Tomorrowland

What will the future be like? We don’t know, but we sure like imagining what it will be like. And if we look at films, they seem to think that the future will be terrible. Either it is going to be a zombie filled apocalypse or a dictatorship and we’re all going to be miserable. And if a future does look lovely, chances are our hero are going to start peeling back the wallpaper and it’ll be another dictatorship, usually ran by some insane Brit. And we keep going back to them, so that’s probably why Tomorrowland was made. So, let’s see if it is any good.

Case (Britt Robertson, The Longest Ride) is a smart girl who gets caught when trying to sneak into a NASA building. However when doing that, Athena (Raffey Cassidy, Snow White and the Hunstman) sneaks a pin into her things, which she then discovers after getting her things back from the police. When she touches the pin, it takes her into a seemingly future place called Tomorrowland.

Now as you probably know, it was Brad Bird (Ratatouille) who directed this and the best thing about Bird’s direction is that he makes everything look gorgeous. Seriously, Bird makes every shot beautiful to look at and quite honestly, I’d buy a print of almost every single different shot the film has because it’s simply a work of art. And this is just the normal world, the one Casey lies in. When we get into Tomorrowland itself, oh my God. It’s simply stunning to look at. Everyone in Tomorrowland is designed in the way the 1960s imagined what the future would look like, which is the only thing this film has in common with the theme park its based on, and its just amazing to look at. The best part of the film is when Casey first enters Tomorrowland and we just revel in the wonder of the sight of it all.

And can I say, it’s wonderful to have a rather brilliant female protaganist in the shape of Casey. In the past, female protagonists could only either be very weak and need guiding by a strong man like in Romancing the Stone, or completely strong and nothing wrong with them which has been happening in recent times. But Casey is that right balance, meaning she feels like a real character. She ‘s obviously seeking more, without saying it so it wasn’t irritating, and she’s someone who will move the plot forward and actually do something. But she isn’t perfect, she does get scared and weirded out by some of the things she shes, which is fair enough. You can’t blame her for being weirded out by a robot girl.

Though Casey does have a guide to Tomorrowland and it is Frank Walker (George Clooney, Gravity), a former resident of the place until he was exiled. George Clooney plays well, George Clooney. Well, Clooney plus some grumpiness. He’s a fun character. Clooney is by no way stretching himself in this role, but he’s someone you warm to instantly, probably because he’s George Clooney. But he never feels sinister and you can see why the character has become this way, and while the way Casey makes him enthusiastic again has been seen before, it’s the sort of trope I like.

But then come the tropes I’m not so keen on appears. As you can probably tell by the introduction and the fact Frank was exiled, Tomorrowland isn’t all as it seems. Yep, this is another dystopia film in the end, which is a shame. To add to those tropes is that, like in my introduction, we have a sinister British villain, this time played by Hugh Laurie (House M.D.) who is so obviously evil, yet the film tries to pretend he isn’t. I can’t blame Laurie for his performance, he does his best and sells the British evilness, but it’s a joke of a trope it’s been done so much.

And that’s the bits of the plot that I actually understand, which is the big problem. When the film has little plot, it is stunning. The simple goal of Casey trying to find a way back into Tomorrowland and being chased by some androids is exciting, thrilling and is a lot of fun to watch because Bird puts so much energy into the action scenes. But when we get back to Tomorrowland, it all starts to off the rails. We end up with the dystopia plot, we’re told the world is ending but something about Casey thinking the world won’t end means that the world doesn’t end, some things blow up, there’s some action and then it ends hopefully. It’s barely understandable and I’m not actually that bothered about understanding either.

Tomorrowland bursts with so much energy and fun it is a huge heartbreak when it starts to go off the rails towards the end. It’s very hard to be disappointed with the film despite all the hype I had for it because it’s obvious a lot of passion has been thrown into it and you can see the problems lie more with the script than the visuals and overall direction. So if we do get a sequel, kick Damon Lindelof off the project and just let Brad Bird go nuts.

Best Moment: Casey’s first experience of Tomorrowland is such an amazng scene you do just drop your jaw in amazement of it. I say the word amaze a lot.

Worst Moment: When the big plots are revealed, and you drop your jaw in amazement of how stupid it was. I say the word amaze a lot.