Starring: Britt Robertson, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan Michael Key, Pierce Gagnon, Judy Greer, Thomas Robinson
Directed By: Brad Bird
So I saw this late. I saw it after Tomorrowland “bombed” and critics perpetually shat all over it. It went from being on my Top 25 most anticipated list to being something I might catch one day at Redbox. Well, I finally caught it. You know what? I didn’t hate it. It’s preachy, sure. It might even be propaganda (for what, I’m not really sure), but it’s a decent film and I had a good time. Sometimes we shouldn’t take films so seriously. Sometimes, they’re just movies. They’re not trying to actually make policy or sweeping societal changes.
In the movie, Britt Robertson plays Casey Newton, who for reasons only half explained is possibly humanity’s last hope. See, there’s this world… called Tomorrowland… and it used to be the place where dreamers and artists were called to, but now it’s failing, and our world is dying. It’s up to Casey to save the day, because she’s apparently the last person with a positive outlook on life. Seriously, there’s a whole montage of people who hate the way the world is and Casey’s the only one who wants to know if it can be fixed. Her optimism is a little much, I’ll admit.
Luckily, she finds her Oscar the Grouch in Frank Walker (Clooney), a man who was invited to Tomorrowland as a boy, and now lives in our world in exile. He’s grumpy, but tech savvy enough to possibly get Casey to Tomorrowland to save the day. Along with a plucky sidekick, Athena (Raffey Cassidy), the three infiltrate Tomorrowland and attempt to save the day. It’s a little much for a PG movie, I’ll admit. Some non-humans are blown up, and we see their skulls.
Ironically, (a little spoilery here) the plot revolves around a device in Tomorrowland that might be projecting negative ideas about the future to people, and causing a negative future to potentially be real. This is kinda how Tomorrowland bombed. A bunch of people told everyone not to watch it, so people stayed away. The internet said it was a bomb, and people said “Well, we don’t want to see a bomb.”
It’s a really pretty movie. Great visual effects. Britt Robertson is fantastic. I hope she gets more film offers, because she’s a great lead. This is one of those cases where you were told the sky was falling, but really it was just a nice april shower. Tomorrowland is not a great film, but it’s an above average film possibly worth your time. If you were afraid of watching it, don’t be. It’s not terrible. The sky is just fine (despite what the programs in Tomorrowland might say).
FINAL GRADE: B-
