At the heart of Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland” lies something good and noble. A movie about positivity and hope. A movie about optimism and faith in the future. A movie promoting the idea that we can change the world for the better. I give the film a lot of credit for sporting such important themes. But somewhere along the way Bird and company forgot the importance of good storytelling.
The story centers around a forward thinking and science-savvy teen named Casey (Britt Robertson). She discovers a T-shaped pin that grants her visions of the futuristic Tomorrowland – a utopia where science and technology has flourished. Once the pin’s battery runs out Casey seeks more information about it. A little girl named Athena (who is actually a robot) leads Casey to a cantankerous and disillusioned inventor named Frank (George Clooney).
Frank supposedly knows how to travel to Tomorrowland but he wants nothing to do with it. When a group of angry robots show up to try to kill them, he grows even more obstinate. Frank represents the cynical ‘it can’t be done’ mentality. It clashes with Casey’s unbridled hope and optimism. This is also represented as a generational division between the older pessimistic attitude and the youthful ‘can do’ spirit. Ultimately the two will have to come together if there is to be any hope of saving Tomorrowland and the vision it represents.
“Tomorrowland” is an ambitious picture. It tries to be a flashy special effects spectacle and a thought-provoking essay packaged in pretty Disney wrapping. It gets the first part right. “Tomorrowland” looks absolutely amazing. The effects are dazzling – bright, beautiful colors and fun, innovative architecture and technology. Bird and company create a visually satisfying and compelling world and there is obviously a lot of time and attention that went into its details.
But the same can’t be said for the story itself. This is a film that struggles to find its identity. It tinkers with several interesting ideas and it teases us with several fun and interesting story angles. But it never capitalizes on them. So often the story loses any momentum by bogging down in dull back-and-forths and tedious lectures. It is a film with a message but it is incredibly clunky in its delivery and the film’s preachiness is pretty glaring at times. These things strip the movie of its excitement, allure, and charm.
In a nutshell “Tomorrowland” is a messy and frustrating experience. It looks spectacular and its optimistic outlook is commendable. There is a really good story buried in there somewhere. But I grew tired of looking for it and waiting for it to show up. The story is simply too inconsistent, too uneven, and too flat. It doesn’t know what it wants to be. There is never enough Disney for young kids and not a well delivered message for adults. As a result we are left with yet another movie that falls terrible short of what it could have been.
VERDICT – 2 STARS
Keith & the Movies 
Pity
Wasted potential is always a bummer, isn’t it. Have you checked it out by chance?
No and wasn’t planning on it.
Wise.
I remember seeing an IMAX preview for this and thought that it looked, as you say, ambitious but somehow there was this underlying feeling that it wouldn’t turn out as great as it might have looked. Nice review Keith!
Thanks Chris. I was hopeful. And it is disheartening that there is good material absolutely wasted.
We are basically on same page on this one. I fell asleep while watching it which is never a good sign
Ooooh I had a really hard time fighting off sleep. There were some stretches that were so flat and boring.
well said buddy and I must unfortunately agree. I went into this with expectations of having a highly nostalgic experience. For whatever reason this film was bringing back to me memories of my first time I went to Disneyworld and I felt this film had the potential to be something really magical. It ended up being just dull. . .
Dull indeed, in every regard other than visually. And I didn’t even mention Laurie who is such a stiff and shallow villain.
While I’m fine with it being ambitious and all, it still feels like it was a tad too messy to work completely. Nice review Keith.
I agree. For me there just wasn’t a compelling enough story to keep me interested. I found it clunky and at some times downright boring. Wasted potential.
Ouch, man! I actually quite liked this. It was definitely flawed and somewhat muddled but I a good family time with the kids. That said, I started a review myself and then drew a blank and never finished. Maybe that says it all?!
LOL. To be honest I fought the sleepies the entire time. I just couldn’t connect with it and I found myself drifting so many times. And Hugh Laurie…not a good villain.
To be fair, I expected it to be crap and you know that normally works in opposites. I was pleasantly surprised and it made for reasonably good family entertainment.
Ha! I even thought Laurie was decent as the villain. Maybe I need a reappraisal! LOL 😉
No, to each his own my friend! Now I expect it to be in your end of the year top 5! 😉
I actually liked this a bit more than you, but it was wasted potential because they could have done so much more with it!
It has soooo much potential. And there are things I like about it. But I really was disappointed.
I keep reading reviews where people were terribly let down, which is a pity because I was looking forward to this and now it is sort of languishing on a “to watch eventually” list.
Ugh. I was looking forward to this one too. Sooo much potential. It looks great but that story….acck!