There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of everyday
There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow’s just a dream away
The verses of The Sherman Brothers song, ‘There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow’ echo through the minds of all the people that enter Tomorrowland at the Disney theme parks around the world; a reminder of what could have been or what should be, a world where anything is possible. If you believe it, make it. This is a universal feeling all should get when they see Brad Bird’s film, Tomorrowland: a feeling that any one person can do anything when they set their mind to it. Tomorrowland is an entertaining movie with wonderful effects, fun characters, and good humor. For something that is so entertaining, it’s very unfortunate it’s just not that interesting.
Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and writer, Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus) come together to bring us a story about how anyone can change the future for the better if they never give up; a great premise for a movie that prides itself in the idea of Walt Disney’s future, a world where science and technology come together as one with the people to make it a better place. It’s an idea we all should strive for. The movie should inspire all who see it to rush out of the theater and scream, “We can do better!” and send us on our own personal journey to help better the world. But Tommorrowland just falls flat.
One issue with the film is all the messages the filmmakers are trying to get across. Subtle or on the nose, the movie is filled with messages about how we can save the world. Whether it’s to stop war, stop pollution, stop the mistreatment of animals, global warming, or the most basic, racism, you get hit so many times you leave the theater with a black eye. With all its heavy hitting morals making sure you understand that message, it feels like the filmmakers forgot to make a movie around all those ideas. Sure, there is a movie around those thoughts, but sometimes the themes outweigh the movie. That’s really disappointing when the movie is so beautiful. You find yourself realizing it’s all just surface beauty.
The movie is about Frank (George Clooney), who as a child discovers Tomorrowland and, after some personal drama, is kicked out. Many years later, Casey (Britt Robertson), is given a pin that magically shows her a world of science and technology. She sets out on a journey to find this place. Along the way she crosses paths with Frank. A doomsday machine has begun a countdown showing how many days the world has left before it destroys itself. Thus, Frank and Casey must find a way to get back to Tomorrowland before it’s too late to stop the machine and save the world. That’s the plot in a nutshell. Of course there are plot points and action beats along the way, but overall that’s it.
You spend over half the movie just trying to get to Tomorrowland, and you think this is all build up. You keep waiting to get to Tomorrowland because it’s going to be so awesome. Nope. Once you get there, surprise, Tomorrowland is closed. All of that really cool stuff you see in the trailer, yup, you guessed it, that’s all you see of Tomorrowland. The Tomorrowland in the movie is sad. It’s really a huge let down to spend over half the movie getting you ready for something so awesome only to find it has been closed for refurbishment. Not unlike going to a Disney Park and finding your favorite ride closed for the day. You have a better chance of going to Disneyland and seeing the real Tomorrowland before you see the one you think you’re going to see in this movie.
George Clooney is great, but it’s Clooney. He’s kind of always great. You see where his character is coming from, and you understand why he’s doing the things he’s doing. He plays the grumpy, washed up inventor really well; great line delivery and generally funny. So is Britt Robertson as Casey. She is the daughter of a NASA engineer who has lost his job due to NASA no longer going into space. She’s pissed, so when she sees this new world, where her family can finally be what they are meant to be, she’ll stop at nothing to get there. Her character is boiling over with positivity that can become annoying at times, but she’s showing the audience the type of person we all should try to be by never giving up and always believing anything is possible.
Hugh Laurie is the main antagonist for the film, but only because there has to be one for the movie. Before you get to Tomorrowland he is this threat you keep hearing about. When he finally arrives you expect a major adversary for Frank. What we get is a two dimensional villain with no purpose. He would have been better off twirling a moustache and tying a woman to train tracks. He doesn’t show up until the third act, where he has little to do. He’s only the bad guy because the movie needed one. He wants the world to destroy itself, but other than losing hope in humanity, he has no other reason to be bad. He could have been an amazing villain for the movie if he had been in it more, and we could have seen how he lost his way. Instead of saving the world, he would rather it destroy itself. He’s clearly a flawed man who once loved humanity but now can’t stand it. Why? We don’t get any backstory that would have made him twenty times better. All we get is 20 minutes of a man who is the basic equivalent of Snidely Whiplash. Such a waste of a great character and amazing actor.
The special effects are amazing and truly breathtaking, but there’s so few of them that you feel real disappointment. It’s no joke; you see more of Tomorrowland in the trailer than you do in the movie. That’s upsetting. But, for all the sours talked about here, there are some really good sweets. If you’re a Disney fan, you will see how much love of Disney was put into the movie. Little nods to the actual Tomorrowland are sprinkled throughout the movie. You just have to know what you’re looking for to catch them. This is a real love letter to Walt and the future ideas he wanted. It’s sad that, for whatever reason, the filmmakers had to spend so much time in the movie not in Tomorrowland, especially when the movie is called Tomorrowland. I think they want you to see the movie and go out and make your own Tomorrowland. Which is fine, but frankly that’s not why I went to see this movie.
At the end of the day, Tomorrowland is a beautiful movie with some really positives things. Entertaining for sure, but everything great is all on the surface; there’s not much depth here. The little bit that is here is so uninteresting it hurts the film. It’s a shame really; this is a movie that could have done great things to inspire future generations. But, in reality, it will just fall into the basic sci-fi movie category, and never live up to the potential, like so many other sci-fi films before it.