite actors, what's not to like, please re-release it and promote it! It's just what we need in these dark times

I didn't really have any high expectations for this movie, since the initial impression I got from the poster/description reminded me of movies like "The Golden Compass" which is basically just a bad children's fantasy movie.

But I were definitely brought to shame by making that comparison.

The movie spends quite a lot of time, establishing the entire foundation of the story, which makes for a rather convincing storyline, and even though it's a fantasy, and a lot of it is science fiction, it actually makes a lot of sense. The only downside of this thorough introduction is; I could have used a 30min longer runtime in the end (the end felt a bit rushed).

But I walked away having genuinely having enjoyed watching it.

This movie really took a person's imagination to a whole new level.

The story was interesting, and keeps a person engaged with what is happening. It was cool to see the power of imagination and how a simple thought could become something much bigger.

Frank Walker, played by George Clooney, was recognized by his limitless imaginative capability. It was going to one day change the world as it is. He was able to do just that. Walker was a genius scientist who made a certain discovery about Tomorrowland that would hold the key to changing the world. With the help from Casey Newton, played by Britt Robertson, Walker was able to travel to the city and unravel what he had discovered so long ago.

This movie has a simple story, and it is ideal for those with a creative and innovative imagination.