"Why so many questions? Can't you just sit back and be amazed?"
Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is a science-driven teenager who has always wanted to visit space. Hearing her dad may be losing his job at NASA, she breaks into the facility to try to fix what's wrong, but winds up arrested. When she's bailed out and goes to get her stuff, she discovers something that wasn't there with her stuff before. A pin with a "T" on it. Upon touching the pin, she is transported to a wondrous place, filled with rockets, silver buildings, jetpacks and pools suspended in midair. Wanting to know what the place is, Casey goes on an adventure to figure out the purpose of the pin, and to find the place it represents, Tomorrowland.
On a visual scale, Tomorrowland is fantastic. The 5 minutes we spend in the place Casey sees with the pin as well as the place a young boy visits are absolutely incredibly well-realized. From the buildings, to the inventions and other visual effects, its just eye candy at perhaps the best level possible. Technology continues to become even more ambitious, so it allowed that place to be spectacular as it seemed to be in the trailers. The action scenes and visual effects in those scenes are so incredibly well-done and very exciting.
The production design is also fantastic. From the 1960's World Fair setting, to the present day's homage to 1980's sci-fi is terrific (in fact, the sci-fi shop about 30 minutes into the film is full of easter eggs and was super-exciting). Disney fans will be excited to see "Its' a Small World" have a small part in one scene. Plus, the costumes and setpieces carry a strong amount of whimsicality. Claudio Miranda's cinematography compliments these scenes with swooping shots everywhere (in fact, I think this would have been fantastic in IMAX if I had seen it there).
Michael Giacchino's music score both is exciting and reminiscent of both Disney and classic sci-fi movies such as Star Wars and E.T. The acting is very solid, with Robertson bringing youthful energy and sincerity to Casey. George Clooney is appropriately grumpy and interesting as Frank, and Hugh Laurie does fine with the few scenes he has as David Nix. The breakout of the film is Raffey Cassidy, who steals almost every scene she's in as the tough-as-nails Athena.
On the downside, given the fact that Tomorrowland has a cautionary message that becomes more prevalent as the movie goes on, the movie's thinking grasp gets somewhat out-of-reach by the last 20 minutes. My brain was already spinning and trying to understand some of it, but it got to the point where it just got somewhat hard to grasp (at least on first viewing). In fact, the final 25-30 minutes of the movie aren't what you expect. Its not a bad ending, it just doesn't live up to the rest of the movie.
The narration at the beginning (and about 20 minutes into the film) didn't really fit into the film. I understand its purpose was to hint at what happens at the end, but, the way it was delivered felt forced and somewhat out-of-place. Again, its only a small issue. Finally, the movie is a little edgy on content for a PG movie.
Tomorrowland's first trailer was awesome. It showed signs of what could possibly be a great movie. And what could go wrong if you have director Brad Bird in charge? His critical repertoire is impressive, with The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol all receiving acclaim from everyone in the film industry.
Tomorrowland also interested me highly, because, simply, I'm a huge Disney World fan. I got to visit Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom a couple of years back, and just everything in that part of the park is both impressive and very whimsical. Walt Disney's vision for a brighter and positive future is realized in his parks very well.
And, in the 5-10 minutes we see here, Bird clearly shows Walt's vision with technical precision. But the movie is more of a cautionary tale than a fun sci-fi movie. In the film, Tomorrowland reminds us that the positive view of the future is no longer in fashion, and that everyone views the future as an apocalyptic mess. And that's a vision that's been explored in many future-based novels and movies, such as The Hunger Games, The Giver, The Maze Runner and many others. In that case, its refreshing to see Tomorrowland be whimsically old-fashioned and optimistic in that a brighter future is possible.
For the first hour and a half, Tomorrowland lives up to the high expectations I gave it. Its an exciting, inventive, and visually-stunning film. The science fiction shop and the rocket coming out of the Eiffel Tower are spectacular and memorable scenes. Basically, quoting The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy, everyone on both sides of the camera do fantastic work.
That being said, its too bad that the last 25-30 minutes (with the exception of a much-needed emotional scene between two characters) fall short of being as consistent and fantastic as the rest of the film. The brain-spinning theology gets a little out-of-hand. Its not as brain-bending as, say, Inception, but they probably could have spent a little more time explaining it. The ending isn't as horrible as what other critics say it is, but it does throw you for a small loop. Had the ending been tweaked some (and the narration cut), this would have had a strong shot at reaching my Top 10 all-time list.
Those script issues notwithstanding, I still enjoyed Tomorrowland immensely. It's one of the most mind-boggling, brain-spinning movies I've ever seen, but all mostly in a good way. And its a visual extravaganza that should be experienced on the big screen.
In comparison to other recent Disney movies, I found Tomorrowland to be a little more enjoyable than Maleficent, Tron: Legacy and Cinderella, but falling short of Oz: The Great and Powerful, Tangled and Frozen.
Score: 8.8/10
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: Some mild to moderate expletives. "H---" is blurted out seven times, "d---" three times. We also hear one use each of "p---", "bloody" and "b---ocks". "Son of a...." is left incomplete twice. We hear "Oh g--" and similar exclamations a half-dozen times.
Adult Content: None. Frank had an innocent crush on Athena as a young boy.
Violence: Sometimes intense moments of violence and peril that do push the boundaries of the PG rating. Human-like robots are decapitated and beaten up a few times (Casey beats one with a baseball bat repeatedly). One is impaled by a laser gunshot and then self-destructs. Another has his hand cut off. One is shredded by lasers. Glass is ran into and broken. Casey and Frank are nearly killed several times. Some loud, camera-shaking explosions. Some screaming. Humans are knocked out and vaporized by guns. A shop is destroyed. We see a mildly disturbing view of a partially-decayed robot mouth that's revealed to still be talking. Some other camera-shaking elements that may cause motion sickness. A few newsreel and future images of fights, floods, and other mild peril.
Drugs/Alcohol: None, though Casey is suspected once or twice specifically to be "on drugs" as a result of her odd behavior regarding the pin.
Other: Casey is asked not to "pee" on people as a result of an intense ride. She also breaks into Cape Canaveral for information (before being arrested for it). The film's optimistic message strays into New Ageism/environmentalism a couple of times with references to "melting icecaps" and "killing bees".
