Director: Brad Bird
Stars: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw
Casey (Robertson) is a frustrated teenager who dislikes the general attitude of the world. After being bailed out of jail she finds a strange badge, and when she touches it she finds herself in another world. This leads her on an adventure to save the world itself!
I used to work at Disneyworld and there’s a section of the Magic Kingdom called Tomorrowland, and the film features the attraction ‘It’s a Small World,’ which gets unfair criticism I think. I actually really enjoyed the ride. Anyway, I appreciated these nods and I think overall the film holds up well to the central philosophy of Disney. The message is to look forward and try to find solutions to problems rather than resign yourself to defeat. It’s about hope, dreams, and inspiration, and these are ideas that I can get behind because I do agree with the sentiment of the film. We’re bombarded with so much negativity that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the world is a beautiful, wondrous place (and it’s the reason why I don’t watch the news, because they only report the disasters and tragedies).
This is also reflected in movies as well, and while I was watching the first part of the film I was thinking that Brad Bird would be perfect to direct a Superman film because the way he shot the entrance to Tomorrowland showed that he’s capable of conveying a sense of wonder and awe. The main thrust of the film shows Casey allying with Frank (Clooney) to try and fix the world because people have basically given up hope, and apparently Casey is the one person in the world who hasn’t given up.
The film had some good set-pieces and I liked the concepts introduced in Tomorrowland itself, but the ending fizzled out completely. The build-up to the climax was done well but the ending didn’t satisfy me at all and the way the message was presented was incredibly heavy-handed and it felt like I was being lectured to. At one point one of the characters turns to the screen and, breaking the fourth wall, yells at us for making a mess of the planet. I don’t mind a message in movies but this felt like it was preaching to the audience and trying to lecture rather than entertain.
There also wasn’t enough depth given to Tomorrowland. There was so much potential for exploration here, and we’re told that there are a lot of people in Tomorrowland, and yet it seems as though there’s only one person. There’s also lip service given to the fact that other people have been recruited before Casey, but it’s never said why they failed, and Casey comes off as a Mary-Sue in some aspects. The story tells us that she’s special and unique but the only reason given is because she hasn’t given up, and I can’t see that she’s the only person in the whole world to hope.
But Robertson is good in the role and I predict big things for her. She has a good screen presence and was probably the most watchable thing about the film. Clooney was his usual affable self, and Hugh Laurie was okay, although his role was basically one-note.
And I feel really bad now because I don’t want to be a part of this negative cycle that the film is battling against because I do think it’s worthwhile that this film was made and I think it promotes a positive outlook on the world that people should take with them and carry out of the movie theater. It follows the tenets of Disney, and I liked how it showed that anyone can have a positive impact no matter age, race, creed, location. I genuinely like the message behind it but I don’t think it completely succeeded in the execution, and as a film I found the climax lacking.
