Movie Review: Tomorrowland

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: A few moments of wonder and fun; some action sequences

Cons: The entire rest of the movie

The Bottom Line:

Look at tomorrow

Misses imagination

Is disappointing

Dismal Look at Tomorrow

When Disney first announced they were developing a movie based on the Tomorrowland are of their theme parks, I was super excited.  I started picturing space fantasy and lots of fun, and that’s certainly what the preview promised.  The reviews, however, dampened my enthusiasm, which is why I finally got around to watching it on TV.  I’m so glad I waited.

The movie opens at the 1964 World’s Fair where a young boy has arrived anxious to show off his jet pack.  Okay, so maybe the jet pack doesn’t work yet, but his vision captures the eye of a young girl about his age who gives him a special pin.

Flash forward to today where we meet Casey (Britt Robertson), a young teen with ideas, vision, and a father who is about to lose his job.  She finds a mysterious pin in with her stuff one evening, and any time she touches it, she flashes on a different place.  Anxious to get there, she attempts to find out all she can about it.  What will she learn?

So where exactly does the movie go wrong?  First of all, it is more about getting to Tomorrowland instead of an actual story set in the future.  As such, there is a conspiracy and lots of questions that we keep being told we’ll get the answers to eventually.  Yes, we do get those answers, but it is frustrating to wait to find out what is going on.  It’s more of a frustrating tease than a good plot point.

Plus, there’s the fact that it just isn’t the movie we were promised.  I wanted science fiction maybe mixed in with a little fantasy.  There are elements of that, but the movie feels all too grounded in reality, and a depressing modern day reality at that.

Heck, we even get lectures about every hot button environmental issue at one point.  Granted, that sequence only lasts a couple of minutes, but then we get refrains of it worked into the later parts of the movie.

The special effects we get are wonderful, but we needed more of them.  Now, I will be the first to call out a film that indulges in special effects at the expense of a logical story or good characters, but for a movie called Tomorrowland, I expected lots of special effects.

Speaking of characters, we really don’t get good ones here.  They are paper thin, just enough to keep us minimally engaged.  I’m not faulting the actors, who are all good.  The script lets them down.  Speaking of actors, yes, George Clooney is in the film.  His character just doesn’t show up until later.

I should mention a few action sequences that are enjoyable.  They fit the movie, but again, they aren’t enough to sustain the film.

I guess one reason I find the results so disappointing is that the Tomorrowland area has always been about the wonder of technology and how it will improve our lives.  Yes, now it’s about a couple of coasters, but it still has that feeling to me, and if you look back at what Disneyland’s original Tomorrowland was like, you’ll see what I mean.  This movie even hints at that early by using the song “A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” which premiered ob one of the attractions Disney created for the World’s Fair.  But the film really isn’t about that at all.

There were moments that had the wonder and magic I was hoping for in them, but overall Tomorrowland was a dismal flop.  If you’ve missed this movie so far, there really is no reason to watch it.