This movie review is divided into four parts. If you have not seen the film, Parts 1 & 2 are safe to read. Parts 3 & 4 contain “spoilers.” More information about the HEIGHT movie review system can be found here.
Part 1 – Overview
Director: Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Iron Giant)
Disney’s Tomorrowland has the feel of an amusement park ride: It’s exciting, a bit childish, sometimes jarring and ultimately may not be worth the price of admission.
Tomorrowland is based on the Disney theme park attraction of the same name, which originally opened in 1955 with the purpose of providing patrons with:
A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying Man’s achievements… A step into the future, with predictions of constructed things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals. The Atomic Age, the challenge of Outer Space and the hope for a peaceful, unified world.
– Walt Disney
In the film, Tomorrowland exists as a utopic, transdimensional city in which the world’s top creative minds can collaborate free from the geo-political and monetary influences of contemporary society. (It’s Freidman’s The World Is Flat actualized in a futuristic urban snow globe.)
But now, an invention created decades ago by an ambitious young engineer has inadvertantly caused in an imminent threat to life on Earth…Dun, dun, DUN.
Part 2 – Should you see this movie?
If you, or someone you are attending the movie with, is under the age of 13, then yes. Otherwise, skip it. Tomorrowland is exciting enough to keep the attention of children, but will fall into the “cute but mildly annoying” category for most adults.
(Warning: Spoiler alerts from here on out)
Part 3 – Analysis
The first act of Tomorrowland is encouraging. The opening dialog between Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is intriguing and playful, although, at this point you’re unsure if it’s more of a father/daughter playfulness, or a between-the-sheets playfulness. (More on Tomorrowland’s uncomfortable dynamics to come).
The initial flashback to Frank’s childhood experience at the 1964 World Fair and his eventual arrival in Tomorrowland is captivating and the sequence has just enough magic to remind us why Disney movies are so damn endearing.
The switch to Casey’s story finally allows the audience to take a deep breath and get their barring – yes, some of this movie does take place in modern day America. (Albiet it is a romantic version of modern day America in which a hot, middle class, motor-cycle-riding, teenage girl is also a brilliant engineer that uses her i-Phone to sabotage government sanctioned construction sites, while shamelessly sporting a grungy, floppy NASA baseball cap over her head of impossibly clean dirty-blonde hair..)
©Disney 2015
When Raffey Cassidy’s Athena re-emerges in Casey’s modern day as the same pre-pubescent girl she was in 1964, another aspect of the plot is revealed: We’re dealing with aliens or robots.. or something.
This is quickly reinforced by the bizarro gift shop owners played by Key and Peele‘s Keegan Michael Key and Kathyrn Hahn (Stepbrothers, We Are The Millers).
(Digression: Is Hugo’s beer gut supposed to look this fake? Is it part of a purposely poor alien disguise or is it just a truly half-assed costume? I’ll assume the former, tough to imagine a movie with a $190M budget couldn’t create a more believable fat nerdy dude.)
Tomorrowland takes a hard left turn in this scene – All of the sudden Casey is evading robots (or aliens, still not sure at this point) wielding ray-guns while the seemingly innocent and delicate Athena, is revealed to be a badass ninja-style fighter with impossible strength. Then, moments later as the two heroines make their get-away, Athena’s true identity as an “audio-animatronic” (basically a super-robot) is confirmed. Tomorrowland transitions from Disney magic to Cameron–esque sci-fi in a twitch of Athena’s robot eye.
After driving from somewhere in Texas to upstate New York in an early-90’s pickup truck with two smashed windows, Casey is ditched at the secluded home of the now adult Frank Walker. Walker is bitter and jaded: As an eleven year-old in Tomorrowland, he fell in love with Athena, who eventually revealed herself to be an ageless robot and therefore a less-than-perfect match for young Frank. Years later, Frank was banned from Tomorrowland because he invented something that turned out to be very, very not good.
Since leaving inventors’ paradise, Frank has become a predictably grumpy shut-in. He is naturally resistant to helping Casey, who promptly pulls an Arya Stark and protests on his doorstep in the pouring rain. But once Casey gains entry to his house by way of the classic “light the tractor on fire” tactic, Frank beings to realize her potential.
Soon, a team of angry (but suspiciously handsome) alien robots show up on Frank’s doorstep with the intent to eliminate Casey. George Clooney’s character quickly changes his tune: he becomes a brave, selfless hero, guiding Casey to safety in the form of a bath-tub escape pod.
(Prior to their escape, Frank leads the evil robot assailants through a series of imaginative boobie traps set up around his home. This is one of the most clever and entertaining sequences in the movie.)
Post-escape, the awkwardness begins: Frank is reunited with Athena. While the duo has known each other for about 50 years, Athena still outwardly exists in the form of 12ish year-old. Frank is upset that Athena turned down his advances in the 1960’s (on account of her being inorganic). But now Frank is old enough to have an AARP membership and his lingering resentment for the cute little robot feels creepy.
The three companions finally make it to Tomorrowland (thanks to a nearby teleportation capsule, and an even more convenient rocket hidden beneath the Effile Tower) and the audience is reminded that they are about an hour and a half into the movie, and still have very little idea what is actually going on.
It seems like the writers realized this as well, because the scenes that follow collectively make up a crash-course in fictional time/space theory and apocalyptic technology for both Casey and the viewer.
This seemed to be Tomorrowland’s biggest weakness, for the first two acts it is positioned as an exciting, semi-magical joy ride, best enjoyed by children aged seven to twelve. During this time, there is very little attention given to major plot points – the focus is character development and world building. Then, all of the sudden Tomorrowland attempts to cram an complex conflict into the last half hour, leaving its once enchanted viewers thinking to themselves, “wait, what?”
The film’s climax finds Frank strapped to a jet pack, hovering above his apocalypse-inducing invention. A dying Athena has convinced him to drop her like a grenade into the machine in order to disable it, and hopefully, save the world.
The imagery of Frank dropping Athena’s lifeless body into his giant, uncontrollable machine of chaos is unfortunately representative of Tomorrowland’s ultimate ineffectiveness. The film is incredibly ambitious but eventually becomes too unwieldy, and sacrifices its connection with the audience for the sake of achieving an end.
Part 4 – Conclusion
Grade: C+
Remember when you were taking an important test in school, and you were doing pretty well, but then all of the sudden the teacher announces that there is five minutes left so you scribble down half-baked answers to the last few questions for the sake of completeness? Yeah, that’s Tomorrowland. Disney’s latest cash-grab creates several memorable characters and has moments of visual brilliance, but it eventually proves to be overzealous; the result is an overtly forced third act.
P.S. – It should be noted that Raffey Cassidy’s performance as Athena is far and away the highlight of Tomorrowland. This is her breakout role (well, kind of) and she is terrific from jump street. Wouldn’t be surprised if this is the beginning of a great career for the young Brit.